by A. K. DuBoff
“All right, that’s going to take some time to process,” I said eventually.
Kaiden nodded. “Wow. Not sure I have more than that to say at the moment.”
Maris looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I don’t think I can look at anything the same way again.”
“We certainly won’t,” Toran said, still staring into space. “So, these invading aliens have always resided at a higher plane?”
“As far back as that little history lesson went, anyway,” Kaiden said. “Were the people on this planet our ancestors?”
“Maybe, in a slightly different form,” I replied. “They looked like giants compared to us.”
Maris shook her head. “They mastered the crystalline network only to have it be their undoing. Makes you wonder if we should be messing with any of this.”
“Too late for that,” Kaiden said. “The Hegemony made that decision for us when they discovered the ancient civilization’s tech and started hooking up viewing devices and interface consoles for the reset crystals.”
“Crazy how cyclical it is, isn’t it?” I murmured. “Civilizations born and raised only to fall into the same traps generations later.”
“These hyperdimensional alien bastards really know how to play a long game,” Kaiden said.
“To timeless six-dimensional beings, one civilization is just like another,” Toran responded. “But we’re different, because now we know what they’re after.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do we? Because ‘controlling the crystalline network’ still feels like a pretty broad goal. What do they want to do with it?”
Toran hesitated. “That part I still don’t know.”
“Well, we have the keys to accessing the highest levels of the crystalline network,” Maris said, patting her shield.
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess we do.” The vision hadn’t revealed how the artifacts were made or where they had come from, but I could sense the power of my sword in its scabbard. It was almost like it was pure higher-dimensional energy compared to everything around us, but I figured that was an after-effect of the whirlwind tour through space and time.
“Well,” Toran said, “I suppose we have learned what we came to find out. The aliens are concentrated on this planet in the sixth-dimensional plane. We won’t be able to do any more until we regroup with the Hegemony.”
“I’m all for getting out of here,” Maris said. “Once they learn about our artifacts…”
“Yeah, we don’t want them to catch us on a lower dimension, that’s for sure.” My hand instinctively went to the hilt of my sword. While the aliens might not usually take much interest in lower-dimensional beings, eventually they’d figure out that we were the same team that had been thorns in their sides in recent weeks.
“About the getting back to our usual plane of perception…” Kaiden said slowly.
“Hoofy might be able to help us,” Maris said. “Let’s go find him.”
We retraced our path into the chamber and found the unicorn waiting nearby.
“Have you found the answers you seek?” he asked, trotting toward us.
“We got some answers, but we also have a lot of new questions,” Maris explained.
Toran nodded. “Do you know anything more about the crystalline network, and specifically the Master Archive?”
“The network is above all else. It is what bridges space, time, and the higher planes. To understand more than that is impossible for a being of my level.”
“Surely you must have heard—” I pressed.
“It is not my place,” Hoofy interrupted within my mind.
“That’s okay, you’ve already done so much for us,” Maris hastily cut in. “Can you help us find our way back to an access point where we can transition to our home spacetime?”
“That I can do,” Hoofy replied. “This way.”
The unicorn led us through the confusing labyrinth of windowed corridors. Eventually, I spotted something recognizable. “That’s the viewing-sphere!”
Maris breathed a sigh of relief. “Now we can go back home.”
I drew my sword. “And this is the key, I guess?”
“Yes, I sense special strength in each of the artifacts you carry,” Hoofy replied. “That sword, in particular, holds great power.”
“We were discussing that right before we met you,” Toran revealed. “Do you know anything more about it?”
“No, but I can tell you that it will facilitate your return home.”
“Thank you for everything,” Maris said. “You really saved us.”
“It was you who saved me, truthfully,” Hoofy replied. “And in our short time together, I have become fascinated by your quest.”
Kaiden smiled. “Glad it’s been entertaining to someone, because it’s been pretty awful to live through.”
“I was hoping I could journey with you,” the unicorn went on. “I will offer what support I can, but there are some things you must learn on your own.”
“That’d be great!” Maris exclaimed.
“No complaints here,” I agreed.
Kaiden nodded. “Glad to get all the help we can get.”
“Gladly. Will you be able to reside on our plane?” Toran asked.
“Not precisely, but now that you have witnessed the higher planes, I can make myself visible to you. Others of your kind, though, likely won’t be able to see or hear me.”
I chuckled. “Oh, this is going to go over great when we explain to Colren that we have a magical unicorn spirit guide.”
“I have to be in the room for that,” Kaiden said with a smile.
“Let’s think that over before we say anything,” Toran advised.
“All right.” I looked between my friends and the viewing-sphere. “All together this time?”
We got into position and reached out to touch the sphere.
12
The mirrored walls folded and warped, fading to black. When my vision focused once more, the underground cavern resolved around me. Our four backpacks were on the ground exactly where we’d been standing when we’d made the transition.
“Okay, that was officially the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” I declared, reaching down to retrieve my pack.
Maris scowled at our environment. “None of this feels right anymore.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Everything around me seemed dull and lifeless after that amazing experience in the higher dimensions. It was simultaneously incredible and disturbing to know other beings could be observing me from a higher dimension without my knowledge. I tried not to dwell on it, knowing that it would be a path to madness, but I knew for certain that I’d never be able to look at anything the same way again.
“Hoofy?” Maris asked tentatively.
“I am here,” he said telepathically to the four of us. “I do not want to reveal myself in this place so close to the Overlords.”
“Don’t blame you,” Maris replied. “And, remember, we’re going to call them the ‘Saps’ from now on.”
“They would not be pleased with this name.”
I smiled. “Even better.”
Kaiden headed toward the exit. “We shouldn’t linger here.”
I followed him. “Yeah, more of the Saps might be ready to transition to this plane now, however they do it.”
Toran took up a position at the rear of our party. “This is not a place we want to find ourselves in another engagement.”
I shared his concern. Now that we knew our artifacts were more than the weapons and defensive tools they appeared to be, we had to take extra precautions, lest they fall into enemy hands.
“Stars, I hope the Sanctum is still waiting for us,” Kaiden realized. “How long were we in there? Or, sorta there. You know what I mean.”
“I didn’t check the time before,” Toran said. “And, I don’t know if we could trust the time readouts on any devices with us, anyway.”
“I
guess we’ll see when we get back to the shuttle,” I replied.
“Yes, no reason to delay,” he concurred.
We jogged toward the exit, passing through the large cavern with its crushed crystal ground as quickly as possible. I kept a close eye on the black vines writhing near the walls, but no creatures came forward. I wasn’t sure if they were wary of us after we took out the one earlier or if they had another reason to hang back, but it almost made me more nervous that we were able to pass through without incident.
Despite the amount of rubble in the chamber which formerly held the labyrinth, we were able to hop along the tops of the fallen wall slabs to quickly traverse the space, careful to avoid the shadowed recesses where the tainted Darkness vines may still remain. Beyond that, it was a quick journey up the spiral ramp to the surface. Passing through the corridor with its mosaics, this time I clearly saw the story depicted in the images, telling of the civilization welcoming the hyperdimensional aliens, only to be betrayed. The temple, the city, everything in their society had been changed to revolve around the Overlord’s demands. I still didn’t know exactly what had happened to bring about the society’s ultimate demise after the crystals were damaged, but I was certain the Saps were to blame.
We hurried through the city ruins to our shuttle and took off as quickly as possible. As we reached the upper atmosphere, our comms chirped.
“Headed back already?” Richards said over the shuttle central’s intercom.
“Good, you’re still here!” Kaiden exclaimed from the pilot’s seat.
“Yeah, of course we are. We agreed to wait ten hours,” the ship captain replied.
Kaiden exchanged glanced with the rest of us. “How long has it been?”
“You only dropped out of comm contact about an hour ago,” Richards revealed.
“Wait, that can’t be right.” Kaiden went into the flight record to see when we’d landed. The flight logs he overlaid on the front viewport clearly indicated that only a short time had elapsed—barely enough for our walk from the shuttle, to the sphere, and back again.
“No time passed while we were in 8D?” I asked.
“Fascinating,” Toran murmured.
“I’m getting the impression that you have quite the story to tell,” Kess chimed in over the comm.
“Oh, you have no idea.” I let out a long breath.
“You can tell us on the way back,” Richards said. “We’ll open the cargo doors for you.”
“Anything we say will have to be over the comms,” Toran replied. “We came into contact with some of the Darkness. Best to follow contamination protocols just in case.”
I slumped in my seat. “Stars, that’s right.”
“Does that mean we’re heading back to the Evangiel?” Richards asked.
“Yes, we have what we need,” Kaiden confirmed. “Trust me, we don’t want to be around here.”
“Roger that,” the captain said.
Kess sighed. “I’m just bummed I didn’t get to see your magic.”
I chuckled to myself. “It’s been a crazy day.”
We flew the remaining distance to the Sanctum and docked in the belly of the ship. As soon as the docking clamps were in place, I felt the telltale rumble of engines as the Sanctum accelerated toward the rendezvous point with the Evangiel.
“Thanks, guys. Talk to you in a few,” Kaiden said into the comm then muted the channel. He turned to us. “What are we going to tell everyone?”
“That’s a very good question,” Toran replied.
We moved from the shuttle’s small bridge to the compact common room amidships and took seats in the dining table booth.
“We need to be honest about what we experienced,” I said as soon as we were situated, “though I expect a good deal of skepticism.”
“Agreed.” Kaiden nodded next to me. “Between the hyperdimensional planes and time passage, a lot will come as a shock.”
“They have no reason to doubt our word,” Toran said.
“Yeah, but believing what we say and knowing what to do with that information are two different things,” Maris pointed out. “Like, no matter what we say, telling them about Hoofy is going to raise eyebrows.”
“You need not tell them about me unless you want to,” the unicorn said in our minds.
“I suggest we keep to the most critical information about the Saps and their capabilities and play the rest by ear,” Toran stated.
“Yeah, that works,” I agreed. “The other major thing is regarding our artifacts.”
Toran nodded. “They have become much more important than I initially realized.”
“I’m not sure what we can say about them, other than they seem to be able to enable the sphere to act as an interface to higher planes,” Kaiden said.
“But it’s not just our original three,” Maris pointed out. “My new shield seems to have an extra bit of fancy, too.” She admired it. “And I don’t just mean the bling.”
“It does indeed hold great power,” Hoofy confirmed.
Maris beamed with pride about her new possession. “I’ve always had exceptional taste.”
“It is very ‘you’, no doubt. But, why didn’t the Saps take the shield?” Kaiden asked. “If it’s so powerful, why leave it down there in the cavern when the crystals shattered?”
“I think we’ve been very lucky,” I said.
“That doesn’t seem like a matter of luck, Elle,” Toran countered.
“No, I mean, the Saps have huge egos, right?” I went on. “Well, a shield like that is defensive, which suggests the user has a vulnerability. I wouldn’t put it past them to have looked at it and decided anyone carrying a shield must be weak, and therefore dismissed it. After all, what could possibly harm an ‘Overlord’?”
Kaiden chuckled. “That’s just ridiculous enough to be true.”
“More likely, they can’t wield the items,” Toran pointed out. “After all, they are harmed when we touch them.”
“True,” I agreed. “In that case, we don’t have to worry about them being stolen.”
Toran shook his head. “Not necessarily. The items still hold great power, and the aliens—er, Saps—seem driven to tap into the crystalline network using any means necessary. I don’t think we can assume our safety.”
“And, are some items more valuable than others?” Maris mused.
Kaiden was silent for several seconds. “Okay, random thought: could the disparities we first experienced in our perception have something to do with our artifacts being at different dimensional levels?”
“Could be.” Maris nodded. “Each of us, aside from Toran, did seem to see the cosmic jellyclouds—”
“Nimbuses,” I corrected.
“—in slightly different ways,” Maris continued without missing a beat.
“What if all of those visions were valid, just perceiving the creature on different planes?” Kaiden posited.
“But we were all in the same plane,” I countered. “How could we not see a being native to it?”
Toran took on a pensive expression. “Just because we were in the same environment, that doesn’t mean we’d be able to perceive everything in the same way—the more layers are added, the more complex the environment for our minds to grasp. Perhaps the artifacts assist with that mental evaluation in some way.” He paused in thought. “You know, there really might be something to that, Kaiden. Just because we all have ‘artifacts’, that doesn’t mean they’re all attuned to the same dimension. Maybe spending time with each of them has made us particularly sensitive to perceiving the plane where they’re based.”
I considered it. “Could we figure out the dimensional order of the artifacts based on what attributes we saw of the nimbuses?”
“Yes, this hypothesis would suggest that perception would be layered—if part of the creature was in one plane, those with a higher plane of perception would see the parts on their plane and everything lower,” Toran
confirmed.
“Sorry, Toran, but you seem to have drawn the short stick for the artifact lottery,” Kaiden said with a sympathetic smile.
“I already figured as much,” he replied. “Now, what did each of you see?”
The three of us relayed the traits of the nimbuses we’d observed. Kaiden clearly had a less-formed vision than Maris and mine—little more than amorphous blobs that shot lightning. After some back and forth, I determined that Maris and I had actually seen the same cloud-like creatures, though the terminology we’d used initially was different.
“Does that mean our artifacts would be on the same level?” I questioned.
Toran shook his head. “No, Maris was only able to fight back against them, but your sword instantly destroyed them, Elle. That would suggest your sword exists on a higher plane than we were in at the time, and Maris’ shield is native to their plane.”
“I guess that’s how it was able to cut through the window, too,” I realized.
“Yes. That really does explain a lot.”
Kaiden’s brow knit with concentration. “Okay, so to summarize: we’re normally living in 3D, traveling through time, 4D. The Overlords are 6D with the ability to manipulate 5D, thought. Toran’s gauntlets are 6D, my circlet is 7D, Maris’ shield is 8D, and Elle’s sword is… 9D?”
I laughed. “I don’t think all of that should be stated in a single sentence unless you want someone’s head to explode.”
Maris spread her hands. “All I got out of that is that we have a lot of stuff that’s on the same or higher level as the baddies, and that means we can take them out.”
Kaiden smiled. “I like that summary much better.”
We spent the remaining hours of the voyage relaxing as best we could, thankful to be temporarily out of harm’s way. Hoofy remained quiet and invisible, though I could sense his presence at the back of my mind, listening with fascination to our banter. I remained on edge as the time passed, still concerned that the Saps were somehow watching us.
It wasn’t until we were within visual range of the Evangiel that I finally started to relax. “I’m looking forward to a hot shower and some sleep.”
