by Lucas Flint
“Where I’m from, people do think you’re just babbling if you say you’re from an alternate universe,” said Treehugger. “But yes, I know what alternate universes are. I’ve never been to one myself, but my friend, Bolt, has. He didn’t like it.”
“Okay, good,” said Mr. Space. “That saves us a lot of time. So the simple explanation is that Galaxy and I are from an alternate universe, one similar to yours, but different in a variety of ways.”
“I see,” said Treehugger, although she still wasn’t sure if she should believe him or not; she decided she would just keep listening, as it couldn’t hurt to do so. “Exactly how is it different?”
“Well, it doesn’t exist any longer, for one,” said Mr. Space. “Actually, the planet itself still exists, but it doesn’t have any human life on it anymore, super or otherwise. Only a few of us managed to survive, and that was because we got lucky more than anything.”
“How was all human life wiped out on your Earth?” said Treehugger. “Was it a zombie apocalypse? World War Three? Maybe a continent-sized meteor crashed into the planet’s surface? Or maybe it was just a bad epidemic that scientists and doctors couldn’t cure in time?”
“All of that would have been much better than what really happened,” said Mr. Space. “No, the truth of the matter is that we found intelligent life … or rather, intelligent life found us.”
Treehugger frowned. “Are you referring to the Pokacu? Because the Pokacu attacked Earth in my universe—twice—but were defeated each time. In fact, in my universe, the Pokacu don’t even exist anymore since their planet was destroyed, except for a handful of them somewhere out in the rest of the universe.”
“These guys make the Pokacu look like primitive apes who just discovered fire,” said Mr. Space. He shuddered. “We were actually attacked by the Starborn. Ever heard of them?”
Treehugger thought about that for a moment. She slowly nodded and said, “The name sounds familiar. I think my friend Shell might have mentioned the name to me, but he said he doesn’t know what it means or what the Starborn are.”
Mr. Space muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse, although Treehugger didn’t recognize the language he spoke. “Great. So you guys don’t even know what the Starborn are. Yeah, your universe is screwed.”
“Maybe if you explained what they are, I might be able to help my universe,” Treehugger said. She normally wasn’t this short with people, but being kidnapped from her own universe and held hostage aboard a strange starship had worn out her patience.
“Okay, okay,” said Mr. Space. He began tapping his chin. “The Starborn are hard to explain because they’re not quite like most life in the universe. They’re older, more ancient, with an understanding of the universe that makes our quantum physics look like child’s play. They’re almost, but not quite, gods, because unlike gods, they can die … I think. Possibly. Maybe.”
“That still doesn’t make things anymore clearer,” Treehugger pointed out. “What are the Starborn?”
“Okay,” said Mr. Space. He spread his free hand. “The Starborn can be best thought of as the oldest known race of intelligent life in the multiverse. The evidence we’ve collected suggests that the Starborn developed space travel early on in the history of the universe and then went around the universe from planet to planet studying other life forms, building cities and monuments to their own greatness, and leaving behind various odds and ends that make no sense whatsoever to our greatest minds. One of the last planets they visited was Earth, which was very early on Earth’s history, well before humans started writing stuff down or even knew how to write at all.”
“What did they do while on Earth?” said Treehugger. “Enslave humans or something?”
“No, the Starborn apparently weren’t much into slavery,” said Mr. Space. “Genocide, on the other hand, they were pretty into that. Not that they killed off the early humans, though, because the Starborn were a pretty curious bunch. They decided to experiment upon our ancestors instead.”
“Were a curious bunch?” Treehugger repeated. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll get to that, don’t worry,” said Mr. Space, waving off her question like it was irrelevant. “Anyway, as I said, the Starborn experimented upon our ancestors. They genetically-modified some of our ancestors so that they could have super powers, as well as give birth to children who had the potential to develop super powers, too, although the genes remained more or less dormant until the late twentieth century when the Apocalypse Switch was pressed, of course.”
Treehugger gasped. She had known that early humans had been experimented upon by a race of aliens that crashed on Earth thousands of years ago, which had resulted in the creation of superhumans, but she had not known that these aliens were the Starborn. “No way. You mean to say that the Starborn are the creators of superhumans?”
“Pretty much,” said Mr. Space. “They altered other alien species, too, but as far as we can tell, humans were the only ones who survived. Seems like every species they modified eventually rose up in rebellion against them, which always ended in the aforementioned genocide. Like I said, the Starborn were pretty into genocide, at least whenever they felt threatened by what they considered ‘lesser’ species.”
Treehugger shuddered. “How can you speak so easily about the slaughter of entire species? I can’t even imagine what it would take for a species to deliberately and knowingly annihilate multiple other species for no reason other than they rebelled against them.”
“Hey, us humans have a history of killing each other off for no good reason, so let’s not be too harsh on them,” said Mr. Space. “As for how I deal with it, you kind of have to develop a sense of humor to deal with the things I see and experience every day. Jokes about genocide don’t seem so bad when you realize they help you cope.”
Treehugger still couldn’t wrap her mind around that idea, but she said, “Okay, but what happened to the Starborn? Why didn’t they stay on Earth?”
“Because they ascended to a higher plane of existence,” Mr. Space replied. “As I said, the Starborn were very curious. They eventually figured out how to dimension hop and have been doing that for the past several thousand years or so. They have not been back to Earth or even the same universe as Earth for a long time, though they did leave behind a lot of their artifacts for us to find and puzzle over.”
“Are they gone forever, then?” said Treehugger.
“No, and that’s the problem,” said Mr. Space. He waved his free arm up and down. “That’s why your world is in danger. The Starborn are coming back, but once they do, no one on Earth will survive, especially superhumans like you.”
“They’re coming back?” said Treehugger. “When? Where? How can we stop them?”
“Not sure when or where, but sometime soon and most likely in a place where lots of people can see them,” said Mr. Space. “Because they’re planning to wipe out all of humanity and they want to do it as efficiently as possible.”
“Why?” said Treehugger in surprise. “Why would they want to destroy us? What have we done to them that warrants our deaths?”
“Even we don’t know why,” said Mr. Space. “In my universe, the Starborn appeared one day and just started killing everyone. They didn’t bother to explain why, but based on the evidence of their genocides of other races in the universe, it may be that they think we might rebel against them and use our super powers to overthrow them or something like that.”
“How can we overthrow a species we don’t even know exists?” said Treehugger. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s just a theory,” said Mr. Space with a shrug. “Like I said, we don’t know why. We only know that that is what they’re trying to do.”
“Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about?” said Treehugger. “Is it just you and that Galaxy girl you mentioned or what?”
“No, but we’re the two in charge of defending your Earth,” said Mr. Space. He put a hand over his right
breast. “See, we’re not just freelance space explorers. We’re also agents of the Interdimensional Elite Agency, a group of dimension-hopping people whose job is to protect and defend the multiverse as best as we can.”
“I have never heard of the Interdimensional Elite Agency,” said Treehugger. She squinted her eyes suspiciously. “How do I know you aren’t just making them up?”
“Let me show you my IEA membership holo card, then, to prove my identity,” said Mr. Space.
Mr. Space tapped the screen on his right arm a few times before a hologram rose out of the screen. It showed a square card not much bigger than a driver’s license, with Mr. Space’s smiling face looking directly at the camera, although his hair looked longer in the picture than it did in real life. The card also had a lot of numbers and letters on it, but they were in a language that Treehugger couldn’t read, although she could tell that it was not a language from Earth.
“See?” said Mr. Space. “You probably can’t read it, but it confirms my identity and the existence of the IEA. Trust me, non-members have no access to these cards.”
“Okay, I can see that,” said Treehugger. She looked down at the chains around her wrists. “Then why did you kidnap me? And why am I being held prisoner on your ship? What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing,” said Mr. Space as he tapped the screen on his arm, causing the holo card to vanish back into his arm. “We technically aren’t holding you prisoner. We’re just trying to keep you safe from the eventual destruction of your universe.”
“Safe?” Treehugger repeated. “Well, that’s not a bad thing to do, but why did you have to kidnap me? Why not just talk to me like a normal person? Why didn’t you contact the Neohero Alliance or the Independent Neoheroes for Justice or even the G-Men? I mean, if the Starborn are such a huge threat to Earth, then why not tell the whole world about them so we can prepare to stop them?”
Mr. Space scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, there’s the rub. While we’re supposed to defend your Earth, the IEA also has a policy of forbidding direct contact with the inhabitants of whichever universe we’re defending. Technically speaking, we shouldn’t even be having this conversation right now.”
“You mean you aren’t allowed to talk to anyone on Earth at all?” said Treehugger. “Not even just to warn us about the Starborn? Why?”
“Because you aren’t ready for it yet,” said Mr. Space. “That is, you guys aren’t ready for contact from other universes. That’s the IEA’s reasoning, anyway.”
“Not ready for it?” said Treehugger. “What are you talking about? It’s not like we’ve never had contact with people from other universes before. Mastermind was from another universe.”
“Yes, but Mastermind also tried to take over your world,” Mr. Space noted. “The IEA doesn’t want our members to be shot on sight because we happen to be from other universes, to put it one way. We’ll only begin actively contacting you guys once you achieve dimensional travel on your own.”
“Oh,” said Treehugger. She tugged at the chains. “I still don’t see the point of the chains or the cell, though. It’s not like I’m going to try to kill you or anything.”
“We didn’t know how you’d react when you woke up,” said Mr. Space. “We thought you might not be very pleased about waking up on this strange ship and didn’t want you to get violent, especially since you’re a superhuman, though your powers are not entirely useful on our ship given the lack of plants.”
“Well, I’m not in any danger of killing anyone at the moment,” said Treehugger. She raised her chained arms. “Can you let me go? Please? These chains are starting to get uncomfortable.”
“I’ll have to get permission from Captain Galaxy first,” said Mr. Space. He tapped the screen on his arm a few times before a small beep emitted from the screen, which Treehugger figured was the notification for a message he received. He frowned, however, and looked up at Treehugger. “Sorry, but Galaxy says you have to stay put.”
“What? Why?” said Treehugger. “I don’t want to hurt you or her. What’s the danger in letting me go?”
“Captain Galaxy wants to keep you safe,” said Mr. Space. “Says you’re safer in your cell than out in the rest of the ship. Not that the rest of the Adventure is necessarily dangerous or anything, but she just doesn’t want you wandering around on a place you don’t know much about.”
Treehugger pouted. “Come on. I’m not like some little kid who will put her hand on a burning stove because she’s curious. And why did you kidnap me, specifically, anyway? What makes me so important?”
Mr. Space rubbed the back of his head. “You mean you haven’t figured it out? The reason we saved—not kidnapped—you is because you are the key to stopping the Starborn from destroying your Earth.”
“I am?” said Treehugger, tilting her head to the side. “What does that mean?”
Mr. Space opened his mouth, perhaps to elaborate, but all of a sudden, the ship shook like it had hit an iceberg. Treehugger was thrown down to the floor, while Mr. Space staggered against the back wall of the hall. He leaned against the wall and looked around suddenly, a look of fear and confusion on his face as he whipped his head this way and that.
“What was that?” said Treehugger. She hadn’t gotten back up from the floor, mostly because she was afraid that she would just get knocked down again if she did. “Did we hit an iceberg or something?”
“I—” said Mr. Space, but then he immediately put a hand to his ear, which was when Treehugger noticed what looked like an earcom in his ear. He was silent for a moment before a grim expression appeared on his face and he shook his head and said, “Okay, Captain. Got it. I’ll be up there as soon as possible. What about the girl?” He went silent once more, clearly listening to whatever Galaxy was telling him, and then said again, “All right. See you soon.”
“What did Galaxy say?” said Treehugger as Mr. Space lowered his hand. “What’s going on?”
“We’re under attack,” Mr. Space replied. “And if we don’t act fast, you will never see Earth again.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Treehugger followed Mr. Space through the hallways of the Adventure. The ship’s layout was different from most ships or airplanes that Treehugger had been on back on Earth. While the hallways were wide enough for her and Mr. Space to walk together without difficulty, there were no stairs; instead, there were mostly ramps with treadmill-like treads that would take them up to the next deck quickly. The lights in the ceiling seemed different, too, because it seemed like they coming not from light bulbs, but from some strange kind of rope, though they were in such a hurry that Treehugger did not get to spend much time studying them. There weren’t any windows, either, though not that Treehugger was complaining; given how the ship shook every now and then from the outside assaults, she was glad she wasn’t near any windows that could be broken and possibly suck her into the void between dimensions.
On the second deck, Mr. Space abruptly led Treehugger into an elevator that she hadn’t even known was an elevator if he hadn’t pointed it out to her. Indeed, when she stepped inside and looked around at her surroundings, she almost doubted that it was an elevator. There was no elevator car; instead, they stood on some kind of metal disk with holographic buttons that apparently represented the decks of the Adventure. Mr. Space quickly pressed a button and they soon began to ascend, far more smoothly than a normal elevator car even when the ship shook from attacks. Treehugger did not know how it was ascending, however, because it did not seem to have any cables; she assumed it was floating, but there was no way to know that for sure.
It wasn’t long before the elevator came to a stop and Mr. Space exited before the doors were fully opened. Treehugger followed as quickly as she could and soon found herself standing on the bridge of the Adventure.
She didn’t know what she had expected to see, but whatever it was, it was not what she was actually seeing. All of the walls were covered with huge screens that showed a variety of diffe
rent images and videos. Some of the screens showed security footage of the Adventure’s halls and rooms, while others showed fuel gages, air supplies, gravity levels, and other statistics related to the ship. And still others showed what appeared to be footage of the ship’s exterior, although they didn’t show much other than a few minor parts, which made it impossible for Treehugger to tell what the exterior of the ship looked like. Based on what she could see in the footage, however, the Adventure had to be absolutely enormous, and yet she had not seen any other people on the ship so far except for Mr. Space.
That changed when Treehugger saw a woman in the center of the room. The woman was sitting on a floating command chair, the back of her head to them. She had long black hair, but that was all Treehugger could see of her at the moment. She was busily tapping at a floating touch screen/computer monitor in front of her, like she was playing some kind of app game, although based on the frantic way she tapped the screen, it was pretty clear that she was doing something far more important than playing a simple app game.
“Captain Galaxy!” Mr. Space said as he and Treehugger walked up to the woman in the floating chair. “What’s the current status of the ship?”
“Better than it should be,” said Captain Galaxy without looking over her shoulder at Mr. Space. “I managed to get the double shields up before the Servants could hit anything vital, but they managed to get a good shot in on Engine A’s hyper drive, meaning we can’t just run away. Sparky is currently repairing the damage, but he says it will be hours before it’s done.”
“Sparky?” Treehugger repeated. “Who’s that?”
“Our robotic assistant,” Mr. Space explained. “He does most of the upkeep around the ship. Pretty handy guy to have around.”
“Wait, who asked that question?” said Captain Galaxy. She glanced over her shoulder before turning the chair around completely to face Treehugger. “What are you doing here?”
Treehugger did not answer right away, because she was too busy staring at Captain Helena Galaxy. Galaxy looked to be a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, wearing glasses that reminded Treehugger of her first grade English teacher, even though her teacher had been a much older woman. Galaxy wore a blue jumpsuit with a badge on her right breast that resembled a hammer crossed with a lightning bolt, a symbol Treehugger had seen on Space’s identity holo card earlier. She had no idea what that symbol meant; maybe it was the symbol of the IEA.