by J. D. Tew
‘I understand. But why?’ I wondered how I would get close to the temple, with all of its security.
‘We need Lincoln for this,’ Trazuline said. ‘My operatives in Diode told me that a Rangier cleric was en route to the city on a religious mission, days ago.’
‘Was?’ I ask. The smirk on King Trazuline’s face said it all.
‘Well, we have the cleric. Kidnapping him goes against everything I stand for, but I assure you, he is in a safe place.’ It seemed the frequency at which King Trazuline was violating his values was increasing every day, for the sake of the resistance.
‘So you are going to get me into Sephera, and then I will have to not only convince Lincoln to come home, but I also have to persuade him to adopt our mission?’
‘Home? Don’t fool yourself. He is home. I know the mission sounds tough, but you have had tougher battles. Wouldn’t you say?’
‘Yes, sire.’
‘I don’t have the time or resources to devote to your objective to see Eppa within the city of Diode. However, I support this, as I believe your visit to Diode’s temple, Eppa, will be illuminating. Eppa is a perplexing device, she could react in a way that may be harmful to you. She was designed by Zane, and probably the most complex mainframe in all of the galaxies.’
‘Wait, she? I thought Eppa was a thing.’
‘She is. We refer to the Eppa as she, because Zane designed the mainframe of the temple to have a feminine personality.’
‘Okay, I am ready.’
‘Then this is where it all begins.’ The king raised his hand, pulling back the curtain within the room. Between two cylindrical steel machines, seven feet tall, and above a thick massive titanium base, a swirling luminescence spun like a web of colorfully distorted mass. It was a mass aggregating cell displacer, plain and simple. I looked at him with questioning eyes and the king said, ‘This is what you wanted. You may not bring any weaponry. There is no need for it, and it is prohibited anyway. You will try not to engage with anyone beside Lincoln.’
‘What if I make contact with an someone, other than Lincoln, by accident?’
‘We will monitor your progress with Chrylon,’ King Trazuline said, as he pointed toward a tiny hovering chrome orb, the size of a marble with minute transparent dimples.
‘What the heck is that, a shrunken golf ball?’ I asked.
Trazuline said, ‘Since you have been gone, there have been major advancements.’ Beams of light projected outwards from the tiny ball, and formed a newly expanded sphere of imagery that now hid the Chrylon. A mosaic of screens appeared on the surface of this illusory sphere. This new luminescent globe now was about two feet wide in diameter. ‘Your in-mind computer—nanocom, is now obsolete. There is no need for implanted devices anymore. Now, we use individually assigned processing units that simply assist. This limits the occurrence of infection. We call this technology Chrylon.’ The aerial device hovered over his shoulder.
‘I want one!’
‘When you return, maybe,’ King Trazuline said.
I watched the screens. He showed me imagery of Lincoln’s Dieton-fabricated home on Sephera from intel they gained scouting during a mission that they executed before my arrival. It was as if I was looking at my exact block back home on Earth. Sephera was that good at replicating life.
‘Well, what are you waiting for? There is no sense in loitering. Oh but first, before you go, there is someone who wishes to speak with you. Guards, open the door please!’
The doors opened, and I saw my old friend; it seemed like forever, as it does when you see someone you truly care for. ‘Nilo!
‘Theodore!’ We clapped hands like brothers over our head and pulled each other closer for a chest-bumping hug.
‘It’s great to see you again!’ I exclaimed.
‘Theodore, do you have any idea how close you were to death?’
‘Yeah, I know about my scar.’ I rubbed it on my neck, once again shaken. ‘But I have no idea what happened. Please just tell me,’ I said, as we both sat down.
‘So there I was, hunting down a time violator. The violator... was my stepfather.’
‘That’s . . . confusing.’
‘Just listen. He was there to kill you, at your house in Texas. You lived there briefly correct?’
‘Yeah! I was just a baby though. My dad was a private in the military.’
Nilo took a deep breath to give me a summary of what happened. ‘The Dacturons sent my stepfather, Shad, there to kill you. Get it! The Dacturons doubled-down on your execution, by hiring my stepfather as an assassin. You were grazed by a plasma round in the neck, which is where the scar on your neck came from.’
I worried big time. I gave him a funny look because of the whole stepdad saga, and said, ‘I knew there was something going on. Everything changed and I felt different—like taller or shorter or something. It was if an alternate plane was converging on my own. I don’t know, I couldn’t put my finger on it.’
‘So do you see what I am telling you? They aim to kill you in any way possible, or at least Odion does, and by the fin of a sudulokin fish, they almost did. They’re crossing the natural barriers of time to do it and ... and I did my best to have the time chamber destroyed by the Council!’ Looking over at King Trazuline, Nilo continued. ‘If it is any consolation, I destroyed a Dacturon time machine as well.’
‘We are even, Nilo,’ the King said.
Nilo perked up again, and said, ‘Theodore, you have to forget about this mission to rescue Lincoln.’
I rubbed my fingers over the ribbed scar. ‘Why?’
‘Not only is this mission going to be near impossible, with the chance of failure written all over it, but we have no idea whether Lincoln would recognize you, let alone agree to anything you say. Plus, the Sepherans would likely eliminate anyone who doesn’t conform to their fantasy world. Don’t do it, Theodore.’
‘I made a promise.’ I said, more to myself, and then I shouted, ‘No, I’m sorry. I made a promise and I do what I say I am going to do. I am saving Lincoln. He is the only one that can get us into Eppa!’
‘King Trazuline, there must be another way!’ Nilo said as he turned to his king.
‘There isn’t, Nilo. It is too late to turn back,’ King Trazuline said.
‘Theodore, this replica of Lincoln was a product of Zane’s vanity. This replica is not your friend, but a weird reproduction of him. Don’t be golo man! I didn’t want to be the one to say it, but this cannot end well for us. He is a ghost trapped on Sephera, with the rest of the Dietonical automatons that populate it.’
‘I’m sorry, but I’m not budging. I owe Lincoln that much. He died taking my place.’
I looked at Trazuline and Nilo one last time to see if they wanted to offer anything else, but they were quiet. Then King Trazuline spoke. ‘Well this is your life, Theodore and you are choosing your destiny. One last warning. Wherever you end up on Sephera, you will need to return to the exact same spot in order to get back. Now go, you’re wasting time.’
As I stepped through, Trazuline yelled to Chrylon. ‘Chrylon, give me the coordinates. Thank you. Set course for eight-three-five-seven in the Quadra Mega outlet, sector seven-two-six.’
‘What now?’ I asked.
‘It’s time for a dip. It’s not all that different from the day at the cliffs when you were pushed into a teleporthole; well, except this time you will walk through. You’ll feel distant, like you’ve been scattered like dirt into a river, and then you’ll be pieced together. Go ahead, touch it.’
‘That’s saying it lightly,’ Nilo said. Apparently, his experience was much more based on experience.
The portal was cold as I placed my fingers into it. I felt like my hand was thinning like a spoon full of sugar dropped into a tall glass of water. It was as if I was diffusing into space. Stepping through the green swirling portal was like rolling through whitewater with a couple of floaters on my arms. That’s how it felt initially, as well as the feeling of being stretched near
oblivion. I was walking in blind, since I couldn’t see anything further into the vortex.
Almost instantly, I hit the Sepheran ground so hard that it sent signals of pain through my shins. I crumpled to the ground, attempting to recover. Feeling sick, I patted down my body to make sure everything was there.
Sephera wasn’t a heavenly representation of an afterlife, with vanilla skies and endless love. It was an artificial reconstruction composed of Dietons that imprinted upon my consciousness like cold steel pressed against my mind. I didn’t know how I would convince the Sepheran Lincoln to leave that place, because it was so accurately designed and the memories of our shared crusade among the stars may have been erased. I only hoped that he had clung to his human image for the sake of salvation.
One of my old neighbors, Dennis, was mowing his lawn. He was a good friend of my grandfather’s; Dennis had died of a heart attack years ago. Although he was mowing his lawn, there was no smell—no freshly cut greens or pollen kicked into the air—nothing. It must have been so boring for the Sepherans living there.
I started on the street toward Lincoln’s house and nothing tangible felt as it should. The asphalt looked like blacktop, but instead felt like cold bathroom linoleum. I rubbed my hand against it to feel for the coarseness of mineral aggregates and tar, but failed. Instead, the particles felt perfectly symmetrical, as if I was laying my hand upon the finest polished marble in the world. Everything, including the lampposts and bricks walls, was streamlined to facilitate—I guess—comforting symmetry. It was if Zane waved his magic wand, creating a near perfect reproduction of what his Dietons observed on other planets. The grass was so perfect, that there was no crabgrass to disrupt the serene serendipity. Near the junction of the driveway to the street, there wasn’t even a square inch of exposed dirt where that spot had been driven over a hundred times.
I walked down that fake representation of my road. Actually, I did traverse across it daily more than a year ago, but on the real one—on Earth. Strolling down memory lane, I recalled memories of carefree youth—days spent wandering, trading baseball cards, and reading action-adventures comics—which I did in my pre-teens. I saw Lincoln’s house in front of me. I thought about him, and how tough it was for him when he lost his mother to cancer. I didn’t know him at the time his mother passed away, but the memories of my grandparents dying at the hands of Odion were still too fresh in my mind.
And there she was. Lincoln’s mother. Just as he described her on the bus, over a year ago. She looked so real. In that moment, I wondered why I had even ventured to Sephera. Who was I kidding but myself? I felt horrible, guilty and foolish. Then I saw Lincoln helping his mother trim the front bushes using clippers. He looked so incredibly happy and content. That was when I realized that for me to pull him from his new existence would be to harm him. Why would I disturb his new sanguine life? He already died before my eyes, and perhaps it was time for him to rest in peace, as it were, on this planet of preserved deception.
From my education on the Uriel, I knew that Sephera was massive and designed to hold all species in a state of after existence. I started to walk away. I couldn’t continue. I would be a monster to pull Lincoln—the Sepheran—from its planet.
‘Hey! You there, what’s your name?’ Lincoln called out, even as I was still standing on his street. I was frozen. His voice alone caused my face to turn red. I stood, tingling and afraid. He quickly walked down his driveway to approach me. The Chrylon, cleverly enough, hid behind a bush as Lincoln drew nearer.
‘My name is Theodore.’
‘Theodore. Why does that seem familiar?’
‘Never mind. Do you want to hang out?’ I asked.
‘Sure,’ Lincoln said. ‘Where is your house?’
‘Ahhh.’ I was at loss for words. ‘My house is getting new carpet right now... yeah.’
‘Okay. We can hang out at my house, but my mom has been kind of weird lately.’
We walked up the driveway to Lincoln’s house, taking the sidewalk path to his front door. As I walked, still disbelieving this scene of virtual reality, I turned back; my Chrylon was now following us, but hovering a foot above the ground to stay out of sight. Lincoln opened the front door, and as the spring pulled it shut, I paused the door in order to let the Chrylon in. In my hand, the screen door felt as if it was humming. I even sensed a vibration within it, like placing your hand on a computer’s tower. It was warm and electronic, although it looked perfectly natural. The Chrylon sneaked through the gap in the door, only about three inches above ground. It then nestled behind the coat rack. Lincoln never spotted it once.
As I entered the front hall, I saw his mother approaching us from the kitchen. My heart froze. I didn’t want to speak with anyone besides Lincoln and complicate things further.
‘Hey Lincoln! Who is this?’ Lincoln’s mother asked.
‘This is Theodore. He’s new to the area.’
‘Oh. Where does he live?’ She asked.
‘I live just up the road in the cul-de-sac with my grandparents.’
‘Marvin and Laverne?’ She asked. ‘I didn’t realize they had any kids in their house.’
‘I’m just staying for a few days.’ She was asking too many questions. My heart was pounding and I was starting to think a good escape was in order.
‘Well. Since you are our guest, why don’t you have lunch with us?’
Lincoln placed his hand over my shoulder and pinched away at my shoulder muscles. ‘That would be awesome. Wow. You’re mushy. You need to eat.’ Lincoln said.
I was getting in way over my head. His mother reached into the fridge and pulled out the most perfect looking cake ever. She mentioned it was a pink lemonade layered cake, lined carefully with thick buttermilk and lemon scented frosting. Strawberries lay on almost every surface—perfectly arranged. She cut it, revealing its moisture rich and crumbling innards. Pools of saliva gathered in my mouth, teasing the corners of my lips. I realized how much I missed Earth food. She placed a slice in front of me and I grabbed it, like a raging raccoon set to devour a pie left out on a window sill to cool. I brought the slice to my lips, and I could smell the sugary goodness of the delightful treat. As I brought it closer, the slice of cake smelt a bit off. It actually smelt like my grandpa Marvin’s electronic razor, when I trimmed the peach fuzz under my nose. I placed a bite of the cake into my mouth and it disappeared, leaving a foul gassy odor in my mouth, like sulfur. I tried so hard to hide my disgust, and there was no telling what the substance was. It seemed the Sepherans were never really consuming anything. It was just self-destructing matter. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the faithful Chrylon. It was now perched above the fridge, looking like an innocent tiny golf ball—as if anyone could expect a golf ball on top of their refrigerator.
‘What do you think, Theodore? Great stuff, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah. Ahh, yeah. Wow... so good... I have never had cake that has tasted like this.’ I wasn’t lying. This was the most foul-tasting cake; it left a repulsive chemical film on the back of my teeth.
‘You want to hang out in my room for a bit?’ Lincoln asked.
‘Sure’ I said, walking behind him, as he led me through his house. Cleverly, the Chrylon was now rolling—yes, rolling—along the walls and the ceilings, rather than sticking out in the air. I again fervently wished I could have one, since its spying abilities were incredible.
When we got to Lincoln’s room, everything felt as the door did—fake—humming and full of energy. I knew then that everything in that setting was made of Dietons; they comprised everything. I picked up some Magic cards, which were awesome fantasy trading cards used for gaming. ‘Geez. You have some serious cards here. These could defeat almost anything I have in my arsenal.’
‘Oh yeah. That’s nothing. I think you mean, cheese, Theodore.’ Then he paused, again, as if he was processing some thoughts. ‘You seem so familiar. Have I met you before?’
‘Don’t freak out, Lincoln, but you must know. I am your be
st friend.’
‘Okay. Don’t get weird on me, pal,’ Lincoln said. He was examining me and leaning back at the same time. Behind him, the Chrylon appeared to move a fraction, as it sat in the corner of the ceiling.
From observing his visual cues just now, I knew the dialogue Lincoln and I shared in the past brought forth some sort of processing. So I dug further for the reaction I wanted. ‘I’m not just your pal,’ I said. ‘I’m your best friend. Remember, we found the intervention together—the Dietons. You’re the missing Linc!’ It was if I said the key words to unlock his memory. He paused as if he was computing again.
‘Yes. That is it. You are.’ He seemed confused and enlightened. ‘You are Theodore?’ Lincoln stepped backward. ‘If it’s so, then what did the graffiti on the back of the city bus say?’ He was referring to a particular ride on a bus on Earth, when Lincoln was human and not Sepheran. That episode actually did happen, and he was commanding it forth in his memory.
I took a deep breath and took my time, so that I would say it correctly. As I was about to answer, we were interrupted.
‘Lincoln, why don’t you invite your friend to play on our pool table,’ Lincoln’s mom said. I had the sinking feeling she was standing outside Lincoln’s room the whole time, listening to everything we had been saying. Lincoln’s real mother wouldn’t do such a thing, but then again, this all wasn’t real. This was getting dangerous.
‘Linc. You don’t have a pool table,’ I said.
His mom was quick to correct me. ‘We do, as of this morning, when the delivery came through. Wait, how could you know that, Theodore? Didn’t you and Lincoln just meet?’
I furiously calculated my options. I feared Lincoln’s mother was about to go rogue, and turn upon me like a vile Sepheran automaton. It was now or never. I had to reach Lincoln’s soul, right away. Answering his question from several seconds ago, I said, ‘It read: your mom is so fat, she pays taxes in three countries.’