LOST AND FORGOTTEN: Book 2 The Secret Path

by Maurice Barkley

  I saw nothing to indicate the presence of an elevator or anything else on the solid pink floor, but we obediently formed a tight group around our new leader. Due to the weak gravity, we hardly noticed as the floor began to ease its way down. It reminded me of a large piston, sliding down a cylinder. The walls of the cylinder remained pink as our descent became more rapid and the gravity began to increase. I tried to estimate the length of our vertical trip by looking up, but everything was the same color. It couldn’t have been all that far because our elevator soon stopped in a normal manner and with normal gravity.

  There was no door to slide open, just a tunnel carved out of the pink stuff. Amy took the lead and we trooped around the bend. Soon a gray metal door came into view. It slid to one side as we drew near. I didn’t know what I was expecting to see, if anything, but what I saw reminded me of the recreation lounge on the starship Voyager. It was a large, mostly gray room with black pillars here and there. Two sides had curved walls displaying shuttered portholes. Whoever designed the room used indirect lighting that was adequate, but subdued. The dominant feature was a lounge area with comfortable looking sofas.

  As I was looking at a low table, holding a complete banquet, the host of the feast floated into view from behind one of the pillars. I could see the similarity between YDRII and R2D2, but to me it looked more like a two-foot tall, oversized piece of Good & Plenty candy. It hung suspended a few inches above the dark gray floor. The white body was completely featureless except for the top cap that was a metallic gold and a bottom cap of buttercup yellow. The gold cap of YDRII was certainly what we saw poking through the portal back in the Hollow Mountain. There were no hands to shake, but Amy introduced us by name and when it spoke, the metallic sound seemed to come from that direction. The white surface remained blank.

  “Welcome,” it said. “Please sit and make yourselves comfortable. All I can provide at this time is food and drink enjoyed by ancient Egyptians. I think you will enjoy it, especially the wine. If you prefer a German meal, I do have a limited menu.”

  “The Egyptian food will be fine, I think,” Alice said.

  I was searching for something to say. This was a monumental event, but here we were behaving like guests at a friend’s home back on Earth. It never happened this way in the movies. I guess we were all struck dumb and borderline hysterical.

  “Does one of you speak for all?” YDRII asked.

  “She does,” M1 said, while touching Alice on her shoulder.

  “This is good,” it said. “It is much more efficient for a group. And please call me YDRII as Amy does. It is not my name, but very suitable for our purposes.”

  “I should tell you,” Alice said, “this experience is overwhelming. We have questions beyond counting, but unless you want us to question you, it might be best if we just listen.”

  “You have just given proof to the statement I made about the efficiency of a group having a single leader. I thank you, for you do have much to learn. Please feel free to eat or drink as I speak. Also there is a toilet through that door behind me.”

  M2 and Harry sampled a slice of what looked like a rough grain cake and sat back with a small glass of wine. As for me, my stomach was somewhere else. For a moment, I pictured Jean sitting here, reveling over this genuine Egyptian feast. My intention was to forget and move on, but I guess I don’t have total control over my intentions.

  YDRII began, “I will tell you about me, then the being Amy calls Moses will tell you more. For now, I will just say I am an extension of Moses and he is constantly aware of everything I experience except when he is dormant. I am a creation. I am not a robot as you think of robots, but it will be easier for you to think of me as one.

  “Perhaps you wonder about my ability to speak English?” We nodded in the affirmative. “With no harm to Amy, I borrowed a copy of her language memory and transferred it to Moses. The actual process is an electro mechanical procedure similar to reading brain waves. We are not mind readers. I can only broadcast to your minds and read brain waves after you have consented to patterning. Moses has this ability only through me. Amy also allowed me to copy a large amount of her memory and now we know much of that which she knows. Therefore, we have a good idea of the status of the Earth at the present time. We also have a copy of the memories of an ancient Egyptian. The memory of the German archeologist is inactive. I know some of you are German, but thanks to Amy’s memories, I know the Nazis were defeated and for all practical purposes are extinct.

  “Now, let me explain about me in terms that should be meaningful to you. A newly manufactured computer can do nothing. It needs to have an operating system installed, but still it serves no purpose until someone loads specific programs. I have a basic operating system and basic programs that allow me to function and perform certain necessary tasks. In that condition, I am not aware of my existence and this is vital. My current self-awareness is because of Amy’s memories, triggered by her arrival. As soon as Moses has fully awakened, my self-awareness will shift to his memories. If I should put her information into storage at this moment, my awareness of self would go to sleep. I would not be conscious of the passage of time.

  “The beings that created me occupied five planets at the time we left on this mission. We came here from a distant place in a near light speed star ship. Even so, the journey took many hundreds of your centuries. Although I have a memory of the time, it is more like seeing a movie of the event rather than having lived it.”

  So far, so good, I thought. I actually understand this guy. It’s probably using its equivalent of baby talk to communicate with us, but whatever works is fine by me. My stomach now allowed me to relax. I grabbed a slice of cake and turned my attention back to our host.

  “At the moment, we are in the starship I mentioned, buried just under the surface of this moon. Moses chose this site as a matter of convenience. The ship sustained some damage from a meteor strike that affects some of our communications, but otherwise we are intact. When Moses finishes his task, we will leave the ship here and return to our point of origin. The problem is that something has interrupted the task. I will explain more in a little while.”

  I got the impression that, in a very human manner, YDRII paused to gather its thoughts. “Let me state the obvious by saying that the universe is a very big place and no one knows its real extent. There are many intelligences scattered out there, but relatively few if one considers the space available. This galaxy is a very lonely place and that is why we are here. There are hosts of habitable planets within its confines and many of them have a form of life, but life that is aware of its own existence is rare. Our undertaking was and is to seed one of those planets with volunteers from Earth.

  “One curiosity is that your DNA is virtually identical to that of Moses. DNA similarities occur in many places in the galaxy, but yours is remarkable. I’m condensing this greatly, but this should give you sufficient grounding. We can talk about other things as we go along.”

  It again invited us to eat or drink and got a few takers.

  “I must tell you about the portals. If not for them, Moses and I would not be here. They are our only means of instantaneous transport. We did have a form of instantaneous communication, but the equipment suffered severe damage by the meteor strike I mentioned. In basic terms the unit relied on what your scientists would call universal quantum entanglement of the visible spectrum.”

  I tried to look intelligent, but no one was looking at me.

  “The portals are a manufactured item, made in pairs and only the two parts work with each other. This is why you saw three portal stations when you arrived. Each of them responds only to its mate and the linked mates are in very different locations.

  “A portal begins as a single unit. In a molten state during production, a strong magnetic field divides it. When cooled, the two pieces remain apart. The process does not split the atoms, only the binding force between them. Although the result of the separation is two surfaces, they are in rea
lity the same surface and require no power to function. If an object approaches either of the surfaces, it can pass through no matter the location of the other surface. The last step is to frame each one. It contains the barrier curtain and patterning information. It derives what power it needs by induction from ambient magnetic fields.

  “When we first arrived here, we were carrying three portals, but just one of them was a complete set. Half of that set is the one in the Hollow Mountain. In short, in order to transport instantly over vast distances, we must first place portals at both ends. The initial placements can and in this case did take thousands of Earth years, during which time Moses was dormant.

  “In every sense he is a person and in a shape you would recognize. His aging process is similar to yours although longer. For that reason, he has also been dormant for that period between the Egyptians and the Germans. When we terminated our contact with the Germans, Moses returned to the dormant state where he remained until Amy called up the portal. His revival process is almost complete and he will be joining us soon.”

  At this point YDRII rose up a bit and I think it spun around, but the surface was so smooth it was hard to tell. It almost looked agitated. “Moses has made two attempts to complete our mission. The first, which should have taken less than twenty years, was with the Egyptians. We do not simply take a group and transplant them without preparation, but a natural disaster interrupted that process. There was a flood that killed a portion of the selected group and its leaders—a man and a woman. Communications broke down and the remaining population buried the portal along with the leaders.

  “Over seventy years ago the process began again, but Moses ended it when the humans corrupted the process. The Nazis secretly gained knowledge on how to access the portals and even the transfer station.” YDRII again did its little bounce and spin. “Fortunately, Moses was able to stop them before they got too far. Now we can begin once more, however, there is a problem.

  “The basic plan is for a living being and his extension to travel by starship to a chosen location. Once there, they set up portals, prepare and send immigrants to their new location and conceal the origin portal. Finally, they will leave the starship in a safe location then the two will return to their point of origin via the third portal.”

  M1 had a question. “Why does the living being have to make the journey? Why not just join the ship after arrival by using a portal?”

  “There is a reason for having a living being on the voyage,” YDRII said. “The assistant, in this case me, is unable to function unless its host is in close proximity even if dormant. Automated starships experienced limited success. It proved to be too risky in time and effort to rely on machines alone.

  “Once the process is complete this arrangement of portals will allow us access to Earth and the destination of the immigrants. This will give us the ability to monitor progress and hopefully, at some future date, initiate contact.” There was another pause. I could detect no movement and after a moment, it began again. “Here I must tell you more about the portals. At the successful completion of this mission, two of the three will remain here as a substation. One will remain as access to Earth. We will move the second to Earth where immigrants will use it to go to their new world. The remaining portal links back to the Nexus. It is a point of origin where you will find hundreds of thousands of portals that will take you to places all over the galaxy. The Nexus itself is on a small planet devoted entirely to hosting and maintaining the portals. As you can imagine, it is the most important and the most critical link in the entire system. I know its defenses are superior and many safeguards are in place, but something went wrong at that end and the portal-to-portal connection has broken. Perhaps shattered is more appropriate.” YDRII began to float to its left. “Moses will be joining us momentarily, but meanwhile I will answer any questions you may have.”

  “I have a question,” Amy said. “As we talk to you, we refer to you as it and that doesn’t seem right. You are not a simple object. We would like to assign a sex so that we can call you he or she.”

  “Since I don’t have a sex,” YDRII replied, “I don’t know how to help you resolve this dilemma.”

  “Can you create a copy of yourself?” Amy asked.

  “No, I cannot,” It replied.

  “Then you’re a guy!” she exclaimed. “We can call you a he.”

  I had to agree that it was easier to think of the Entity as a he rather than an it. We explored the food items on the table. The grain cake was bland, but there was a delicious lentil and onion stew and some first-rate dates. The wine was good, but I don’t think it was up to Batts standards.

  I had a question for Amy, “When YDRII copied your memory, did you feel anything?”

  “You bet,” she replied. “It was like watching a movie of my life on super-fast forward. A lot of the memories are fading fast and that’s a good thing. Total recall is a total curse.”

  Before she finished Moses joined us by simply walking into the room from behind the pillar that YDRII had used for his entrance. We all stood up. It was an automatic reaction. Alice held out her hand and Moses smiled and took it with no hesitation.

  Amy was correct. Although his skin looked like frosted bronze, his form was that of a tall, human sized, young man. What Amy failed to mention was that his head gave one the impression of the drawings of ancient Egyptians. His eyes were large and slightly slanted, but the Moses impression was there, albeit a very young Moses. His only clothing was a toga colored the same as his skin.

  “I welcome you again,” said Moses, in a deep voice that generated a touch of envy in the shallow end of my brain. I always thought that if I had had a voice like that, I would have had more luck with the girls. “My extension has given me your language and Amy’s memories. I find it necessary to join you at the table. I haven’t consumed since breakfast over sixty years ago.”

  With that bit of light humor and odd word choice, he put us at ease while shaking our hands and repeating our names. He had apparently already met us through YDRII, but it was a comforting formality.

  “And please call me Moses,” he said, while filling his plate. “You are unceremonious in that respect and this is a good thing in a consistent group.”

  I noticed that he was breathing like a regular person. His eyes glinted with moisture and I saw a random hair sprouting from his left ear. This was not Plastic Man. He might not be quite our flesh and blood as we know it, but this guy was alive.

  “Those of you of German extraction are especially welcome,” he said, “because you are free of the Nazi curse.”

  Alice had a question. “Yes, speaking of the Nazis, just how long were you in contact with them before—.”

  Moses raised a hand, palm out. “All in good time, please. YDRII has detailed files which you will be free to peruse.”

  Ms. Dance said nothing, but I saw her forehead wrinkle as she fought to hold back a full-blown bug eye.

  “Built on what I have learned from Amy,” he continued, “you have a remarkable record of accomplishment for the fresh past. She has a very high regard for all of you.”

  We all looked at Amy and there she was blushing again, only this time her face was flaming red.

  Moses saw this. “Amy, I say sorry for your discomfort. I hope you can forgive a stranger from far away who has yet to acquire your customs and sensibilities.”

  “Of course I can,” she mumbled, as Alice gave her a big smooch on one of her red cheeks.

  “It wonders me,” Moses said, while popping a large date into his mouth, “that one who is so courageous is also so sensitive. Is it because the one you wish to mate with has not yet initiated the coupling?”

  This comment resulted in another display of flaming cheeks, along with bulging eyes and an open-mouth gasp. M1 choked on his mouthful of cake and M2 spilled some wine on his jacket.

  “Oh, boy,” Alice said while planting another kiss on her other cheek. “Buck up old girl, he only speaks the truth. Way t
oo much of the truth, but he isn’t from around here.”

  Harry, holding a wine glass, stepped over and gave her a soft punch on her shoulder. “Relax kiddo, you’re one of the Band now.”

  She looked up at him with a wide smile on her lips, but I saw a tear of gratitude trickle down one flaming cheek.

  Moses swallowed while reaching for some of the cake. “Perhaps it would be better if I refrain from these comments until I get to distinguish you better. It pleases me greatly that such an admirably equipped group was the one to discover the portal on Earth.”

  “Please forgive our curiosity,” Alice said, “but what are we admirably equipped to do for you?”

  “As it stands now, the only way I can return to my home is to use this starship which would take thousands of years. It would also lastingly dismiss any plans for Earth and some personal plans of my own. I would not like to return a failure. With your help, I hope to gain enough information to salvage this mission. I just don’t know the extent of the problem at the Nexus. It is entirely possible that I will never be able to reappearance. No, I think the proper word is return. I need some time to adjust to your language. At this point, I cannot even make a guess, but with your help, I think I can make a start. I will show you my first problem soon.”

  Moses finished eating and had a sip of wine. “If you will arise with me to the portals, there is something I need to show you.”

  Once up top, Moses led us into the second portal chamber. Inside he closed the outer door, pressed his palm on the console and the green stuff parted. I inquired about these consoles having only a single circle and Moses explained that the one on Earth was set up to prevent unauthorized use. Unfortunately, the Nazis overcame that barrier.

  “You only need patterning once,” Moses said. “It is an external process that uses your DNA. We will arrive in a sealed dome with large windows. There is life at this new place. You have had no inoculations and the new life has no security against things you may bring. Anyone arriving to stay will receive a treatment to eliminate those threats.”