by Chad Spencer
“But I have to keep this last one with me,” she asserted. “I have to.”
“Ok,” Jeff agreed. “We’ll bring it back. But we’re taking all of that stuff you’ve got in your second cabin and feeding it to the ship tomorrow so we can recycle it for repairs.”
Instead of the major tantrum Jeff was expecting, all he got back from Tiffany was a tight, “Fine.” And then she stomped away.
“Maybe she’s not as bad as I thought,” he muttered. He went back to bed.
The following day, they found three more pods and took their occupants on board. With everyone working, they disassembled the rest of the guns and had the ship eat the three pods. The ship was now completely unarmed. But with all the new raw materials, the environmental system was back up and so were all of the computing nodes. All of the stabilization and maneuvering gravity mirrors were functional as well. The main drive could not be fixed yet.
Because the ship was so crowded, most of them went out on the wings to sit and eat dinner. The view was spectacular. The setting sun painted the sky with vivid reds, oranges, and yellows. The planet’s rings and moons shown glowed brilliantly.
“Look!” exclaimed Danae, pointing. “Look at that!”
Everyone turned to see a herd of the massive, whale-like creatures wafting slowly through the air.
Jeff was taken aback. Seeing one of the graceful creatures was enjoyable, seeing an entire herd was stunning. There were thousands upon thousands of them. The herd stretched to the horizon. Everywhere the creatures weaved and bobbed as they made their collective way toward the fighter.
Deciding to be cautious, Jeff had the fighter moved out of the herd’s way. As they sat on the wings eating, they watched the elegant life forms approach.
“They’re singing!” exclaimed Amanda.
It was true. In the distance they could hear the hauntingly beautiful songs of the herd as it wended its way along. A gentle tranquility settled over the ship. When Jeff finally went to bed, he could still hear the herd’s exquisite music reverberating from outside.
28
The comm panel in Jeff’s room buzzed early in the morning.
“Jeff!” exclaimed Hugh. “You need to take a look at this.”
Wiping the sleep from his eyes as he ambled to the bridge, Jeff dropped into the pilot’s chair and queried, “What is it?”
“Grab your control spheres. I’ve set a marker for you.”
Doing as Hugh directed, Jeff touched the spheres in the arms of the pilot’s chair. As usual, he could instantly see outside the ship as if he were the ship itself. Hugh’s green marker flashed at him from his lower left.
“Hugh, what am I looking at?”
“Zoom in.”
Jeff zoomed in–and about fell out of his chair. “Is … that what I think it is?”
“What do you think it is?”
“A giant rock, floating in the air with buildings and walkways all over it and trees growing out of the top.”
“Yes, Jeff. That’s exactly what it is.”
Even though he could see it clearly, Jeff wasn’t sure he believed his eyes. It was an island floating in the clear blue expanse of the boundless sky. As he magnified his view, Jeff could see wooden buildings attached to the top, sides, and even the bottom of the island. The massive floating rock was enmeshed in the wooden walkways that ran from building to building. Plants were growing everywhere, in pots on the walkways, in boxes that lined the bottom of nearly every window, on the sides of the rock, on the balconies that festooned the sides of the buildings, and almost everywhere else Jeff could see.
The island was about half a mile long, a quarter mile wide, and half a mile from top to bottom. All around the island, jutting out from the various buildings that threatened to overrun the massive rock, were large wooden rings whose middles were filled with white cloth. Some were set vertically; Jeff wondered if they were sails. Others were set horizontally. They made no sense at all.
Windmills of various types projected out from the sides of the buildings. Some were mounted on the sides of the island itself. But Jeff had no idea what they were for.
And everywhere there were people. ‘Well, at least they look human.’ The residents of the sky island moved deftly along the walkways, some of which led to tunnels into the rock. The residents passed in and out of them going about their business as if nothing was odd about living on a landmass in the atmosphere of a gas giant in a little tiny alternate universe. To Jeff, it was frankly mindboggling.
The men were mostly dressed in trousers, white shirts with high collars, and long coats. ‘And they’re wearing bowties! Nearly all of them!’ Most of them wore an odd type of triangular hat with a string that tied under their chins. ‘Maybe the wind blows their hats away if they don’t tie them on,’ figured Jeff.
The women, on the other hand, made their various ways around their island home in prim skits and dresses that were long enough to cover their ankles. Some of them wore suit coats as well. Others wore longer overcoats that reached their ankles. Nearly all had bonnets on that tied under their chins. A few carried parasols.
And there were kids everywhere who moved and climbed over the structures, balconies, and walkways like young monkeys. Jeff was amazed to see small children jumping from walkways to balconies, climbing the sides of buildings, and even swinging from building to building on the vines that grew all over the sides of the giant floating rock. They seemed to have no fear of falling into the dark abyss below. Jeff was getting dizzy just watching them.
“Is this where the transmissions were coming from?” Jeff asked.
“No. That’s farther away. Do you want to try and contact these people?”
Jeff thought a moment, and then responded, “Might as well. They don’t look like they could help us. But you never know. Do we have a translation matrix for their language yet?”
Sirsen Suzuki’s voice broke in, surprising Jeff. “Yes, Captain. The computer finished it while we were asleep.”
Raising his hands from the spheres on his armrests, Jeff found that the entire bridge crew was there and everyone was manning their stations–even the gunners who had no guns to fire. They all watched the main screen intently.
Grabbing the spheres, Jeff set a course to the floating island and instructed, “Sirsen Suzuki, please upload the translation matrix to Arvix, my robot. I’ll have him translate for me.”
“Right.”
To the entire crew, Jeff said, “We’ll leave the life pods here. When we get there, we’ll pull the ship up along side their settlement. I’ll take Arvix and go out on the wing to see if I can get them to talk to us.”
So that he didn’t scare the islanders, Jeff guided the ship toward their settlement slowly. Well, relatively slowly. He took about an hour to cross the distance to the floating rock, and slowed down to about ten miles per hour for the last quarter mile.
As for the islanders, they saw the ship when it was a few miles out. Jeff watched as they grew agitated and hoped he wasn’t upsetting them too much. Many of them pulled out hand-held telescopes and trained them on the ship.
When they drew within about 200 feet of the settlement, Jeff observed that most of the adults were carrying guns–the old kind that used bullets. ‘I really hope this doesn’t turn into a problem. I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone. I’m just looking for information.’
Jeff pulled the ship up alongside the rock with the port wing not far from the closest buildings. He let it just sit there and settle for a bit. Then he instructed, “Arvix. Come outside with me and translate.”
Just to be safe, Jeff put on battle armor before he went out. ‘Their bullets won’t get through this. So if they start shooting, I can just leave.’
With his robot following obediently behind him, Jeff popped a side hatch. He had Arvix grab onto him, and then he flew from the hatch to the top of the wing. It seemed that the entire population of the floating rock was standing there glaring at him.
Strid
ing slowly toward the end of the wing, Jeff hesitantly waved. No one waved back. But a lot of people, both men and women, aimed their guns right at him.
‘Maybe it would be better if they could see my face. I have my shield, so if they start shooting I should be ok.’
Slowly releasing his faceplate, Jeff slid his helmet open. Surprise registered on nearly every face he saw. ‘I guess they didn’t expect me to be so young.’
Jeff smiled and waved again. Someone shouted something. Arvix translated, “Shoot him!”
Before anyone could fire, a boy about his own age leaped from a balcony and thudded onto the wing. Quickly the boy edged away from the end of the wing and closer to Jeff. He stood between Jeff and the armed islanders, facing them. Unlike most of the islanders, the boy’s appearance was disheveled. Jeff wondered if he wasn’t the local troublemaker. The boy began shouting at the islanders.
Arvix translated the boy’s immediate appeal for calm. The crowd on the rock didn’t look like they wanted to listen, but the boy was standing between them and Jeff, so they really couldn’t get a shot off without hurting the boy. Turning, he gazed intently at Jeff and spoke.
“What did he say?” Jeff asked Arvix.
“He asks who you are,” Arvix replied.
“Translate this for me,” Jeff instructed. “My name is Jeff Bowman.”
Arvix translated. With greater intensity, the boy spoke again. “He asks where you are from.” Arvix translated.
Not sure how to explain their origins to someone with such a low level of technology, Jeff hesitated a moment. Then he simply pointed straight up.
A shocked gasp arose from the entire crowd as they packed the walkways. Electric chatter ran through them all. Jeff could see that some were openly fearful. They raised their weapons again.
Quickly, Jeff told them as he raised his hands, “We come in peace. We’re not here to hurt anyone. We’re just looking for information.” Arvix translated. The crowd quieted, but the weapons remained trained on him.
Nervously, the wild-haired boy spoke again. Arvix translated. “Why is it that you speak a different language than us? And why does this man know our language if you’re from the sky?” He pointed at Arvix.
“That’s not a man,” Jeff explained. “That’s a machine in the shape of a man. It learns things much faster than you or I can. It learned your language from your broadcasts.”
“A machine shaped like a man? A machine that can learn? That’s silly. There’s a man in that suit.”
Turning to the robot, Jeff instructed, “Arvix, take off you head.”
Obediently, the robot removed a power decoupler from its utility belt and took off its head. The crowd literally shouted in shock. Jeff could see that they were near panic.
Amanda called out over the radio, “Jeff, you have to be more careful. You’re scaring them.”
“Sorry,” Jeff muttered back. “I’ve never been an alien from outer space before.” To Arvix, Jeff ordered, “Put your head back on, Arvix.” The robot complied.
For a moment, the boy was speechless. Then he managed to get out, “Why are you here?”
“This thing that you and I are standing on,” Jeff answered while Arvix translated, “is a ship. It carries us to other planets and other stars. Our ship was damaged in a battle. We fell into this planet’s atmosphere. We’ll make repairs and leave. We’re just looking for information about who you are and whether or not you can give us help along our way. Maybe we could do some kind of trade.”
“Who were you fighting?” the boy asked while Arvix continued his translations.
“That’s hard to explain.”
“Try,” urged the boy.
Jeff shrugged and nodded. “We came from another universe. This place where you live, this universe, is what we call a pocket universe. It’s a small piece of a much larger universe. There’s a passageway between this universe and ours. You and I are of the same species. We call ourselves humans. As far as I know, all humans originally come from a planet called Earth.”
The mention of Earth produced another gasp from the crowd. They chattered and pointed. Some started to argue with others. They boy shouted at them and they quieted down.
“But who were you fighting?” he asked.
When Jeff got Arvix’s translation, he replied, “We were fighting an alien species, called the tahkti. They’re from another star far, far away and they want to enslave all humans. We were fighting to protect our families and friends.”
Silence from the crowd. Not a whisper. Glancing fearfully skyward, the boy asked, “Will the aliens come here?”
“I don’t know,” Jeff answered honestly. “There’s a passage between this universe and the larger universe. If they find it, they could come.”
“What would happen to us if they came?”
“They would make you all into their slaves.”
Upon hearing the translation, some in the crowd looked like they would feint. Others wept openly.
“It’s all true then,” the boy breathed.
Jeff queried, “What’s all true?”
“All the old stories about how our ancestors came here. It’s said we came from beyond the sky and were stranded here. The legends say our ancestors came from a place called Urt and fell into the sky. They were stranded here and one of the original Scientists made the first skyrock.” He pointed to the floating, island-like stone that all of the buildings and walkways were attached to. “She taught us how to grow them from the gasses below. Over the generations, we grew more skyrocks–bigger ones. Now we all live on the skyrocks and use them to make our skyships.”
Nodding, Jeff explained, “Yes, we use something similar to make our ship fly. We call them gravity mirrors.”
Gravely, the boy wanted to know, “Is there any way you can keep the aliens from coming here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you teach us how to fight them?”
“I don’t know. You’d need to learn a lot of new technology to do it. Our technology is much more advanced than yours. And the aliens’ technology is more advanced than ours.”
“Is there no hope then?”
“There’s hope. Time passes much, much faster here than in the main universe–4,800 times faster. We’ve been in this universe about a day. In the other universe, not even a minute has gone by. Our friends and families are still there. The aliens might get them. So we have to repair our ship and get back to them as soon as we can. But we’ll teach you what we can before we leave.”
The boy rubbed his chin as the wind tossed his unkempt hair. “Is this a fighting ship?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“It has weapons?”
“Very powerful weapons.” Jeff didn’t bother to mention that the ship didn’t currently have any weapons.
“How powerful? Could it even destroy our entire skyrock?”
Jeff didn’t like where this was going, but he decided that honesty was the best policy. Through Arvix he replied, “Yes.”
“If we had many of these ships, could we protect ourselves from the aliens?”
“I don’t know. Maybe”
“You don’t sound very hopeful.”
“The aliens have ten thousand ships. Some of them are much, much bigger than this one. All of the aliens’ ships are more powerful than what we have.”
“Then how will you win?”
Heaving a deep sigh, Jeff glanced upward momentarily. Then he slowly said, “We don’t know. Maybe our only real hope is to fight hard enough so that our friends and families can run away.”
“Then you’re going to die so that they can live?”
Jeff shrugged. “Maybe,” he answered.
Horrified, the boy’s eyes grew large as saucers. No one in the crowd spoke. In fact, none of them seemed to even move. “Where,” the boy asked, “where will they run to?”
“In our universe, there are lots of stars. This universe has only five. But ours has more than we can even count. The pla
n is for them to hide among the stars until they’re strong enough to protect themselves.”
“What about us?” the boy wanted to know. “What should we do? The aliens could come here at any time.”
Sadly, Jeff agreed. “Yes. And when they come, the first thing they’ll do is control the minds of any humans they find. Then they’ll use them to capture more humans. If you don’t learn to fight, eventually they’ll control the minds of every human in this universe.”
The wind wafted gently across the strange scene. No one moved. No one spoke. Then Jeff added, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you have another problem as well.”
With the appearance of someone whose brain was about to short circuit, the boy exclaimed, “Another problem?”
“I hate to tell you this,” Jeff explained cautiously, “but the universe you’re in is shrinking. It’s slow, but it’s happening. In about 2,000 of your years, your whole universe will collapse in on itself and kill you all. I know that might seem a long time from now, but it takes a lot of technology to leave here. If you don’t start working on it now, your descendants could be trapped and die here.”
“Our entire universe will end? And there’s no hope?”
Again, Jeff glanced upward. “Like I said, it’s not going to happen for another 2,000 of your years. But no, there’s no hope unless your people all leave this universe. That’s the only way to survive.”
“But you can give us the knowledge we need to survive?”
Pausing, Jeff gazed at him thoughtfully. Suddenly, Hugh’s voice came across the radio. “Jeff, I’m coming out there.”
Turning, Jeff observed Hugh as he levitated out of the hatch and over to the wing Jeff was standing on. When he landed, he opened his suit helmet.
Drawing back, the boy asked, “How many people are on your ship?”
“Normally fourteen,” Jeff answered. “But we have a some extras because we rescued them when their ships were destroyed. There’s also a group of life pods thirty miles or so away with more people in them. But we left them there grouped together because we didn’t want you to think we were attacking you.”