Penticore Prime

by Mark Chevalier

  “So,” said Candor, “what brings you here, my friend?”

  Zyphon pulled him close so they could speak without being overheard. “Since you won’t allow me to see your new moritainyoss, I’m going to let it be a surprise.”

  Candor felt his excitement drop, realizing that Zyphon was going to keep him in the dark. “Come on, Zyphon, don’t be sore at me. I told you about the new moritainyoss, and I’m doing some new things that I only want you to see when it’s done. It would spoil it if you knew ahead of time. Don’t worry though, you’ll be front and center on opening day, I promise.”

  Zyphon considered it, smiling as he leaned in even closer. “My mind is set in this matter. I shall make you wait, since I have more time to linger than you do. However, I will tell you this,” he said with a sly grin. “I too have made a breakthrough in my work, and it concerns nothing less than every Penticorian that lives under Eos.”

  “What is it? Come on, you’ve got to tell me.”

  Zyphon’s eyebrows rose with delight at seeing Candor squirm, his grin stretching from ear-to-ear. “I will only say that it has to do with the nanites that I told you about.”

  Candor thought back to the day he’d been rejuvenated. Zyphon told him that he was working on a new class of Healers, but Candor didn’t remember anything more specific.

  “What do they do?”

  Zyphon took a step back, and his excitement was palpable. “Now that is the question,” he said. “But as you are so fond of saying, ‘That’s for me to know, and you to find out.’”

  “All right,” replied Candor, raising his hands in surrender. “You got me there, I’ll wait.”

  Zyphon clapped Candor on the back, and together they made their way down the stairs. As it turned out, Zyphon’s box was directly adjacent to his. At first, Candor thought that the boxes were assigned by family lineage, or traditions that had been passed down over the centuries. But when he saw that the family crest at the front of each box could be changed, he surmised that seat assignments were given prior to each session. This made sense, since a citizen needed to be close to the dais when called by the Senedos Seiss. He was about to ask his mother a question, when a loud gong sounded throughout the arena. Immediately all the background murmuring ceased, as everyone took their seats. A moment later the voice of the Tulacoss City Interlink echoed all around them.

  “Session eight-seven-five, point-six-three-three will now come to order. Please stand in honor to the Goddess, and for the grace Eos has bestowed upon Penticore Prime.”

  Everyone in the arena stood and in one voice replied. “For the grace of Penticore Prime, Eos shall reign forever.”

  A powerful and melodic symphony began to play, and all eyes turned towards the radiant photonic image of Eos above them. Candor hadn’t done much research into Penticorian music, or the instruments they used. He made a mental note to do so after today, because it flowed through him in an endless river of strings, winds, drums, and horns, that were married with tones he had never heard before. It rose and fell like the waves of an ocean, and Candor stood taller without even being aware that he was doing it.

  The music continued as the Senedos Seiss entered. Candor noticed because they were seated close to the dais, and he caught the movement in his peripheral vision. Yet even they were forgotten as the photonic image of Eos began to rise toward the top of the dome, synchronized with the music. The stars overhead faded as the light from the Sun illuminated the dome, while above that, Candor could see a portal opening. He saw the arms and fingertips of the fifteen statues above the dome, and the ring of infinity that joined them all.

  As Eos continued to rise, Candor couldn’t help but feel that he was having a religious experience. He finally understood how important the worship of Eos was to the citizens of Penticore Prime, and tears formed in his eyes because he felt it himself. A deep reverence fell upon him. Respect for the fact that after almost a million years of civilization, Penticorians just might have figured out more about life than any human could ever dream.

  “May the everlasting light of your radiance shine down upon me,” Candor said in prayer to the Goddess. It was an ancient prayer he repeated, a prayer that was nearly as old as the Penticorian civilization itself. In that moment, he believed that the Goddess was real, and would hear his heartfelt appeal. “Behold me, Goddess, and that which I suffer, because I shall uphold that which is high in your sight. For I regard the line of my ancestors back to the beginning of all things, and may I stand honorably among them, forever.”

  A hand touched his shoulder, and he turned to find his mother looking at him. She had tears of joy in her eyes, because up to this very moment, Candor resisted his parent’s belief in the Goddess. Now he accepted the grace of Eos, and it made her beam with delight. She smiled warmly and then looked back up, Candor following her gaze just in time to see the sun merge with the ring of infinity. He knew that from outside the dome it appeared that fifteen towering Penticorian statues were holding the sun in their outstretched fingers.

  It must be magnificent, he thought. Even though he felt that it was just as impressive from inside the dome.

  Suddenly the colors of the photonic sun intensified, as the music reached a crescendo. Brilliant hues of orange, red, and yellow, illuminated everything both inside and outside the dome. Candor was awestruck, as all at once the sun imploded with a thunderous crack, followed by a brilliant outward explosion that showered the hall in drops of light that fell like rain. At once everyone in the crowd cried out in a loud voice, “Eos!”

  The sound was beautiful, and inspiring, leaving chills to creep their way down Candor’s spine as the crowd took their seats. A bell sounded, and the names of each of the Senedos Seiss appeared, floating high above the dais in bright gold letters. The one in the center, whose name was Demast Kashon, arose. He was an old Penticorian, with skin that was a darker shade of blue-gray than Candor’s, and eyes with large black pupils that looked like two glimmering stones of onyx.

  “Welcome, my fellow citizens,” he said in a deep voice that was amplified throughout the arena. “This is a most historic occasion, and is being seen by all in the fifteen cities of Penticore Prime. As we all know, our time grows thin, as each day the oxygen continues to deprive us of carbon dioxide. Yet our history has shown, time and again, that as a race we are both resilient, and determined. Some of you have expressed the opinion that the Goddess has abandoned us, and that we must take destiny into our own hands. I have heard it articulated that Penticore Prime is but one planet in a host of billions. That to change the environment outside our cities would be a perfectly acceptable form of self-preservation. Now I agree that would be the path of least resistance, and technologically we could accomplish this task in short order.”

  Demast paused, as all eyes focused on the leading Senedos Seiss. The vast arena was quiet, without the slightest sound or the rustling of robes. Candor could understand how politically and personally charged these issues were. Although he agreed with some of the sentiments before coming to the Great Hall, now he wasn’t so sure. Because he felt the touch of the Goddess in this place, and could feel the conflict between the need to survive, and traditions that reached back over countless centuries.

  “Yet I submit to you that this is not our choice to make,” Demast continued. “I submit that this is a test by the Goddess to prove our devotion, and strengthen our resolve. On this day, our determination will be forever etched into the pages of history. I ask that Seiss Sador Shuveen, Sentak Seiss for the city of Tulacoss, come forward. Through him, and those that work with him, we now have a solution to the obstacles in our path to survival. We are one.”

  “We are one, for Penticore Prime,” said the crowd in reply.

  Sador rose from the box and nodded to Candor, who had no idea that he was about to be broadcast all over the globe. He tensed as the realization sunk in, and felt his knees grow weak. Janesska smiled, patting him gently on the hand as he passed. The gesture gave him comfort and
strength.

  “Take heart. You will be fine, little one. Your father and I are both so proud of you,” she spoke to his mind during the brief touch.

  He simply adored his mother. Were it not for the fact that he had to stay next to his father, Candor would have knelt to kiss her on the cheek. Together, father and son approached the dais. Far above them a series of large photonic projections magnified their images so that everyone in the arena could see them.

  “I thank the Senedos Seiss for the honor to address the citizens of Penticore Prime,” Sador began. “I am humbled in the service of our great race. For without their sacrifices, I would not have been afforded the opportunity to perform this vital work.”

  The Senedos nodded in appreciation, while Demast said. “We are honored by your unyielding dedication, Seiss Sador. Please continue.”

  “I have asked my son, Candor Shuveen, to stand with me and be recognized. For he does me great honor in the house of my forefathers, and he is well known in the city of Tulacoss.”

  “We welcome Candor Shuveen,” said the crowd as one.

  Candor thought he was going to faint. And somewhere in the back of his mind an old limerick dislodged itself from his subconscious, forcing him to suppress a smile.

  ‘Give honor to mum and to dad

  And don’t murder folks, ‘cuz that’s bad!

  Adultery’s wrong

  So is stealing, along

  With saying your neighbor’s a cad!’

  He had absolutely no idea what to do, or how to respond, but Candor knew that he had better do something. He cursed inwardly for not having taken the time to study the Senedos Seiss in greater detail, or the rituals surrounding the proceedings in the Great Hall.

  How was I supposed to know that I’d be on display for the whole world today? This just came at me out of the blue this morning, he thought as he pursed his lips.

  Then Jinx’s words came to him. “Then may I suggest that you ‘chill out,’ or ‘be cool,’ in the Great Hall of the Senedos today.”

  Candor fought back another grin as he placed his hands by his sides and bowed. “I thank the great citizens of Penticore Prime for their welcome. It is my honor to serve them, and to stand at my father’s side.”

  There, I said it, he thought as he stood tall while scanning the faces of his father and the Senedos Seiss for any negative reactions. He almost fell over with relief when Sador smiled, and the Senedos nodded their approval.

  Candor was grateful when Sador continued, drawing attention away from him. “My team and I have prepared a demonstration. This will outline the nature of both our difficulties, and our discovery.”

  A hole opened in the floor, melting away as a platform emerged. On the platform were six of Sador’s junior scientists. While between them was a large seamless glass cube which sat on a granite pedestal. Inside the cube there were other shapes, each one both within, and smaller than, the one that preceded it. First the cube, a sphere followed, then an octagon, hexagon, heptagon, triangle, dodecagon, isosceles trapezoid, rhombus… On it went, until Candor’s vision could no longer see them, successively lesser geometric shapes that appeared to go on for infinity.

  Sador gestured to one of the scientists, and she motioned towards the others. It took four of them to affix a large plate over the top of the cube. While the other two began running suspended cables from the plate, to an access point in the floor. Candor realized that there was some serious technology at work, because for the most part, Penticorians relied on Healers. Yet this required actual construction, and the skills associated with it. He also realized that the roughly ten-foot-square granite pedestal was hollow, as he could see a complex series of undulating lights pulse beneath the base of the cube. Another hole opened beside the first, and a platform containing a series of control panels emerged. The controls were lined with multiple photonic images in brilliant colors, which hovered above a base that was filled with a series of crystalline control rods.

  “Since the inception of the In-World Faction, our efforts have been focused on generating sufficient power. The magnetic energy provided by the towers cannot generate a stable portal, one through which we can search for a time that is better suited to Penticorian physiology,” said Sador.

  “We know that the spacetime continuum is curved by the mass, and motion, of the universe. By way of the Holographic Principle, the entire universe can be viewed as a two-dimensional information superstructure, which overlays the cosmological horizon. For we know that the four dimensions we observe are only an effective description at lower energy levels. Yet through our understanding of the Unification Theory, coupled to the Universal String Constant, we know of the existence of eleven parallel dimensions. Each dimension carries with it its own unique signature of time, space, and matter. And we also recognize that specific points in the continuum join, or link, these superstrings at different intervals.”

  Sador touched a patch on his arm, and eleven wavy tubes hovered above the crowd. Rotating but never touching, they pushed and pulled off each other in a symbiotic dance that Candor found beautiful. Pretty much everything his father said was over his head, so seeing a depiction helped.

  “We are here,” said Sador. A red dot appeared near the lower half of one of the strings. At the same time the magnification increased, so that only the strings to either side of the dot were visible. Candor also noticed that between the tubes there were interconnecting branches that slid between them, moving as if they were composed of liquid lightening.

  “This is our position in spacetime,” continued Sador. “The actual coordinates are a string of equations that extend past one-billion decimal places, in each dimension. For the sake of expediency, we shall call this point, Penticore One.” Sador tapped his control patch, and an arrow appeared with the designation, P1.

  “Observations indicate that a suitable habitat exists, nine-hundred-million years into the future. Which can be plotted to this point.”

  A green dot appeared, and Candor was confused, along with most of the crowd, because he could hear the rising murmurs. As they looked on, they could see that the green dot was next to the red one. Which begged the question as to why it was so difficult to travel such a small distance? Fortunately, his father had an answer for that. “If I were to extend the string dimensional vortices, they would be infinite. Although in spacetime the distance we will be travelling is finite, I can assure you that this is a tremendous undertaking. If we miscalculate by even the smallest fraction, the requisite time dilation will cause us to miss our destination by millions of years. Yet more to the point, we are not gods. No matter how great this technology, we cannot break free from the superstring dimension in which we reside.”

  The crowd erupted in a frenzy of heated conversation. “All is lost then!” shouted some. While others cried out, “We must act now! We must release the carbon dioxide from the planet immediately! Yes, we must alter the climate of Penticore Prime! We must not see ourselves extinguished!” Still others simply placed their head in their hands and wept.

  “Order!” said Demast. “We must have order! Please, my fellow citizens!”

  And just when everything around them appeared to be headed for unabashed chaos, Janesska came before the dais. As she spoke, the crowd fell silent. “My brethren, I would ask that you calm yourselves. My husband did not come before you this day to incite riotous actions! There is hope in abundance! First and foremost, my husband is a scientist. He must present the difficulties before the solutions, so that you may all gain understanding as to what we must do. What you do not realize is that my husband and his team have been where you are right now. They have despaired for us, they have wept for us, they have toiled for us, and they have overcome! So, I implore you, allow him to continue.”

  Both Sador and Candor stood beside her, each one holding a strong but delicate hand. They were a unified family that was soon joined by the other scientists, all holding hands in a circle as the crowd of thousands fell silent.


  “For the honor of Penticore Prime,” said Janesska.

  Immediately everyone in the arena bowed in respect to the influential matriarch. Hands joined throughout the arena until at last not even one remained empty.

  “One race, under Eos,” she finished.

  “For Penticore Prime,” the crowd repeated in a unified voice.

  Sador leaned forward, kissing Janesska in thanks for her intervention. In over eight-hundred years his love for her never wavered. His only regret was that he did not bond with her sooner. He simply couldn’t imagine himself without her. She was the part of him that he could never be, because as a scientist, emotions were a struggle for him. She was his soul, his passion, and his voice during times when he felt lost, or overwhelmed.

  “My fadosh,” he said as the crowd took their seats.

  Janesska kissed both him and Candor. She turned, ready to depart, when Demast said. “Honor to you, Matriarch Shuveen. Your words command both wisdom and respect in this Great Hall. We of the Senedos Seiss are in your debt.”

  Janesska bowed in acceptance, and then returned to her seat as the crowd erupted in thunderous applause. Once decorum was restored, Sador continued. “Shajin Janesska is correct. There is hope. I beg your forgiveness, in that I did not make that clear from the beginning.”

  Sador turned his attention toward the crowd, and he sensed a tension that stood on the precipice of another outburst. Choosing his next words very carefully he continued. “On the string dimensional vortices above, please take note of the conduits that run between them. Our studies indicate that they are super-space tunnels. Now as you can see, these tunnels are in motion. We believe that their function is to maintain the distance between the strings, thus preserving the integrity of the continuum.

  “After measuring these phenomena, we know that these tunnels are stable. What we propose is that we traverse one of these tunnels. As you can see, there is an apex through each one that intersects the string we currently occupy. One of these is approaching our time in two-thousand years, six-months, and fifteen days. It will intersect with our time for a period of twelve years, and extend nine-hundred-million years into the future.”