by Grant Fausey
"This way," shouted Tennerick, heading in the direction of the scream. Hudson was right behind him, running at a full pace.
Tia raced through the wreckage, fleeing for her life, the sharp teeth of the beast right behind her. The nine-foot height of the dinosaur had an advantage over her. The beast could see where she was going before she arrived there. He was staying in hot pursuit. "Protoceratops!” Screamed Tennerick. "It's a Protoceratops! Nine or ten feet at least ... this way, come on!"
Hudson followed him across the jungle in a race to the wreckage of the cargo whale. They could hear the ravaging of the creature long before they reached the pods. "Over here!" shouted Jason Tennerick, pointing to where Tia had obviously exited the wreckage on her flight into the jungle. Tatiana ran through the jungle ahead of her, staying as close to the foliage as she could: Less tracks meant less steps. She was racing to help a friend she had never met. Tatiana slid to a halt, and searched for a direction. Shards of light pierce through the darkness behind her, revealing the monstrous shape of the beast outside the wreckage.
Tia screamed again. Hudson heard another angry roar: One farther away in the distance, but it was growing louder. The creature was about to have company, and that was something both Tatiana and Hudson didn't want any part of. The young, dark-haired woman scurried out of a small opening in the side of the cargo pod and ran through the wreckage into the forest. She turned a corner, darting between the trees and ran head long through Hudson Warner's chest, stopping abruptly against a tree.
The dinosaur ravaged through the interior of the wreckage, whaling as it ripped at the pod, destroying the place. Tia ducked into the underbrush. Hudson, arms wailing, palms up, dumbfounded by the incident, yelled. "Shit!" he screamed. "She's in another dimension ... or something. Damn it! How the hell am I going to help her, if I can't even get a hold of her? "
"You okay, doll?" said Tennerick as he reached out pulling her tight to him in a manly hug. Tia pushed right through him continuing on her path into oblivion.
"This way," commanded Kyle Travis in a stern voice. "Come on, let's keep moving. Don't let her out of your sight."
"Why?" said Tennerick just as Tatiana came running up behind her, watching in the same direction. She ran right through Tia, never patting an eye. Tia on the other hand, could see Tatiana. But she was so frightened by the incident that she kept moving.
"Yo!" shouted Travis. "She's in a dimension other than...
"I think we should keep moving," she said to Hansen. She had made a circle back to where she had dropped her commander.
"Yeah," answered the injured pilot, gloating over his injuries. "I think you're right!"
Tia took a good look at Tatiana for the first time. "Hey..." she uttered just loud enough for Tennerick to hear. She had realized the obvious resemblance. "Shit!" she said. "She looks just like me! A little younger maybe, but shit! She's me, don't you think?"
Tennerick huffed. Who the hell was she talking to? There was no one with her, or was there. Something moved through the forest beside her. A shadowy figure of some sort, it looked almost human.
"Did you see that?" he asked Travis.
"What?" answered Tennerick searching with both eyes wide-open? The shadowy figure moved again. "That," said Travis. "What the hell is that?"
"Don't know..."
"Hudson–– Where's Hudson?" Tennerick moved, searching the immediate surroundings.
"Over here," said Hudson. The others caught up to him fast, and looked down over a ledge to where Tatiana helped Hansen. Tia was behind them, moving through the jungle. She was obviously dazed, having found someone that looked like her. Everyone had a twin somewhere in the universe. It was obvious she had found hers, that's all! So what if they looked alike. Who cared! Maybe Hansen would, but he couldn't see her, so what he was in love with Tatiana. They were on an entirely different plane of existence than there cohorts. If only he could talk to them. Warn them.
"We'd better hurry," said the Self to Tia. "The others too!"
"The others," said Tia. "What others? I've only seen the girl." His voice was still echoing in her mind. Tennerick looked at her.
"Who she talking to?" he asked Hudson.
Tatiana shrugged her shoulders and answered, before Hudson. "Herself I guess."
Hudson's eyes opened. Had she seen Tia?
Obviously! Why else would she be answering him? She had heard his conversation.
Tatiana realized she had heard his words.
"Tennerick ... is that you? Where are you?"
"It's the principle of the thing," continued the Self. "Right..." answered Tia. This time Tennerick laughed. He was ecstatic. Tatiana had heard him. Something was bridging the cap.
"I'm quite capable of taking care of myself!" Tia continued. Hudson backed off. Raised an eyebrow as Tatiana came straight at him. She passed right through his body. He jerked. "I made you the promise..." stated the Self continuing his conversation with Tia. "I will not discard it. You have only to ask, remember?"
Tatiana took a careful look at Tia. She was clearer now. She could almost make out her outline in the forest. "Hello," said Tatiana. "Can you see me?" Hudson came over the top of the ridge, and hit the ground in front on her. "Can you hear me?" said Tatiana. "Hudson?"
"Quiet," said Tennerick. "Tatiana ... can hear us."
Tia spun around too, looking oddly at the ghostly image of Tatiana. "What the?" she asked bluntly, almost coldly. "Self, is that you?"
There was another thud, another dinosaur on the move. "Hudson..." said Tatiana. Tennerick moved closer, circling to stand beside were Hudson stood in front of her. "Don't move he told Tennerick. We're in some kind of threshold: A nexus of some sort.
"Will you shut up before you give our position away," snapped Tia as she glared at Tatiana. They looked like twins, mirror images of one another.
"Tiana, it's Hudson. Can you hear me?" Tatiana turned in his direction, looking past Tia to the ghostly images of Tennerick and Hudson.
"Hudson," she said with tears in her eyes. "Is that you?" Suddenly there were footsteps, human footsteps. The sound echoed in the forest.
"Remember," said the Self.
"Remember what?" barked Tia, looking past Hudson to the forest, seeing the dark image of the Self for the first time.
"I don't remember anything. I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't have time to figure it out right now, okay?"
"Wow," snarled Hudson, backing away. "This broad is nuttier than a fruit cake, which I hate by the way!" He shivered. Couldn't help it. Something moved past him on a course through the forest and it wasn't the dinosaur. It was a feeling, like someone had stepped over him somehow.
"What was that?" asked Tennerick, feeling the same uncanny breeze as it blew past him. Tatiana started to move, feeling the air with her hands as she reached out to take Tia's hands.
"Damn..." shouted Tia, standing perfectly still.
"Tennerick is that you?"
"Yes, Tatiana," said Jason Tennerick. "It's me. I'm right here in front of you! Just behind Tia Kern here, the young woman we came here to rescue. Tia I'd like you to meet Tatiana Marie, our second in command. We're here to help you...so don't move. Don't any of you move!"
"I can't see you," said Tatiana. "It's okay. I'll come to you. Just stand perfectly still. We're in some kind of threshold that overlaps different dimensions. Tennerick stepped closer then stopped. He examined her surroundings.
"I just stepped through something," said Tennerick. "Some kind of barrier." Tennerick took another step. Passed through another doorway.
"Staying any longer is dangerous, Tia," said the voice of the Self. "You're in the midst of a multi dimensional temporal displacement."
"A what?" she asked.
"I didn't say anything!" jumped Tennerick.
"Who the hell are you talking to? There's someone else here, isn't there? Someone we can't see."
"I don't know! Maybe!" Tia looked back at Tennerick. "It's in my head!" Tatiana
took a step. Her body became fainter, almost translucent.
"Stop!" shouted Tennerick, screaming at Tatiana. Don't move. She was beginning to disappear. "Please, don't move. You're vanishing. We can see you, but you're vanishing.”
“You're standing in some kind of temporal distortion! Back up, slowly," Tia shouted at Tatiana. Tia backed up with her slowly, but her image became fainter still.
"Where am I?" screamed Tatiana. "What the hell is happening to me?"
Hansen stood near the edge of the distortion now, reaching out to her. "Here," said the skipper. "Take my hand!"
Tatiana tried, but she couldn't. They were drifting into different dimensions.
"From here you can enter any place in the Source's universes," said the Self to Tia. "All time and space exist in this place. This is the rapture; a Nexusphere were all time is joined."
Tia backed away. A bluish, sparkling arc of electricity leaped across the open fields between the trees forming a web like structure. The energy struck the surroundings with electrical charges that encircled Tia and the others in an envelope of blue white light. Hudson crouched down looking for an adversary. But there wasn't one.
Tennerick pushed him back, putting a little distance between them and Tia. But it didn't matter. They were all caught in the same matrix. Hansen took a hold of her arm from the other side. He pulled at her as Hudson yanked her into his dimension in the other direction. The roar of the electrical field became louder. Tia was suddenly more frightened than ever before.
"Here I come..." she said leaping into Hudson's arms. "Now that's what I call taking a chance," yelled Tennerick trying to keep from slipping into another dimension himself as he pulled Hansen out of the woods and into his universe. Tia depressed the controls on the intercommunications device on her wrist and it began a countdown of numerals and symbols.
"What the hell is that," shouted Hudson, as Tatiana became a solid object in the forest.
"A rescue beacon," said Tia. "I dropped it back there somewhere. Let's just hope it still works."
Tatiana moved gripping a hold of Tennerick's arm, Hansen in tow. She hugged each and every last one of them. So did Hansen. The group was reunited. All that remained was to get away from the rift without losing anyone. Tia looked up, gazing upon her as if she was seeing herself for the first time. The resemblance was staggering, uncanny.
"We'd better keep moving," uttered Hansen. Tia tried to move, but she couldn't. It was as if she had been frozen in time. The portrait of the Self, the shadowy image neither male, nor female, but rather, the duplication of both at the same time walked from behind her.
"Oh my, God," she said in awe, staring in disbelief. "I can't move." The Self stood before her. Tia's mind raced, searching for answers to the millions of queries her brain was flooded with. But no answer was computable.
"It was necessary to immobilize you," said the being, his lips never moving. "You no longer need to be the cause of your own death, Tia. Nor do you need to be only a memory in the life of these fine beings that have come to rescue you. Life is too short to waste it so frivolously. What you seek is within you: the Source of all life. That which surrounds each of us is the consciousness of a higher existence. Infinitely, it's more you than you can imagine."
Tia stood tall, her hair blowing in the wind. She approached the Self. "Why after all this time have you shown yourself to me?"
The Self spoke vibrantly. "There's too much at stake for you to give away your power so frivolously. We cannot allow something as wasteful as forfeiture of ones own being. Death is simply a transition to another state of being. Much like what you have already experienced."
Who or what was this being wondered Hansen? Why did he seem to know this Tia? There had been no confrontation ... no who are you? What am I doing here? No wonderment concerning the unusual circumstances. It was if someone had preprogrammed him or her to this end, to have no fear, no query, or conjecture. They were acting out a play on a stage, and the stage was the universe. Something had altered it. Be it the explosion, the collision, the rupture in the space-time continuum, or the being standing before them. It was as if someone else had inscribed his or her first encounter.
"You must go..." interjected the Self. "It's important for you to return to your own universe. Only there will you make the discovery." Tia listened, but didn't understand. Not fully. It seemed simple enough. They wanted to go home, anyway. But how did this being known they were born of different universes? It was a question that deserved an answer. But one there wasn't time to answer. Only the Self knew for sure.
"They've come for you," said the shadowy being. "Remember."
"I must be dreaming..." said Tia whispering her own confessions. However, she knew it was going to take more than just waking up to interpret this dream. The rays of the rising sun cut across the horizon glittering the dim light into day. Tracker 421 approached from the south, just as the runner had approached earlier. The light of the tracker crossed the wreckage of the cargo whale and its tug, nearing the top of the platform. The machine circled and came in for a landing on the rig. Tia awoke in place of herself, and could move again. The self was gone only the voices lingered on.
"Be careful," yelled Hudson. "We're still in the midst of some kind of threshold. Looks like there's a good sized breech here."
"What the..." said Hudson staring." Tatiana looked up, seeing the spectacle on the horizon: A gleaming tower of light on the rim, brilliance in the night beyond the day. Tatiana's mouth drooped open. She was in awe. Before her the universe changed and where she had stood a moment, before no longer existed.
"Stand tall and be counted," echoed the voice of the Self. "Only then, will the nature of the universe be yours to unravel."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tia. "You'll figure it out, Tia Kern. I'm only keeping a promise." Tia smiled in spite of herself. She crossed her arms, awaiting her rescuers. The canopy on the tracker opened to the empty interior. Tia gasped at the pair of empty seats then as if by magic, she started to smile. There was a familiar voice. One she didn't expect to hear.
"Need a ride stranger?" asked Zez Lee. "Heard your beacon and figured you'd be looking for a ride."
Tia laughed; uncrossed her arms, and reached out to give Zez Lee a hug.
Zez blushed of course, and hugged her back. "You guys will never know how good it is to see you again," said Tia, keeping an arm around her well warn companions.
Tatiana smiled. It was a good reunion, one that she would remember as long as she lived. She turned away, putting an arm around Hansen. The tall hulk of a man smiled, gleaming from ear to ear. Flatbed emerged behind Zez, expecting a hug of his own and Tia was more than happy to oblige him. "I don't know what I would do with out you two," she said overcome with joy. "Do you know that?"
"Come on," said Tatiana. "Let's get out of here! Zez Lee ... fire this thing up, and let's go home!"
– 16 –
HOT SPRINGS
• • •
THE THIRD UNIVERSE
THIRD DIMENSION
"Mission log," said Trigen Three Four. "Up-link 0131.1. It's been twenty-four hours since our last contact with tracker four twenty-nine. Brian Thomas is continuing a multi phase search across the thresholds for any sign of markers dropped by Jake Stern or Jennifer as to their whereabouts. The runner team, along with Tia Kern returned to Campus via tracker 421. Trigen leaned against the railing, overlooking the Campus in the evening. The lights of the buildings above his head twinkled like stars in the heavens. He stared into oblivion as if he was part of another world. He gasped the air sucking it into his lungs before he continued his report. His voice was solemn, almost human in tone and conjecture. "Tia received a clean bill of health," he said to Trinod. "She's none the worse for her little mishap. Luckily, she's escaped major injury with only a few scratches and bruises. I must admit though, he thought to himself. I'm somewhat puzzled by this entity Tia Kern refers to as The Self. It's unclear how she survived the inter-dimensiona
l eruption, sending the message beacon transmission using her own life energy to power the broadcast, or reuniting with the crew of the runner. Trinod Rex agreed with him. Never before had he been so close to a change in the universe. Life was at his fingertips, laden with adventure he wanted to explore him self.
"It's not so hard to believe really, is it?" he asked Trigen. But he was actually carrying on a conversation with himself. The question couldn't have mattered. There was no answer. "It's just a matter of understanding," he reiterated raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps someday we'll all realize how fragile our origins are, and how they effect our lives."
"Maybe," said Trigen. "But I think when we find this Source, Tia's talking about, we'll find at least some of the answers."
"Again," said Trinod. "Logic prevails. Not superstition."
"Right," answered Trigen. "But if you ask me, and you did; whatever this thing is we've discovered, we'd better consider it dangerous. At least till we figure out what we're dealing with. It's upset the balance of every universe it’s touched. There's a need here I can feel it! One that we can't quite put our finger on." Trigen Three Four shook his head.
"Agreed," he answered. Somehow they had to gather information. There were people to rescue, mysteries to explain and problems to just plain solve. But like always, conditions being what they were, the mechanical counterpart to Trinod Rex, smiled. Campus was "normal", or "nominal" as Trigen Three Four put it. Trinod smiled too and walked away. He could almost hear the voices of his companions; they were all students and training to take their place in a new universe. For all he knew, Jake and Jennifer were caught by the blustering wail of a bitterly cold wind. Alone in the darkness, hidden and wounded. There was no way of telling. He knew only the success of the mission would rescue his companions and bring them all home alive. Jake and Jennifer thought so too; they were caught in the wake of a blistering wind: A gale force wind to be exact. Only it was outside, blowing hard across the icy plains of another dimension.
The howl of the wind drowned out the splashing waters inside a massive ice covered cavern, but Jake Stern was pleased with himself. He had a right to be. In the midst of all this temperament and dropping temperatures he had managed to find Jake Stern and Jennifer Riggs. He had rescued them from themselves. Together they had radioed base to let them know they'd found each other. But the message never got through. Instead of just hightailing it back to base, the group had decided to immerse their bodies in the confines of a rock formation, which formed a natural hot tub. The liquid bubbled, filling the tub with running waters from the streams of a hot spring. Curls of rising steam rose from the water in front of them, creating a curtain of fog to offer them privacy inside their wilderness paradise.