Spies: 7 Short Stories

by Michael D. Britton

  Ben felt the surface, searching out a doorknob or control button, but found nothing. Pushing against it with his full weight was fruitless as well. He weighed the logical options and came to a decision. If he was to get out of this place, it was going to be through this door. The light that came from the thin area where the door bordered this environment indicated that perhaps there was some kind of normal environment on the other side. Regardless, he could not stay in this dark void indefinitely, and this was the first object he’d found since he’d started falling.

  He pulled out his laser, set it to high power/high output, and pointed it at the edge of the door. He pressed the button, and a white-hot beam shot out of the end of the laser. It struck the door, and instead of absorbing all the light, it actually reflected the red light energy, while absorbing the rest of the spectrum. He held it steady, and slowly, the red dot grew wider and wider. Ben could hear the material beginning to break down under the intense radiation with a sizzling, crackling sound. When he saw a tiny white dot appear in the center of the red circle, he stopped.

  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust once the laser was off. The door still glowed red where the laser had been doing its work, and the white dot remained. Ben leaned forward and put his eye close to the white dot. It was a hole that led to the realm beyond the door. He could smell the fumes that still floated around the glowing red area where the laser had bored the hole. It smelled bitter and poisonous. The red glow slowly faded to black, and Ben placed his hand near the white dot, to test the temperature. The super-heated material had cooled rapidly and he was able to touch it. The hole was just big enough for his finger, so he stuck it in and pulled on the door in an attempt to open it. It didn’t budge.

  Ben tried to look through the hole, but the light from the other side was too bright, and he could see nothing. He changed the setting on his laser tool, adjusting it for visual reception mode, and placed the tool up against the hole. He punched some buttons on his watch, and the face became a display screen, receiving the images from the laser tool and showing Ben what it was seeing though the hole. Still too bright for him to make anything out, he dialed down the brightness on the display until it was at its lowest setting. An image resolved that took Ben’s breath away.

  #

  Ben had loved Olivia with a feeling so deep and so . . . permanent. It felt as if he had always known and loved her. His feeling for her permeated his every sense, and ran deep into his soul, taking root in the center of his being, and, for a time, threatened to consume his will. She had loved Ben back with the same intensity. Her words, her touch, and the way she looked at him made it clear there could be no other man in her heart.

  And yet, it had ended.

  It was no accident, or twist of fate, but a conscious, logical choice on both their parts. The logic did little to take the edge off the pain of that choice, but they knew it had to be so. It was foolish enough for someone in this line of work to get involved with someone before retirement age, but this was unheard of -- they were both on the job. With each having only a one in three chance of surviving to retirement, the odds against them as a couple were staggering. Besides, the Establishment forbade relationships between personnel.

  Ben still remembered the night they parted ways as if it were yesterday, as he’d thought about it many times in the three years since. Ben had been in the Program for one year longer than Olivia. He had promised her that after he retired he’d wait the one year for her to retire, and then they would be together. Olivia had said that knowing he was waiting for her would be additional motivation for her to make sure she stayed alive. Ben had looked into her dark eyes and felt her strength and determination, coupled with the soft kindness and warm sense of humor that resided behind those mesmerizing eyes. He’d run his hand through her long dark hair, and caressed her cheek. Then they kissed, one long, final kiss, and disappeared into the night in opposite directions. That was the last time he’d seen Olivia.

  It was only one year later that he heard the news – she had become one of the statistics that scared people away from this profession. Her body had never been recovered. Apparently, the promise of their reunion had not been enough to keep her alive.

  Of course, Ben was bitter, but he wasn’t blind enough to blame Olivia. He knew the risks of this job, and he knew that even the best sometimes fell prey to the dangers. And Olivia was the best he’d ever seen. And that made her death all the more stinging to Ben, both as a fellow professional and as the man who had loved her.

  Still loved her.

  And now, here in this otherworldly place, beyond all rational explanation, was Olivia, alive and well, on the other side of this mysterious door in the darkness. It made no sense. Ben once again began to reconsider his belief that he was not dead. As he did so, his mental training took hold once more, and he applied logic to the problem.

  Starting with the assumption that death was the end of existence, he could only assume that he was still alive. If that was true, and he could see Olivia alive beyond the door, then either he was looking into the past, to another time and place, or he was hallucinating, or she was indeed still alive. Hallucinations would mean he was losing his wits, and such a conclusion could lead to despair, so he ruled out that alternative. There was only one way to find out if what he was seeing in the display on his watch was a representation of reality or some trick being played by this environment – he had to find a way through the door.

  So far, the laser had been successful at boring a hole through the door. However, the door would not move at all, so Ben saw continuing to blast away at the door as his only option. He fired up the laser and picked up where he left off, hoping to widen the keyhole-sized aperture.

  The work was long and tedious. The fumes nearly overwhelmed him, and he had to stop more than once to step back and breathe some of the cleaner air further from the door. Eventually, however, the hole grew, until it was finally large enough for Ben to climb through.

  The world that existed on the other side was so bright in comparison to the tomblike setting he’d emerged from, that it took a full minute for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he looked back to see the hole he’d come through. Thick, velvety darkness lay beyond the hole, which seemed to float in the air. He walked around it. It appeared two-dimensional, just as the door itself had seemed. As he watched, the hole began to close like a wound healing at high speed, until it disappeared completely. He reached out his hand to where the blackness had existed a moment before.

  Ben found himself standing in a lush garden. He could smell the fresh flowers all around and feel the warm breeze on his face. He heard some voices coming from beyond a deep green hedge, and moved toward the sound. As he rounded the bushes, he saw a group of eight people, men and women, sitting on lawn chairs in the sunshine and talking among themselves. A dark-haired woman with her back to Ben suddenly turned toward him and smiled with recognition.

  “Ben!” she said with joy in her voice. She got up and came toward him.

  Ben staggered forward, his face awash with confusion. He suddenly realized he was exhausted and fell to his knees in the soft, well-groomed grass. Olivia dropped to her knees beside him and put her arm around him.

  “It’s going to be alright, Ben. You’ve made it. You’re going to be just fine now.”

  Olivia’s words echoed and swirled around Ben’s weary head. Everything was spinning and he felt nauseous. He looked into her eyes, and then everything turned to black.

  #

  Ben awoke in a soft, four-poster bed with sheer white curtains hanging all around. An open window over his head brought in the fresh breeze from the garden, gently billowing the draperies and carrying the scent of summertime flowers. He sat up slowly, and immediately Olivia parted the curtains and sat beside him, handing him a glass of water.

  “Where am I?” he said.

  “I know you must have many questions,” s
aid Olivia. “I will explain everything. First, have something to drink.”

  Olivia looked exactly as she had the last time he’d seen her. Beautiful. Except, something was missing. It only took a moment to place it – the tiny scar over her left eyebrow was gone.

  “You’re wondering about my scar,” she said.

  Ben had no words, so he said nothing for a few moments. Finally, he took a sip of the water and said, “Yes. Explain all of this to me, please.”

  “Everything I am about to tell you will seem very strange at first. But you know me, and you trust me, and that is one of the reasons I am the one orienting you.”

  “Orienting me?”

  “Yes. As your Sponsor, I am responsible for your being here, and I am responsible to help you understand.”

  Ben could only numbly parrot her words. “My Sponsor.”

  “Yes, Ben. You see, although only one in three people in the Program makes it to retirement, only some of the others die on the job. Some begin a journey to this place. Of those, about half of us actually make it here. I did not die – well, obviously,” she said with a sudden smile. “I was sponsored to come here, just as I sponsored you. Only the very best make it.”

  “I still don’t understand,” Ben said weakly. “Where are we?”

  “The cliff – the one you fell from in the Nepali parbat – it has something special about half way down. It’s a kind of portal. It’s a lot like what the astronomical physicists call a wormhole.”

  Again, Ben’s stunned mind could only repeat her words. “A wormhole.”

  “The journey through is not easy, as you know. Not everyone survives it. It takes presence of mind, determination, and creativity. Ingenuity. But I knew you would make it. If I’d had any doubt at all, I wouldn’t have sponsored you.”

  Ben remembered Field’s attitude about this final assignment. “So, my final assignment – it wasn’t really a legit assignment? It was just a ploy to get me to come here? Did Field know about this?”

  “It wasn’t a ploy, it was a recruitment exercise. And, no, Field had nothing to do with it. Nobody on Earth is aware of this Higher Program.”

  As Ben let the answers sink in, more questions arose. “And what of those who fail the test? What happens to the ones who don’t figure out how to make it all the way here through the wormhole?”

  “I’ve been told that they go mad. They eventually die and their bodies disintegrate in the wormhole.”

  “But you knew I’d make it.”

  “Yes, Ben. I knew you would make it.”

  Ben was slowly becoming more lucid, and he sat up fully, feeling his strength return to his limbs.

  “I can see the water is working,” said Olivia. “Our water has amazing regenerative properties.”

  Ben looked at the glass in his hand and took another sip. “So, you still haven’t told me where we are,” he said.

  “I can sense you are still wary, still having a hard time believing all I’ve told you. But I will not hold anything back from you.” She placed her hand gently on his knee. “Ben, we’re about a billion light years from Earth, in a galaxy barely visible with Earth’s best telescopes. This world is called Na’ej. It is our base of operations.”

  The distance from Earth was mind-boggling, but Ben had heard the theories about wormholes. He chose to focus on her use of the word our. “And who are we, exactly?”

  “We are the Anxeliss. We are elite professionals, gleaned from many worlds, many races. From here, we have means to travel all over the universe, working special assignments to make things right.” A smile spread across her face. “Ben, this is the best job in the universe! And we are always safe. We cannot be hurt or killed. Well, we can, but we can always return here to regenerate.”

  “This is going to take a while to sink in,” Ben said, catching his breath.

  “That’s perfectly normal,” Olivia said. “Initiates usually take from four to six weeks to settle in and get their bearings. I was actually the worst – I resisted and was skeptical for nearly two months. But I finally got all the answers I wanted and found my place here. After your adjustment period, there’s ten weeks of training, and after that, you get a partner and you’re off on you first assignment.”

  “A partner? I’m used to working alone,” said Ben.

  “I was hoping we’d be partners, Ben.”

  Ben found himself starting to smile. “I think I might like this place,” he said, lying back on the soft pillow.

  “Get some rest,” said Olivia. “When you’re ready, I’ll introduce you to our boss.”

  #

  Hours later, Ben awoke. The first thing he noticed was that his body wasn’t aching.

  In fact, he felt great.

  He’d never slept better, never felt better. He sat up, turned and placed his feet on the floor. He looked down at his naked body, and it was like seeing it for the first time. Every one of his old scars was gone – and he’d had so many that he’d lost count. Before coming here, he had been fit, just like everyone in the Program, but now he was in even better shape. He flexed his right bicep and touched it with his left hand, noticing its size and firmness. I must have two-percent body fat, he thought with satisfaction.

  He heard a knock at the door, and Olivia opened it just enough to poke her head in with her eyes closed.

  “Put some clothes on,” she said. “You can admire your body later,” she added playfully. “There’s things in the closet you can put on. When you’re ready, we’ll go meet our boss.” With that, she closed the door and he heard her walk away.

  He opened the closet to find a row of clothes hanging neatly. The choices, however, were limited. There were about ten identical outfits that appeared to be loose-fitting sleepwear. The other half of the closet was comprised of a dozen identical ensembles that looked like form-fitting uniforms.

  This place needs some fashion designers.

  Faced with this choice, he grabbed a uniform and slipped into it. The fabric was cool and flexible, and seemed to breathe well despite being nearly skin-tight. The arms and legs were a pale blue, while the torso was deep blue with a small insignia over the left breast. As he was dressing he noticed several identical pairs of shoes on the floor of the closet, and he put on a pair before leaving the room.

  As he stepped out, he caught sight of Olivia at the end of the hall, speaking cordially with another woman. She saw him and beckoned him to join her.

  “Ben, I’d like you to meet Ulaya. She was my Sponsor.”

  “Um, pleased to meet you,” said Ben.

  “And you,” said Ulaya. “Well, I must be going. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”

  As Ulaya walked away, Ben asked, “How many of us are there?”

  “Close to one hundred and fifty thousand,” said Olivia, linking her arm in his and leading him out into a courtyard.

  “That many?” said Ben with surprise. “I thought we were elite.”

  “Trust me, that is elite,” said Olivia. “It’s an enormous universe, Ben. We end up spread pretty thin when you consider the range of our work. I mean, for each one of us, there are many thousands of star systems, each with their own worlds, to serve.”

  They passed through the courtyard and entered another building through a wide doorway.

  “This is where we hold our daily meetings, receive assignments, and have unitime with Axo.”

  “Okay, you lost me on that last part,” said Ben.

  “Unitime is a type of individual meeting, where thoughts are shared through words and words are shared through thoughts. Axo is our boss. I’m about to introduce you to him.”

  Ben noted a thin ring atop Olivia’s head. At first, he’d thought it was just ornamental, but he noticed other people wore them also. “What is that silver band on your head?” he asked.

  “You remember your old tool belt?”

  Ben nodded.

  “
This is kind of like that, only much better. It’s called an Uxay.”

  The ring was bright and shiny, and appeared to be made of white gold. It was about the thickness of a wedding band, and rested loosely on the head like a hair band.

  “How does it stay on during physical activity?” Ben asked.

  “It’s held in place with an energy similar to magnetic force,” said Olivia. “It’s attracted to our Ixnah – that’s kind of like a life-energy. Watch.”

  She removed her Uxay and tossed it out in front of her. As it started to fall to the ground, it reversed course and floated back up to her hand, as if it had been attached like a yo-yo. She smiled and placed it back on her head. “See? You can’t lose your Uxay. You’ll be issued one your first day of training.”

  “But what does it do?” asked Ben.

  “Pretty much anything you want,” Olivia said. “Certainly more than any Earth device from 2089 could do.”

  “It’s 2092 now,” Ben said.

  “Regardless, this thing is really amazing. You know the old saying about how any sufficiently advanced technology seems like magic to the more primitive man? Well, the Uxay uses a science that makes Earth’s latest technology look like striking stones to start a fire or counting with an abacus.”

  “Do you realize that we’re no longer using DNA-based quantum processing systems with cold fusion sub-quantum fractal integration, nanite-based energy flow, or meson/gluon memory parameters with multi-phased circuitry? We’re now fully utilizing quantum foam ciphers at every level. Things have come a long way, even in the three years since you were on Earth,” Ben said. “The Singularity occurred right after you died – I mean, after you came here. That changed everything. Technology took on a life of its own after that.”

  “Ben, this science is so far beyond that stuff it is staggering. The Uxay relies on a type of energy that Earth’s scientists never even imagined, because it lay beyond their perception. It’s the same energy that created the worlds, the same energy that we feel when we look at each other in love. The Uxay takes that energy and uses it to manipulate time, space, and perception.”