Chapter 28: An Important Milestone

“Zyla Grep Vandran is no longer a Grep, and I canceled her family name. I revoked her citizenship of our Dominion and declared her a fugitive from justice. She will be known and face justice as Zyla the Cursed. She can no longer own anything in the Dominion, and we confiscated her assets. The Cursed One has been a blight on our Empire for as long as I can remember. She was appointed Grep based on information we recently discovered was fabricated. She slowly showed her true form and kidnapped me after I confronted her as a thief and embezzler of public assets,” Agata explained. “I recently discovered she arranged an accident for my husband and the investigator Yarden Ouyahia. Both died and became creators. Creators are beings who specialize in building and maintaining universes and multiverses. We only discovered their existence yesterday.

“The cursed one decided to sabotage any hope of our people traveling to another multiverse. She was behind the explosion in one of our gate generators today. Horti informed you of her previous activities. We will remove every honor accorded to her.

“I bid you all goodnight; I will speak to you again soon,” said Agata and sat down.

The presenter rose to speak. “There is a special report which will be broadcast tomorrow which will trace the criminal career of Zyla the Cursed. We will explore her role in recent events in detail. We will broadcast the early life of our princess Horti, now ‘Queen in Waiting. The life of Emperor Jason Kargo will follow.”

Aubrey and Mystera stood wearing formal clothing near the entrance to the ballroom, waiting for the others.

“Horti, that is an outstanding outfit,” said Mystera. “It constantly changes colors and flows around you like a slow-motion liquid. It brightens and darkens and even changes shape.”

Aubrey looked elegant in Enphaet formal yellow and green, with a multithreaded shirt of a soft material that hugged his muscular body.

Horti smiled as she recalled his thin, nerdy body and acne-pitted face on Earth. Aubrey no longer walked bent forward and was no longer clumsy.

Sammy strolled up to them, dressed in a somber peacock blue bodysuit with a holographic pattern of cubes of black and white on his chest. He was much taller than he had been on Earth. He was no longer plump, and his face was more angular. Sammy was many times stronger than he had been and more handsome.

Heather arrived next. She was lovelier than on Earth, taller, muscular, and athletic. She dressed in a flowing robe with intricate lighted patterns of many colors. She wore silver sandals much less ornate than the rose gold sandals Horti wore, creating a complex network over her calves and up to her dress.

Craig strolled dressed in a tuxedo with a white shirt and black bowtie. He wore black patent leather shoes. Horti’s eyes were drawn to him. He was a handsome man, tall and well-built. He was gaunt but gaining weight and muscle every day.

Horti strode toward him and held on to his arm.

“Are we ready?” Sammy asked.

The others nodded.

“Follow me,” said Sammy. He walked stiffly and formally ahead of them. The doors opened as they ambled into the ballroom. The noise inside immediately ceased. Eerie music began and echoed through the room, haunting and unfamiliar. The assemblage rose as the small procession moved to the front, where Agata stood along with Jason Kargo, several women, and a man dressed in ornate robes. Agata wore a simple dark blue robe and a cowl that framed her dark elaborate hairstyle. Tiny media drones silently circled above them.

Sammy turned to stand next to Agata, as did Aubrey and Heather. Craig stood with Horti in the middle of the slightly raised platform.

A woman more substantial than most Enphaet, dressed in heavy flowing robes, an elaborate twirling head-dress rose in spirals a meter above her head, strode toward Horti waving her scepter

“I welcome our distinguished guests to the formal ceremony to raise Hortensaloupe Agataronipoli Erugam-Maguire to Queen in waiting and her future husband, Craig Kargo, to King in Waiting.”

She spoke for several minutes before placing a shawl around Horti’s shoulders, a conical jeweled hat on her head, and a band on her thumb. She put a pendant around Craig’s neck, a hat that an olden-day pirate could have worn, and a gold band around his calf.

“The second part of this ceremony is the formal marriage of Craig Kargo to Hortensaloupe Agataronipoli Erugam-Maguire.”

The ceremony differed little from an amalgam of diverse marriages Horti had attended. They rubbed noses like the Inuit, then kissed.

The audience roared, shooting their left arms into the air with thumbs held inward five times and shouting incomprehensibly. The Uzliumbax cheered, flapping their arms like chickens.

Both ceremonies were surprisingly short. Horti and Craig thanked the celebrant and assistants and looked around.

“That was a surprise; I didn’t expect that at all,” said Horti. “Hey, I can see my parents and grandparents, Basarab and even Orma Chatzke, coming this way.”

Horti ran towards them and hugged them one at a time. Her mother and grandmothers were tearful, as was her father.

Grandpa Chuck threw his arms around Horti and then looked at her. “Horti, you look even better than when we left here. I never understood why you turned out as you did on Earth. Aubrey and Sammy were equally different. Only Heather looked like her previous self.”

“Yup, I remember those days like they were millions of years ago. I looked like a potato on matchsticks. My arms were equally skinny. That prosthesis was a nightmare!”

“Come this way, Horti; your Earth parents and grandparents and your friends are all at our table,” said Agata and led the way.

Lisirra ran up and hugged Horti. “Congratulations, I am so happy for you.”

“Maslav, I can feel it is you. You look gorgeous in your humanoid form. I would never have expected you to have rich red hair and pale skin.” Horti excitedly hugged Maslav.

Horti and Craig were congratulated by the rest of her group, who then moved to a table next to their large one on a platform.

When everyone was seated, Agata rose.

“Welcome, guests from near and far. Many asked from the other multiverse about our people and how we evolved. I will explain our background. I will also comment on our investigation into what happened to Horti’s team after we sent them to your multiverse two million years ago.

“I want to thank Emperor Jason Kargo, his Empresses, Kings, and Queens for all the help they have given us on the other side. My formal thanks to Queen Maslav, who has returned for this celebration today. Her people did all we hoped they would do and more.

“We had our origins in the oldest universe in this multiverse and left before it collapsed. We evolved differently from those in your universe. We were based on silicon, and we moved slowly. An advanced humanoid civilization moved us before our universe failed to this one. They subsequently left our multiverse but warned us we must prepare to move on when our universe began to contract. That was thirty-seven million years ago. We migrated to a humanoid body and did well here. As our brains did not fit in the humanoids, we extended our brains into one of the dimensions.

“Our multiverse is much older than yours. This universe is the last one left of our multiverse, as the energy in the multiverse is too depleted to create any more universes. It is like a burnt-out star or a dead black hole with nothing more to consume.

“We no longer face difficult enemies here. Some small, irritating civilizations remain, but most have died out. We kept our distance from the Colza until two million years ago when we advanced our plans to move. Their Queen suggested an alliance and cooperation. They were close to our level of development, and we agreed on what would be done.

“We secretly built two ships in partnership with the Colza—one near Nearritika and the other near here. Our ships left at the same time. The trip took a hundred thousand years, and we could only take a few hundred thousand on our ship. All went into stasis except the guards, who rotated in and out of stasis.”

“Our goal was to construct the gate and subsequently activate it. We planned to create additional gates and transport individuals across. Horti initiated our gate. The Colza were unaware of the location of our gate. They amassed their resources on your side, anticipating the moment when we would build the gates. We followed the path recommended by our oracles.

“Our intelligence people put together what happened. Zyla’s people reprogrammed the AIs. The AIs killed the guards by evacuating the atmosphere, disabled our AIs, and killed the military in stasis. The AIs built the Dinnion gate but did not activate it. We could do nothing until Horti initiated the gate.

“Our oracles warned us not to use the Colza gate as the outcome would be poor. They told us to wait for Horti. They also instructed us not to send more ships.

“The people who became the Una were our scientists and engineers. The AI dumped them on a barren planet and placed their consciousness in a small ape whose brains were incompatible with our developmental path.

“The AIs transferred Horti’s advisors’ consciousness to Horti’s grandparents and later her parents. The AIs finally moved Horti’s consciousness to a fetus and gave her and her remaining friends and advisors a genetic poison to delay the action of her Enphaet DNA. That was why Horti was so small; her Enphaet genes did not manifest appropriately. The same happened to Aubrey and Sammy. They did not poison Heather. “When Horti was old enough, we activated her from here. It was an enormous effort to sense what was happening there and communicate with you. We influenced the Destroyer Priestesses, the oracles of the Parzool, and every seer we could to get things back on track. We would have been forced to use the Colza gates a week after you came to us, Horti. You arrived at the latest possible time. It was as the oracles foretold. Had we used the Colza gates, Zyla would have wreaked havoc on us.

“The secretary of Zyla the Cursed did a great deed. She copied Zyla’s slate and sent the data to us. We know precisely what Zyla would have done. By the time Horti arrived, Zyla had lost many of her planets and resources but was still a formidable foe.

“We found her plans and her assets. We confiscated everything. Our intelligence units work to unravel the sabotage efforts that extend throughout our infrastructure, military, intelligence, corporates, and nearly every ship and AI in our civilization. The scale of what she has done defies the imagination.

“She had records showing the explosives’ location on the generators. Zyla programmed our AIs to start a war as we passed through the first massive gate.

“Zyla has given our intelligence people a massive and formidable task before we leave. So far, we blocked Zyla from being capable of initiating the full scope of her insidious sabotage. The bomb on the generator powering the gate was triggered after the generator reached full power.

“We set up four thousand land-based gates and sent eight million through since Horti arrived. We will increase the gate numbers as fast as we can.

“Horti, I want to address my final words to you. Considering your adverse life experiences, I am delighted you, your family, and your friends have done well. Your family, on the other side, did an excellent job. My heart broke when you struggled to walk on your prosthetic leg. I cried when I saw the burns on your frail body. You and your friends did a remarkable job dealing with the Grork after you traveled to the Dinnion.

“Jason, thank you for giving Horti a dream team, Orma Chatzke for reconstructing Horti as a Colza God, and Basarab for welcoming them to your regency. Horti, you and your team have done an extraordinary job in the few weeks since your return. I will be sorry to see you leave us tomorrow morning, but there is much to do.

“I invite Emperor Jason Kargo to speak. This is truly a momentous occasion,” said Agata and sat down.

“I came from Earth as did Horti but left only a few years ahead of her. I had no idea I had descended from the Uzliumbax. I descended at the end of a disastrous trip chasing a false trail an enemy created to the universe Norbut 19, from where we originated.

“Like Horti’s father Lyes, I was sucked into a black hole along with my empresses and was resurrected by the creators. I don’t believe I had restrictions placed on me, but I don’t recall the experience of being spat out of the black hole and descending on Earth. Earth is a primitive planet that could only recently travel into space using chemical rockets.