Terminus Rising

by T. R. Harris

  After studying the membrane of this universe, Panur found U-5 to be a curiosity, and the first galaxy contacted was of particular interest. Most of the indicators were inconsistent with past data drawn from hundreds of galaxies. So either the scouts weren’t reporting accurately, or there were mysteries here that required his direct attention.

  By this time, the invasion and conquest of galaxies had become routine for the Sol-Kor. Even overlooking the tragedy of the Qan in U-4, the process of entering a new galaxy to begin the harvesting process was fairly well-established, and therefore, Panur didn’t feel the need to visit every galaxy, having lost interest in the process over the centuries. However, this galaxy would be the exception.

  First off, the advance units were reporting the discovery of not hundreds, but thousands of advanced species. In none of the previously harvested galaxies had more than one thousand eighty races been identified. Panur was sure there were a few stragglers within these galaxies, but with how easy it was for the Sol-Kor, they didn’t feel the need to explore every corner of a field in search of that last, elusive race. They took the path of least resistance, grabbing only the most obvious and accessible before moving on.

  But this galaxy was offering thousands of potential harvests, and all in plain sight. This fact alone was enough to pique Panur’s curiosity. Why so many?

  The other curiosity was that when the Sol-Kor linked to the solitary TD portal in the galaxy, they came through the opening fully expecting to find a vibrant race nearby operating the portal. Instead, they found the facility on a barren rock in the middle of nowhere. It was functional but unmanned.

  To Panur, this meant the builders of the array were expecting something like the Sol-Kor to come through—a threat—and until they understood it better, they would remain anonymous. This spoke of an intelligence and awareness never before seen throughout four previous universes.

  But it was after Panur made the jump to this new galaxy that the mysteries became even more interesting.

  The membrane signature of the isolated TD portal was easy to detect. What wasn’t were the tiny jump traces he noticed in the fabric of space/time once he arrived. He’d never seen signals like these before; a series of microscopic rips in the membrane crisscrossing the galaxy. This indicated individual transiting portals—as one would find in a space-drive capable of inter-dimensional hops.

  It took a lot to shock Panur, but this did it. Here was evidence of mobile portals, capable of linking to dimensions without corresponding portals in the other universes. Even he couldn’t see how that was possible—not without putting a lot of thought into the problem. But for Panur, just knowing a thing was possible gave him the incentive to study the subject more, and soon he had a working theory.

  But this only made the mystery more puzzling. Panur found evidence of thousands of transits across the galaxy using this new technology. However, what he also found was that this technology wasn’t new, at least not for this galaxy. He detected tracks of ever-lessening intensity. He knew the healing rate of the membranes due to TD interference, so he knew these tracks went back thousands of years. And those were just the ones he could detect. He had no doubt the signals went back millions of years, if not more.

  The reality of his findings was startling. A species had developed TD technology long before any race discovered so far, his included. This spoke of a superior intelligence never before seen in any of the universes Panur had visited.

  And then the mystery grew even more confounding.

  None of the deformations in space/time he detected were more recent than four thousand years before, none except the lone TD array that first brought the Sol-Kor to this galaxy. It was as if four millennia ago, the technology was lost—or repressed.

  Panur bubbled over with excitement as he began his study of this strange galaxy. It held so many questions for the mutant genius. He thirsted for something to challenge his intellect and his powers of deduction. This galaxy would be just what he needed.

  Since there had been no inaugural species to harvest, the Sol-Kor were required to sample the individual races they encountered as they spread out around the portal array. Although the facility was on a desolate rock, there was still an abundance of starships transiting the area, and curiously, of multiple designs.

  The beamships proved effective against these vessels, and the initial testing of the quality of the food stock was extremely encouraging. Samples were processed and sent back to Kor for analysis, after which a full-scale operation was mounted. The stock was of superior quality, especially that of a race identified from ship’s computers as Juirean.

  But then an even richer strain was discovered.

  And this was when Panur intervened.

  He suspected there was a superior master race in the galaxy, one that might provide the answers to his questions, and he didn’t want it harvested before he had a chance to study them personally. Whether or not this richer strain they’d just discovered was his mystery race, he couldn’t take the chance. So when a ship containing several of these creatures was captured, Panur had it diverted to the portal array before the crop could be processed.

  The mystery deepened when it was discovered the beamship transporting the captives was itself being followed. Only by tracing the unique gravity signal of the Sol-Kor vessel would such a thing be possible, indicating a superior level of technology and deductive reasoning from the crew of the chase vessel. Panur allowed the beamship to be tracked until just before it reached the trans-dimensional array. There it was subdued by a beam attack.

  When Panur and the Sol-Kor boarded the tracking vessel, his curiosity was rewarded. The three creatures aboard the ship appeared to be immune to the effects of the suppressor beam, although they hid this fact from the Sol-Kor. But not from Panur. Out of all the universes he’d traveled, this was a first. No advanced species was resistant to his suppressor pulse until now. Was this the race that built the portal array, the same one that had been using TD technology for untold centuries? Would they give him the answers he sought?

  To find out, Panur had the threesome moved to his laboratory aboard the Sol-Kor flagship for further study. And that was when his destiny changed forever.

  9

  …aboard the Aris space station

  Panur looked with interest at the datapad Lila set before him. It contained the results of the latest test they’d conducted on the mock-up. The data were encouraging.

  “The rate has slowed,” he announced. Lila smiled sweetly. She had already scanned the files. “I have always said pressure is the key. If both universes were of equal pressure, there could be no blowout. So the question becomes, how do we reduce the pressure around the breach? We now have the answer.”

  Lila took a seat at Panur’s desk. They were aboard the huge Aris space station, having worked tirelessly on the problem since the Sansa left in search of the Arya. The seven remaining Aris contributed as well; however, there had been a secondary rupture near one of their sentry posts. The Aris sentry was overwhelmed, with his containment center torn apart and his body cast away into the void between universes. He would survive, but his body was gone forever.

  This meant the station had to be rebuilt and another Aris brought in to serve as the circuit, channeling the unbelievable energy produced by the transfer back to the host universe. The process was an amazing feat of technology. Each sentry post was a hundred-kilometer-long tube of conducting material. Through a combination of unbalanced valences, energy from a vast amount of surrounding space became warped toward the tube where an Aris was held within a coil of conducting wire. His instantly regenerating body formed a circuit breaker for the incredible flow of dark energy entering the tube before being sent out the other side and back into the originating universe. The tear wasn’t healed, but the pressure for this part of space was equalized, keeping the damage from growing. There were eight such stations placed at intervals along the light-year-long breach. Although the energy flowing between the points
was invisible, the warping drew in stray particles from surrounding space, exciting them to the point of illumination. Million-kilometer-long-arcs of yellow light met at the ends of the tube, like threads in fabric, the tighter the loops, the smaller the rip.

  Panur and Lila found a way to allow the loops to close, essentially forming a suture on the wound.

  But for it to work, they needed to relieve the pressure around the tear. Panur knew what was needed.

  “We can use the lightship.”

  “Will it be big enough?” Lila asked.

  The egg-shaped, trans-dimensional starship was the pair’s personal transport vehicle, invented by Panur several years ago and used exclusively by the mutants. It was called the lightship because of the radiant glow it produced when underway, the effect of the engines being built directly into the hull to conserve space.

  They brought it to the Aris universe in the hold of the Sansa but removed it when Adam took the ship in search of Summer Rains.

  “It will work perfectly,” Panur stated. “It has the most-concentrated warping system of any ship. With it, we will not have to make our punctures as big in the neighboring universes, just enough to relieve the pressure.”

  “We will have to be precise. Otherwise, we could create a duplicate of what has happened here.”

  “I realize that. That’s why the lightship is our best option. The holes will be small, but deep, breaching the membranes to a point where they will naturally heal, but not for some time, allowing our own tear to repair itself.”

  Lila nodded, grasping the concept immediately. The pressure around the major tear was keeping it open and forcing it to grow incrementally. By opening holes to other universes, the nearby pressure would be reduced. The Aris sentry stations could then increase their fields, bringing the separated fabric back in close enough contact that natural healing could take place. A weak point would always remain in this vicinity, but that couldn’t be helped. There were already countless leakage points between every universe; that was just the nature of existence.

  Panur recalled back to a time several years ago when he first read how Human scientists were perplexed by the unexpected expansion of their universe. By all accounts, it should have been contracting, but it wasn’t. It was expanding, causing everything within to accelerate.

  What the scientists didn’t realize was that the universe was expanding from the constant inflow of new material from adjoining universes, such as what was happening now, but on a smaller scale. He found it simplistic for them to believe that all matter arrived at the moment of the so-called Big Bang. That was just the major event. Being a relatively low-pressure dimension, dark matter still leaked through the membrane constantly, adding volume. More volume pushed everything away, making it appear as though galaxies were speeding up as they raced away. In reality, all that was happening was space was still growing, increasing the distance between objects. The universe of the Humans was destined to eventually become a dead universe, perpetually expanding until all the objects within were beyond detection by any other.

  What the mutants had to do now was relieve the pressure in the universe they were currently in so the influx of dark matter at this breach point could be slowed or stopped. After that, the Human universe would have to be monitored, searching for evidence of artificial weak points created by the overuse of trans-dimensional space drives. Fortunately, not too many races possessed such technology. Not yet. It was a technology which was its own worst enemy, something that could be used, but only in moderation and with care. Knowing the consequences for its misuse would help if the users took responsibility. If not, then another blowout was just a matter of time. Panur and Lila were determined not to let that happen.

  The mutants revealed their plan to the Aris leader, Nunki, who embraced it with enthusiasm. With only six Aris left outside the sentry stations, he would leave two at the space station to work the larger computer system onboard while everyone else made the journey to the planet that served as the base for the monitoring equipment and construction site for the sentry posts. There they would plan the next phase of the operation.

  The site was called Terminus Base, and it was where an army of Aris robots constructed the conducting tubes and circuit chambers used by the sentries. Panur and Lila took their tiny TD starship and began transits to a number of the universes with the most direct contact to this dimension, checking pressures and access points. They didn’t have to go far; the closer to the breach, the more affect their punctures had on the pressure of localized space/time.

  As the days passed and progress more was made, there came a mood of optimism filtering throughout Terminus Base. If the plan worked, two universes would be saved from premature destruction. And then, with enough foresight, something like this would never happen again.

  10

  …approaching the Aris space station

  The signal was strong and constant, with the target directly ahead. Te’moc was traveling between two gigantic star clusters, their gravity influence warping this part of space in a cosmic game of tug-of-war. He’d studied the data files aboard the ship and knew of the crisis being faced, understanding that this particular area of the space/time continuum was already weakened by the tremendous tidal forces of gravity. It made sense, that with a little artificial stimulus—like that from a series of TD transits—a breach would form. And now the Aris and the mutants were making a valiant effort to stop a full-scale blowout.

  Te’moc huffed. And that is just what Panur would do, he thought. The mutant had always felt he alone could solve the mysteries of the universe—any universe—all universes.

  He may be right, but Te’moc did not care. This wasn’t Te’moc’s universe, and neither was the universe of the Humans. And with the TD starship he was piloting, he could return to his dimension at a moment’s notice, safe from the catastrophe about to take place here … and elsewhere.

  But first, he had unfinished business with Panur.

  He was surprised when no challenge greeted him as the vessel the Humans called the Arya neared the Aris-built space station. But what did the Aris have to fear? The transponder was for a ship that was within their catalog and would be returning after the completion of its mission to the Human universe. Those within the station would welcome its arrival and the news it would bring.

  Once jumping to the coordinates found within the Arya’s computers, it had taken Te’moc three days to follow the track to the station. That was enough time to complete his healing. He was ready for extraction fusions, his only regret being that he did not already have a dose of J’nae essence within him. It would have made his task a little simpler. J’nae was an immortal, and her assimilation would give him substantially more resistance to injury, although not complete immortality. Unfortunately, he wasn’t like Panur, or even the hosts the mutant built for J’nae. He wasn’t even like the Aris, with their ability to absorb energy directly. This prevented him from acquiring all of J’nae’s abilities, not without a vast quantity of the essence, if even then. But with Panur inside him, he would be complete.

  Te’moc had to marvel at the ingenuity of the Aris. From what he’d learned at their base, they were not naturally capable of absorbing energy directly, but early in their evolution realized that would be the most efficient way of preserving their bodies over the long term. Biological processes ravaged the body through the conversion process, limiting the lifespan of such creatures. The Aris always had a fanatical fascination with longevity, so they began a centuries-long experiment to modify their bodies, first through the use of mechanical attachments, and then through gene manipulation. Eventually, they acquired the ability to absorb energy directly through their skin, and from a variety of sources, even from the air itself.

  Because of this, J’nae’s essence was able to easily merge with their bodies, giving them what they sought—immortality through instantaneous regeneration.

  For Te’moc, even with the assimilation of all of J’nae’s lost essence, he
still wouldn’t be immortal, but he would have an unbelievably long lifespan. The only caveat: He could still be killed by natural forces.

  But he had a solution to his problem.

  He would go right to the source.

  Panur was the key. His body was unique—Te’moc would know; he helped create him. The distilled essence from his original body had once been inside Te’moc, and if he had had the wherewithal at the time, he would have never transferred his essence to the host. But that was a time long ago, and Te’moc had learned much since then.

  He wouldn’t make the same mistakes again, at least not concerning Panur. If he had the chance to fuse with the mutant, he would take it without a moment’s thought.

  The Aris station loomed large in the viewport, with directional beacons guiding him to a landing bay. Te’moc knew only fifteen Aris survived to become immortal, with eight of them sequestered in the vast apparatus currently employed to keep the universes from merging. That left seven to deal with … plus the mutants.

  He thought for a moment about Lila Bol. She was unlike anything ever created. All other immortality came from artificial manipulation of life essence. However, Lila was a natural-born immortal, the only one of her kind, although it was naive for anyone to assume she was the only one in any universe; existence was too big to make that assumption. There could be others. Still, Te’moc wondered what she would be like, and what her reaction would be to his assimilation of Panur and the Aris? It was a given she would not stand idly by while Te’moc in effect destroyed two universes. Even so, he could not let her interfere with his plans. He had to assimilate Panur first. Then he would deal with Lila Bol.