Chapter 20: Next Stop, Virginia

Geha melted and faded away, dissolved like a puff of smoke in a strong breeze. As they raised the helmet-like apparatus she had been under, it was as if she woke from a long deep sleep. She could remember everything and in a clear order. She also remembered what she had experienced while she was Geha. Including the lasting impressions of her ending up on Alvor’s Cove and meeting her new friends, Martha and Sister.

She remembered meeting them again in an old secretive satellite in an orbit around old Earth’s poles.

She recalled their flight aboard a most peculiar and odd-shaped space ship to a place called Shadow.

She did not trust the masked woman calling herself Cherubim, but at that point, none of them had many options left. If it weren’t for her friends she would not have agreed to the procedure. However, in her confused state she also had been in terrible emotional pain, caused by the confusion about herself, consequently she agreed to something Cherubim called reversed Psycho Surgery.

Now as she sat up and saw the faces of her new friends, she still felt emotional pain but the confusion was gone.

Martha asked her, “Are you okay, Geha?”

The blonde woman with the deep bronze tan nodded. “Yes, Martha. I am. However, I am not Geha anymore. I am indeed Sybill Putnam.”

Out of an impulse she reached out to touch the claw-like hand of the bright red creature with the truly fright inducing demonic features. “To see honest concern for me in your face, Sister convinces me that there is more than just hope for you too.”

Sybill gathered the thin cover and bunched it before her chest. It had slipped as she sat up.

With them in the room was Cherubim and a white-skinned short humanoid, that looked awfully like a Kermac, all that was missing was a robe and a false beard. That man stood behind a set of controls. “Ms. Putnam, please take it easy. We had to restore the original cell code and dig deep into your ego core. Just lay back down and rest a little more.”

Sybill did not comply right away. “My mind, it is clear. I recall everything.”

She kept holding Sister and now also reached out for Martha’s hand. “I recall and have not forgotten about you, but I do not remember him.” She looked towards the white-skinned man. “Are you Kermac?”

“Technically I am Ker. My professional credentials would make me a doctor. My name is Zweh-Zweh, I was born on a lost world called Koken but you can call me Doc Zee like everyone around here does.”

Martha glared at the Ker. “I might be neck-deep in trouble and a criminal, but I won’t go so far as to betray the Union and work for the enemy. Is that the secret behind you? You are Kermac?”

Cherubim were somewhat removed from the rest, her arms crossed before her chest, and standing by the door said, “I am impressed by your reaction, Martha. No, we are not agents or in any other way associated with the Kermac or the Galactic Council. I am indeed what I said I am, this is indeed an old and secret outpost of TSI. Doc Zee has been with us since 1988 OTT, he had ample time for betrayal.”

Sybil still sitting on the gurney said, “That would make him older than even McElligott.”

Cherubim sounded amused. “Doc Zee is older than I am and even older than Deepa, but he spent a long time in zero stasis. He is indeed a Ker.”

The white-skinned specialist sighed. “My story is long and how I ended up on Earth long before the Ascent is for another time. However I can assure you, I am not Kermac.”

Cherubim came closer. “I know it is hard to understand, especially with the little information you have. The Union is a good thing, the rise of a multi-species society where merit and character and not form or origin determine the value of social participation is a lofty but worthy goal indeed. The idea of the Union is the foundation of the next level of universal development. It cannot and will never make true sense to any of us but I will try to explain it in a few sentences. Please bear in mind that I am extremely limited in my own understanding of it all.”

The masked woman found a seat and sat down. “I received this explanation from the Narth Supreme, an entity in itself impossible to comprehend, so please bear with me.”

Martha also sat down on a chair while Sister leaned against Sybil’s gurney and it was she who grunted in her deep inhuman voice. “Speak then, I want to be like Geha ... I mean the woman who now is Sybil and has my voice in me.”

Cherubim sighed. “That is not the goal of my explanation now, and in your case, it is even more complicated than it was for Sybil. Be patient a little longer, we are working on helping you too.”

The Ker standing by the controls added. “We can only proceed with a good conscience if we can reduce the risks significantly, Sister. We need to do more tests and research before we can proceed. We want to free you by restoring you, not to harm or alter you.”

Sister growled. “Sister is confused and mixed up, but not simple. I trust you more now, as the truth is better than saying you can fix Sister. Now speak, Sister wants to know.”

Cherubim nodded. “This reality we are in is not the first one and if I understood things correctly, each subsequent universe is more complex than the previous.”

She made a waving gesture. “But it is a very important one. I am not claiming to understand more than the basics, but the Narth Supreme called this the Prime Universe. An event that has been in the making ever since the very first Universe collapsed, is about to happen.”

Cherubim repeated her gesture. “When I say “about,” it could mean tomorrow or in a million years. The passage of time has an entirely different meaning when it comes to these cosmic events.”

Martha had a skeptical face. “When you say cosmic events and prime universe, are you saying some conditions predate time and insist on the existence of parallel realities?”

“Indeed, Martha. You and I have no sense of time. Sure we have subjective ideas, but nothing in terms of an actual sense that tells us what time is and how it behaves. We are using spaceships that traverse space in alternate space. Ever since the discovery of the Second Spectrum, we know Tachyons do exist. We also know some civilizations achieved higher tech-levels than us and had technology affecting or controlling it. So yes, Martha there was a ‘before’, and consequently, by mere hypothesis alone there might also be a ‘next’.”

Surprising them all, it was Sister who slowly nodded. “There was a before. It feels true.”

Cherubim acknowledged with a nod and returned to her story. “Let us say there are those who transcend a single reality, entities, or beings if you will on a different level than us. Their agendas and motivations are beyond our understanding, at least that is what I believed when the Narth Supreme first tried to explain it to me, but he told me that there is a set of fundamental laws upon which the entire Omniverse rests. The Omniverse, according to the Narth Supreme includes all realities, all universes, past present, and future, and these laws are known as the RULE. Somehow or by something, that RULE got compromised or broken and an event in this reality called the DECISION will determine if and how this RULE is restored.”

Martha secretly wished for a drink of water. What she heard did not fit with her understanding of reality, but beneath her learned shell of man-made education, there was a fundamental part of her innermost self that sensed this to be true.

Cherubim was not done as she went on. “Now the Narth told me that there is a metaphysical manifestation he called the Voice of the RULE. An entity governing the conditions necessary for this DECISION to be made. The Narth conveyed to me that there is no event more important to the very existence of everything than this decision. A decision that can only be made by an entity that will resurrect in this prime reality.”

Sybil blinked. “That is all very difficult to understand, but even if there are Decisions, entities, and gods with all these problems. What has this to do with us? We are, as you say mortals with limited understanding at best.”

“This was my question as well, Sybil. The Narth Supreme responded by saying that every existence, regardless of nature or origin has a part in this. He believes that the Union will eventually and perhaps in a few billion years from now, evolve into a unified entity itself and meet other similar entities at the end of all times and space for the final conflict, ringing in a new Omniverse or something like that.”

Martha said. “That does not answer, Sybil’s question. What has this to do with us? Even if we are playing a part as you say, how would you know it is an important one?”

“I don’t know Martha. All I know is that Immortals exist, I was born 2700 BC into the First Dynasty of Uruk. I did not know my purpose until the day after the Immortal Warrior destroyed the Guardian. This Voice of the Rule I mentioned elected or chose, perhaps even created many beings from all across the universe and from different species to take the role of Cosmic Elders, guardians if you will to ensure the decision will be made.

Each Guardian has the task to guide that society, the act of Richard Stahl killed Earth’s Guardian before its task was completed and thus I was asked to be its surrogate. Not that I fully understand myself, but I am Humanities guardian. Part of my job is to make sure humankind does not disappear and is not pushed aside before it can play its role. Not everyone wants that Decision to be made or agrees with the choice of who is to make it. One such opponent was a being known as the First Emperor, he existed during the first Galactic Revolution and lorded over an empire that included every galaxy of the Virgo Supercluster. This society achieved technology that is far beyond our current tech level. This First Emperor wanted to be the one that makes this Decision, but he failed and somehow vanished. His empire crumbled and broke into many pieces. Many eons later a cast of Technocrats guarded remnants of this technology. As I mentioned before, Sister is the product of this technology.”

“But what about Green Hell and why is Roy involved?” Martha wanted to know.

“Before the end of the war that ended the First Age of Knowledge; before the Seenians vanished and the Saresii became a one planet society, the world you know as Green Hell was a luscious garden world with nothing more dangerous than a Terran Tiger perhaps. Then something changed and the most dangerous life forms from across the universe were gathered on that world and their natural abilities intensified.”

Martha was making big eyes. “That theory has existed for decades, as nothing else could explain the many thousand different paths of evolution co-existing and developing at the same time. Yet no fossil records sustain that sudden change. All Green Hell life forms share genetics, but none appear to be from the same source. Researching this is the very reason we came to Green Hell, but Roy?”

Cherubim said. “While you and your husband were considered victims of a pirate raid, I was on Green Hell during the Kermac invasion. You know about that, right?”

“Yes, everyone on Green Hell knows about it. From what I understand, the Kermac tried to find the wreck of an old Saresii ship, supposedly to retrieve its technology.” She waved dismissively. “Even if there would have been anything left of that ship, after all that time, what technology could there have been? The Saresii called our world Mrtgtha, which means Murder-All and there is a corresponding record in Saresii archives. They discovered Green Hell, about 8,000 years ago, and determined it too dangerous after losing an away team that never returned.”

“That is the official version, and the one they tell inside Ant Hill. The Saresii of 8,000 years ago re-discovered Mrtgtha. They had been there before, but records of the First Age of Knowledge don’t exist anymore. The Saresii of that time were as advanced as the Seenians and used weapons upon which we are basing our Translocator Cannons today. But all this aside, you do know about your son’s ability to travel through Green Hell’s jungles unharmed like no one else.”

“He has friends, real Greenies who met with him outside.”

“None of them would dare to penetrate the actual jungles. Roy travels anywhere.”

“I did not believe it myself, but I know it’s true. He is well trained and adapted.”

“You do know he was eight when he first showed up at Ma Swanson’s? He had no training back then, no Bioseal suit, no weapons. Yet he traversed many klicks of the deadliest jungle in the known galaxy.”

She opened her mouth without speaking and then whispered. “He was eight?”

“We know he met Sam Brown, a year before and I suspect he was even younger when he stepped outside for the first time, Martha. Something of this world is protecting Roy. I was on Green Hell at the climax of events. The Kermac on the ground were defeated before Admiral Stahl showed up. Like other worlds, a Guardian is watching over Green Hell. We know nothing about it, but we know Roy has contact with it. We know the ancient Saresii ship exists, and we know it contains technology that is of the same source as the one that created Sister.”

Sybil said. “I cannot be more thankful for what you did to me. I must process and think about my next steps, but what I do know is this is dangerous technology, why should we help you get it?”

“Not get it, but destroy it for good and make certain the Knorr is nothing more than a dead legend.”

--””--

SOL HUB

The filthy looking man who stepped into his field of view could not have been much older than Roy. “Remember me, Soldier Boy?”

Roy did not answer. The gravitation must have exceeded fifteen gees, even his friend Dirmon barely moved.

The man was not alone, he was accompanied by three, maybe more. Roy’s eyesight was severely affected as much as his breathing was. Each breath felt as if he had a Petharian sitting on his chest. Like the others, he traveled officially and that meant uniform. He had nothing in terms of weapons, he did not carry his personal gravo adjuster. The only thing not issued was his private Wrist Com. He had taken it out of his effects bag after they had been told to wait for whoever would take them to Earth. He had hoped to find a few moments to call his girl.

Another voice, harsh with a rasp said. “Why is this fekker still moving, Virr? The human should be dead already.”

“I don’t know. I can dial up to thirty, but you can’t get any closer until he is dead. The Gravs are already deadly.”

Roy wished he could see just one of them before it was too late. He had little hope he could concentrate on his psionic gift enough to make it work, but it was his last hope.