New World Rising: A story of hope born out of tragedy

by Sloane, Lynette

  Chiron-del played these games too. They intrigued him so much that he swore to find the Time Master when he grew up.

  Once he was asked to give the thought for the day at morning assembly in front of the whole school. “I’m going to restore the lost years stolen from my people,” he declared with an earnest look on his little face. Of course all the children cheered and started chanting his name, and the assembly descended into chaos.

  After gaining the highest level degree in New-Race genetics at Omicron University, Chiron-del went on to work in genetic research with Howard.

  Being a great-grandfather at thirty-nine gave me something new to tease The Brat about. He had been very distant and subdued in the years following Chrissy’s death but had lately got back that lost sparkle in his eyes. I knew then that he was working on something both exciting and classified. If it had this effect on him it had to be good.

  Chiron-del didn’t seem too interested in settling down with a girlfriend although there had been quite a bit of interest in him from the opposite sex. He had the same ‘dark pool’ eyes and muscular build as Olan, which made him very attractive to New Race women. Several earth girls had been interested too.

  New-Race people are physically attractive to humans and vice versa, but, while relationships of this sort are accepted socially, for anyone wanting to have children they are a ‘no go’ area. You see, although the original hybrids were a result of the bonding of human and Aapa DNA, this had been accomplished in a laboratory. No physical contact had been necessary. In fact, Coitus between the two species was a physical impossibility so some people had been very disappointed.

  Although he was attracted to the opposite sex, at this time Chiron-del’s interest lay in his work, although he wouldn’t speak of it to anyone outside the employ of the Omicron Research Centre. Honestly, he could be as secretive and infuriating as Howard. The two of them should have been twins.

  I saved my notes and closed down the tablet, getting to the bathroom just in time to turn off the taps before the bath overflowed.

  I stepped out of my clothes, sank down into the precious water, and lay back letting the cool, refreshing bathwater cover me up to my neck.

  Soon all the cares of the day were floating away. I shut my eyes and rested in a twilight place somewhere between consciousness and sleep.

  Chapter 9. Transipor

  Memories of Chrissy came flooding back. I had always been very fond of my sister-in-law and missed her a great deal. She and Howard had hoped one day to have a child, but one or other of them had always been too busy. First it had been Howard’s work, then they had both moved from earth to Theta Dayton Four where Howard’s work had got in the way again. When his workload had finally eased Chrissy got the news that her father was very ill, so she returned to earth to look after him. Finally, about the time she had returned to Theta Daylon Four, Howard was recalled to Earth for six months as part of some research project or other, and so it never happened for them.

  Chrissy had always loved abseiling and so when she got the opportunity of abseiling down the Transipor Precipice near the hatchery caves—known as the Transipor Challenge—she jumped at the chance. Howard was still away on earth and so he wasn’t around to talk her out of it. The idea was that you would run down the side of a rock-face with a harness and safety ropes. In my opinion, abseiling anywhere was very dangerous, but nowhere more that at Transipor … but then Chrissy had always loved taking risks.

  The team leader, Anton, had told me this was an organised trip with full safety protocols, so any risk should have been minimal. There were even antigrav suits provided for each person, which would activate in the unlikely event of an accident, slowly lowering the wearer to safety. One only had to remember to turn them on.

  The first descents weren’t too dramatic, only about eighty metres or so, but on the sixth day of the excursion Chrissy’s group of twenty people were scheduled to descend from Arguah Point which was the full seven hundred and twenty six metres high. Special hard-light lazar ropes had to be used because of the extreme height. It made my legs go weak and my palms sweat at the mere thought of it.

  Everything was fine at first. Anton was a professional abseiler. He sent his partner down first then stood by each person in turn as they began their descent.

  “Set your antigravity suits to auto,” he kept reminding everyone.

  Last one to the bottom has to buy lunch for everyone else.” Soon only Chrissy and he were left at the top of the rock-face. She peered over the edge looking down the dark reddish brown rock-face into the abyss below. Several group members were still running down the rock-face, appearing as tiny as ants as they disappeared into the distance.

  “No one will think any less of you if you want to transfer back to the club house,” Anton said, trying to reassure her and make her feel better.

  “No … this is the whole reason I came. I’ve been dreaming about the challenge for ages.” As she stepped over the edge she shouted back, “You owe me lunch.”

  Chrissy did very well at first. Anton later told us that he was very impressed; this was her first time at Arguah Point. After she had run down around three hundred metres her lazar rope failed. Her pace suddenly quickened and she screamed out. The base-site instructor tried to restart the lazar rope, but it had completely cut out. Everyone below looked up in horror expecting her antigrav suit to slow her fall, but it didn’t. Despite the constant reminders, in her excitement and apprehension Chrissy had failed to set it to auto.

  The base instructor yelled up to her, “Activate your antigrav!”

  The end came very quickly. Chrissy fell, still running and struggling in mid air, grabbing at anything she could. She fell past several of her team mates, still screaming … falling further and further to a terrible but instant death on the jagged rocks below.

  ~~~

  Howard had been on board the Omicron Flyer when the news arrived and he heard of the tragedy. The ship was just leaving earth’s orbit on the way back home to Theta Dayton Four. He sat at his workstation in stunned silence for many minutes then got up and left the bridge without a word. This offence would normally be worthy of a severe reprimand, whatever the circumstances, but the captain understood and never mentioned it again. A junior officer looked over to the captain who nodded and the officer walked across the bridge and took over Howard’s station.

  Eight days later, when Howard returned to Omicron City, an open-air remembrance service was held in the lowlying Kaps’ta Hills. This had been a traditional burial site for thousand of years. The sun was shinning, as usual, but there was a lovely cool breeze. A pair of small Crintor birds perched in the bushes nearby, chirping throughout the service. Chrissy loved wildlife; this was a lovely touch.

  We were all still in shock, but no one as much as Howard. He was naturally very subdued. Chrissy had been everything to him. Even when he had been caught up in his work for weeks at a time he still spent whatever time he could with her and often bought her little gifts.

  Nor-man’di, Taima, Zultrane, Logosti, Chiron-del, and I were all present at the service. Nor-man’di had never been very close to Howard but that day she gave him a long hug and whispered in his ear, “I’ll always be there for you Dad.” He was her human and only living parent, but she had never recognised the fact before, so this was a real breakthrough in their relationship. I sometimes wondered when I would see the fourth generation of this family. Because Howard had fathered Nor-man’di and Olan, this made them my family too. I was Auntie Bally, Great Auntie Bally and even Great-Great Auntie Bally to them respectively. The thought of it made me feel old … and I was still only forty-three.

  Chapter 10. The Meal

  My bath was getting cool, so I quickly shampooed my hair, gave myself a quick wash down, then got out and dried myself. I chose a cool, flowing dress for the evening’s activities. We were having a family meal at a very exclusive restaurant. It was a grand occasion; having the Sovereign Head of State and the first, second, an
d third in succession to that title with us was the closest to a Royal Family gathering you could get on Theta Dayton Four. The press would be there—these days, an entourage of reporters, photographers, and security men seemed to follow the Sovereign Head of State everywhere she went.

  Nor-man’di was bringing a large shuttle to pick everyone up. Apparently, Ch’ron and Howard had some important news to tell the rest of us. I glanced at the clock; I had time to spare.

  I restarted the tablet and opened a file containing all the electronic post Ch’ron had sent me. Next I copied and pasted an extract into the journal.

  I sat down and read my downloaded text. It was dated eleven months previously:

  January 2082:

  Dear Bally,

  I feel the time has come for you to know the whole truth about the Temporal-Genetic Experiment, as you are almost as big a part of this whole adventure as Howard and I have been.

  Last week I made a major break-though in Temporal Science. (Howard too has been making exciting progress in genetic research). Our idea is to combine the two sciences in one momentous experiment. I’m not saying that there won’t be an element of danger evolved, but if all goes according to plan the outcome for New-Race Peoples will far outweigh any personal risk I will have to take.

  By the time you receive this note I will be on my way to Earth. –- Hope to see you real soon.

  Love Ch’ron xxx

  The idea of Ch’ron travelling to earth and combining temporal science with genetic research had made me feel uneasy. As soon as I had read the note I tried to contact Howard, but his secretary told me that he was playing golf on a small satellite orbiting Theta Dayton Five. Of course this was untrue; Howard always gave this kind of excuse when he was up to something and didn’t want to be disturbed. I wondered what it was.

  Nor-man’di’s shuttle landed outside my apartment so I collected my transponder pendant from the fridge, made my way outside, and climbed aboard. Nor-man’di, Taima, Logosti, Zultrane, Ch’ron, and Howard were already inside.

  “Why don’t you answer your calls?” Howard demanded. “I might have been trying to contact you urgently.”

  “You’d have emailed if that was the case. Anyway, I couldn’t. My transponder was in the fridge,” I answered, trying not to laugh at his bemused expression.

  The shuttle driver flew us to a large country hotel two hundred and seventeen miles away. Despite the distance we arrived in a matter of seconds. The others seemed amused at the way I was still holding onto my seat.

  “I’ve never been this fast in a shuttle before,” I explained. “Why didn’t we transfer?”

  “I wanted to show off my new trans-shuttle,” Nor-man’di explained, with a smile. “We only hit fifteen hundred miles per hour.” She gazed out of the window. “The hotel’s closed to outsiders this evening, so we can have some privacy. A few select members of the press will photograph us as we go inside, then they will leave. We’ll eat before we hear what Howard and Ch’ron have to say.”

  The meal, of course, was wonderful, but I couldn’t help being distracted, wondering what news could justify such an occasion.

  Once we had finished the three courses and everyone was full, Nor-man’di gave the signal for everyone except our party to leave the room.

  Once they had gone she said, “Over to you Ch’ron. Tell everyone your news.”

  Ch’ron looked nervous and excited.

  “I’ve found a way to speed up, slow down and reverse time,” he said. “I won’t bore you with the technical details; I’ll just keep to the facts. Howard hasn’t been able to restore the lost years to the New-Race people yet, but has managed other significant breakthroughs. He and I devised a plan to send me back in time to the Research Centre on Earth a week before he and Bally originally left on the Omicron Flyer. Tell them about that night Howey.”

  Howard eagerly joined in the explanation, “Ch’ron stepped into the temporal capsule with his small black pilot’s case and waited while I set the temporal slide scale to December 2nd. 2073 at 11.47 am. We would only get one chance at this, so we had to get it right. We were both feeling very nervous and apprehensive but knew the purpose behind our actions that day was the most worthy of causes.”

  The two men spoke excitedly as one, taking it in turns to retell their story, almost acting it out in places.

  Ch’ron added, “Howard started the countdown … ‘Temporal activation in ten seconds… five seconds… three, two, one. Initiating sequential dial’.”

  Howard interjected, “I watched Ch’ron as he started to say something, but his words were lost, slowed down to a tenth of their original speed, then a fiftieth, then, he seemed to freeze and … suddenly he was gone.”

  Ch’ron was animated, “Time inside the temporal capsule had been slowed to a standstill and then reversed at increasing velocity. At the point where it had reached December 2nd. 2073 at 11.47 am. it slowed to a standstill once again and Howey transferred me directly to earth through the space-fold coordinates that he now knows by memory.”

  Howard’s turn: “If everything had gone to plan Ch’ron had been transported back through space and time to the small building in the Research Centre and would be re-materialising in the capsule, back in our time, almost immediately.”

  “Everything went to plan perfectly,” Ch’ron said, with a grin. “But from my perspective things took a little longer. I had some very important work to do in my new time frame—before I returned to the future and Theta Dayton Four.

  “While I was standing in the temporal capsule I witnessed Howard’s movements starting to speed up and heard his words become unintelligible. Then his actions blurred as my eyes were no longer able to work quickly enough to process the information they were receiving. At this point everything became bright—brighter than anything I’d ever encountered. I felt as if I were floating and being pulled backwards by an invisible force. A moment later the force lost its strength and speed and released me.

  “When the light had become too bright to bear, I’d instinctively shut my eyes. I now opened them and found myself standing in a small room. An extremely elderly gentleman lay on a hospital bed. This, of course, was Olan, the reason for this journey across time and space. Close by, on the left side of the bed, stood much two younger men: one of them a doctor, and the other a younger looking Howard. Bally, you were holding Olan’s hand and leaning towards him with your ear next to his mouth as if trying to hear what he was saying. Everyone around the bed had red, tear-stained eyes and was obviously grieving. From my perspective no one moved; the scene appeared like an old ‘3D’ photograph but it was simply a moment frozen in time.”

  The royal party had listened, transfixed to Howard and Ch’ron’s words. Only I seemed upset by any of the retelling. I took a slow, deep breath as I tried to come to terms with what I was hearing. Shock and then grief cut through my heart. This was unbelievable. Old wounds were being torn open; Ch’ron had invaded a very personal moment.

  “No, I would have seen you if you were there,” I exclaimed, before I could stop myself.

  “Sorry Bally, I was there, but you couldn’t have seen me. When I arrived at the scene my time frame was brought back from ‘reverse’ to ‘forward’, but from your standpoint and the standpoint of the three other figures in the scene, it was still moving forward too quickly to allow you all to see me. It would have taken around two hours for you and the others to have even detected my presence.”

  Ch’ron looked around at the eager faces. Everyone but me seemed excited.

  He explained, “I had to work quickly. The temporal slide that had sent me to this point in time and space would draw me back to my own time and location within twelve minutes. I didn’t belong in that time frame, and time wouldn’t let me stay there any longer than the allotted phase.”

  Everyone turned to look at Howard as he explained further, “When attempting time travel, the hardest element to surmount is time itself. It’s relatively easy to send an object, or pers
on, to a given point in time. The problem arises when we try to keep them there for more than a moment. Time always draws the subject back to its original time frame within seconds. It is as if time is a living, breathing creature, forever fighting against us, forever trying to protect its very existence. Despite exhaustive efforts on my part I was only able to forge a portal of twelve minutes.”

  Bally cut in, “I’m not sure where all this is leading. The whole thing is making me very uneasy.”

  Ch’ron, was sitting next to me. He smiled and took my hand in his saying, “Trust me Aunt Bally. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you, or anyone else. Something good came of all this.”

  Still feeling very uneasy, Bally nodded and whispered, “Carry on.”

  Ch’ron took her prompt and continued, “I took several implements out of my pilot’s case and placed them on the bed. The first was a small handheld medical scanner, which I used to obtain readings of Olan’s vital life-signs. These proved to be satisfactory for our purpose. The next was a DNA extractor. This was very important, as I needed to take several samples back to the lab. Olan’s mouth was open as if he was trying to say something to Aunt Bally as she leant over him, so I took several samples from the inside of his cheek. He didn’t feel anything. Now came the trickiest and most controversial part of the procedure. I opened a life-force containment field while at the same time releasing a temporal slide beam from a portable time-slide instrument. My time frame started slowing down. Quicker than I’ve ever moved before, I grabbed all my instruments and samples and pushed them back into my pilot’s bag, snapped it closed, and clasped it tightly to my chest. The time frame in the rest of the room speeded up until it almost equalled my own. I saw Olan breathe out a long breath and shut his eyes. Aunt Bally looked up in my direction with tearful eyes. Olan moved his lips speaking her name, but no sound came from them.