“If life’s the doorway, then why hasn’t this emerged on other worlds?”
Grey vaguely felt that he had this conversation before. “Well, let’s see. This planet harbors life on hyperspeed. Dad selected strains of bacteria and plants that mixed with the electrical activity of Nine to intensify the effect. He learned this from Ferris’ writings. Other planets with life are far less likely to generate a big, gaping hole in the fabric of space-time.”
He sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought. His eyes lit up. “But, think about it. Every sentient species we know has a cultural memory of spiritual entities. On old earth in ancient days, gods, fairies, elves, you name it, walked among humans. All of us abandoned these ideas as we developed science and technology. But with technological advances, all of our species trampled the life on our planets into submission. I mean, earth was a complete shithole before the fall happened.”
Minns felt strangely calm. “As we turned down the dimmer on our environments, we lost our spiritual connection.”
Grey sighed. “Exactly. And what we have here is a spiritual connection gone out of control. Humans, even brilliant ones like dad, always mess things up. We just fail every time we dabble.”
They sat in silence watching the maelstrom before them.
It was during this strangely peaceful moment that Fen began screaming.
“Uncle Fen, what’s wrong?” Grey yelled.
The screaming drained into a low moan.
“We’ve to get to him,” Grey fired into the beings. Each curled hand dropped onto the ground, dissolving into the mud. The wall thinned and Grey advanced. Minns fired beside him and a small hole appeared.
Grey shouted to Minns, “Keep firing until I give you a heads up. I’m jumping through.”
“You’re completely insane. Let me know when you’re ready.”
They fired for another minute. Grey looked over at Minns, nodded, and said, “Here I go.”
She stopped firing and Grey dove for the hole. He cleared it with ease and ran toward his uncle. Fen was alone, curled on his side in a pile of dirt. Whatever beings held him captive were gone. Grey looked behind him. The hands continued swarming around Minns, seemingly unaware that he had escaped. Fen was conscious but clearly in pain. Grey kneeled down.
“Uncle Fen, what happened?”
“They fell down on me. I thought it was over. But then he — Fromer — appeared and they vanished back into the soil.”
“Fromer? Where is he then?”
“I don’t know. I’m so cold, Grey”
“You’re in shock. Hang in there.”
“Fen, I have more to tell you. Your father. Some of us in the Institute knew, understood, what he was trying to accomplish. This wasn’t popular with all of the Family members. In fact, there was a move early on to stop this project from proceeding. But your father had some very powerful allies, descendants of the Fuersts.”
Grey closed his eyes. “Verat’s family?”
“Yes, they were among his most vocal supporters. Verat was assigned to you by us.”
“What do you mean? I requested that he be stationed on the Platform.”
“Verat is your friend. But do you honestly think he’d willingly take this assignment as a favor to you? Be honest with yourself. Verat was providing us with unambiguous information. Some of the Institute leaders to whom you reported couldn’t be trusted to provide us with the entire truth.” Fen winced.
“Uncle, why would people resist the opportunity to link life and death in the universe?”
Fen was still for a bit, gathering his energy. “Grey, it’s more complex than that. Planets like these are a great potential source of power. Imagine the ability to travel anywhere in the universe — not just the galaxy like we do now — by visiting these places. For that matter, perhaps we can explore other universes, other times, other lives. There’s limitless untapped potential. We all have a spark of this in us. Some call it a soul or spirit. It’s a mere fact of life. This planet captures that energy. And it makes it a technological achievement like no other.”
Grey found himself feeling off center. “Wow. This is outrageous. Is this why we almost died on the Platform and the Raven? Was someone trying to stop us?”
“Correct. And I guess that the ruling faction of the Collective wants to destroy the planet now and dispense of the risk once and for all.”
“Uncle Fen, you know I love you and I hold dad’s legacy near to my heart. But I’m not quite sure that I disagree with the leadership. I’m unsure whether the trillions of us can handle the responsibility. Look at what happened to old earth. We can’t return to our own homeworld because of uncontrolled power unleashed by evil people. This — this place — could cause a catastrophe of galactic scale.”
“Your father and I debated this for a decade. I agree with you. Your father, however, believed that if the planet was held in the right hands, it could be used for research and enlightenment. Ultimately, it would ease the burden of our crowded worlds. Instead of the limited worlds we have at our disposal, we’d have galaxies to fill. We could spread out and never overpopulate and overuse again.”
“Ah, you young naïve boys.” Grey patted his uncle on the shoulder. “Hang on. Help will be here soon, I hope.”
Grey jogged back toward the monsters surrounding Minns. “Minns, start shooting toward my voice. I’ll shoot in the same area. Maybe we can clear a hole for you.”
Sounds of charges emerged from within the undulating mass. Grey aimed and fired with Fen’s powerful concussion rifle. The hands gathered before him. Instead of thinning, they braided and rose up, far above his head. Large, gnarled fingers reached out to grab him from the top. I am going to be pulled apart like Rhodes, he thought. He crouched and fired haphazardly over his head. The fingers darted toward him, their nails dripping with thick moisture from the fog. He could feel the sharp pressure of a fingernail on the top of his skull when a large mass hit him sideways. He tumbled to the ground to see an impossibly fast, glowing creature slashing at the base of the monster.
Fromer.
Minns appeared next to Fromer, her rifle blazing. Within a few seconds, the monster had retreated into the brown haze. Fromer turned to smile at them and then dashed away.
“What happened to Fromer?” Minns was astonished. “He was so fast. He seemed bigger. And did you see that glow? It’s like someone charged his battery. Something happened to him back there.”
“I think he’s dead,” Fen replied serenely.
Chapter 40 – Sleep
In the emerald haze, Melat communed with her first love, the Raven. Like all relationships, the conversation was about give and take. In this case, she was trying to convince the vessel to give her a very special gift. But to get there, it would take some sweet talking. The Raven was unsure about her idea. She was persuasive and would eventually get her way with a little patience and tenacity.
Melat looked at her scabbed and bruised hands. They seemed so fragile and thin. It amazed her that this would be the last time that she would look upon them. In a short while, she’d be free of her physical form, existing in the boundless void. This wasn’t suicide. She wouldn’t die. Rather, she would be so very much alive. She’d hold the threads of existence in her hands. She giggled. Silly, I won’t have hands anymore — unless I imagine them.
She had one more hurdle to jump and then the drop sequence would commence. The quantum drive began thrumming below her feet. She settled in the command chair and looked at the view screen. The outline of the shuttle was there in the haze. How she hated this planet. In fact, she hated all of existence. So, cold and hard. The only thing bearable was Fromer — his smile and wisdom. Yet, he was inaccessible. Another cruelty of this reality. It was time to banish all of this.