by Isaac Hooke
“I think you’re right,” Sinive said.
“That’s what the archaeoceti told me,” Tane said.
“What?”
“That if the Z’Antamaraan succeed in their plans, this universe will die,” Tane said. “I’m starting to wonder if the archaeoceti are on to something. Then again...”
“The Zana-what?” Sinive said.
“The beings at the heart of the galaxy?” Tane said. “The Gravity Born?”
“Oh, them,” Sinive said. “Well, they’ll most certainly destroy this galaxy if they succeed in snuffing out all the stars by drawing them into the galactic core. But the entire universe? Don’t know about that. The universe is a big place. Extremely big.”
“Well, get this,” Tane said. “According to the archaeoceti, the same group of Z’Antamaraan exist inside every galactic core across our universe. At the same time.”
“You serious?” Sinive asked.
“That’s what they said,” Tane answered. “I’m not sure I believe it myself, but if it’s true, it means the Gravity Born are drawing stars into the core of every galaxy. Simultaneously.”
“All right, so I take it back,” Sinive said. “These Zana things could destroy the entire universe. And here I thought you were only going to save the galaxy... I wonder if these Gravity Born are aware of what they are. That they’re extensions of whatever home universe birthed them. Maybe they even have a reason to destroy our universe. One that seems perfectly rational to them.”
“The archaeoceti suggested they want to absorb the energy of our universe into their own,” Tane said.
“There you go,” Sinive said. “And yet you still don’t want to do anything to help...”
“It’s not that I don’t want to do anything,” Tane said. “It’s more that there isn’t really anything I can do. At least, I have no idea what. I can’t stop the Z’Antamaraan. I don’t know where to start.”
“But the archaeoceti laid out a plan for you,” Sinive said. “I was there when the vine lady told you to find the creodenti. That you’d have to face them before you could take on the Zana dudes. By confronting our Paramount Leader.”
“Actually, the vine lady as you call her said I’d have to face the creodenti ‘before this is done,’ which could mean a hundred different things,” Tane said. “And the part about confronting the Paramount leader? Yeah, see, that right there makes the archaeoceti lose all credibility. ‘Seek the Paramount Leader.’ I don’t think so. Confronting the Paramount Leader is the worst thing I can do right now. I’m too inexperienced. Mostly low level in all my abilities. And I’m not sure I buy the whole our-universe-is-doomed bit either. Besides, if it is doomed, I’m sure it’s demise is probably many millions of years away. Billions, probably. We’re talking about the universe here. There are a lot of stars in the sky, after all. The Z’Antamaraan can’t move them instantaneously.”
Sinive sat back. “Well. I don’t know if you’re right or wrong. And I guess it doesn’t really matter. You’re making your own choices, and not letting the universe or fate or anyone else make them for you. That’s all that matters.”
“It is,” Tane agreed.
She smiled slightly. “That was quite the interesting philosophical discussion. Energizing, even. That’s why I like you so much. We can talk about things no one else ever does. That no one else can. We’re comfortable enough with each other, and intelligent enough, to do so. I’m not sure how much of what we talked about is true. Maybe none of it is. Maybe all of it.”
“But that’s why it’s philosophical,” Tane said. “It doesn’t really matter whether the universe is alive or dead, because we’ll never be able to prove it either way. All that matters is we talked about it, and considered the possibilities.”
“What’s the quote I’m looking for?” Sinive said. “Here: it’s not about the destination, but the journey.”
“Exactly.”
Sinive was looking at him in a way that made him feel slightly aroused, her eyes shining with a sudden desire.
“You know, women are turned on by the mind,” she said. Her voice had become slightly husky. “And you’ve certainly done a good job on that front. Too bad you’re not in the mood.”
“Actually, you know what?” Tane said. “Our little talk seems to have rejuvenated my libido.”
“Well now,” Sinive said demurely. “We can’t let your rejuvenated libido go to waste, can we?”
“Nope. It’s time to leave behind the metaphysical.” Tane wrapped his arms around her hips. “And to concentrate on the physical.”
“I’m all for that,” Sinive said, kissing him on the lips.
20
Tane blinked wearily. A bright glow shone into his eyes from above. It seemed to belong to several light bars. They seemed odd, somehow, and he didn’t recall those bars being shaped that way when he had closed his eyes… also, underneath him the bunk seemed strangely firm: he had to wonder if he’d rolled onto the floor.
He extended a hand and pressed down. Sure enough, he felt a smooth, hard surface underneath him.
He sat up in a confusion.
He was indeed on the floor, except he wasn’t inside Sinive’s quarters anymore. The cramped compartment had been replaced by what could best be described as an office of some kind. There was a bare desk, with two visitors chairs. Some cupboards. A three-hundred-and-sixty-degree lightfield camera for live streaming. Everything was blurry and insubstantial. Just like himself.
And he realized now why he thought the overhead light bars were strange: they bathed the room in a reddish black hue.
He was relieved to find Sinive curled up beside him.
He shook her. “Sinive, wake up.” His words sounded on two octaves simultaneously, both higher and lower than his original voice. “Wake up!”
She stirred, and rubbed her eyes.
Tane stood. Now that he looked more closely, he realized the walls were covered in a strange greenish patina, like the kind you found on old copper. That patina was hued towards the red band thanks to the lights.
“My heck, what kind of dream is this?” Sinive said. Her voice distorted into two octaves just like his. “Whoa.”
“I don’t think it’s a dream,” Tane said. He pinched himself three times.
“Where are we, the Umbra?” Sinive said.
“Or some mirror version of it,” Tane said.
“If this isn’t a dream, why are we wearing clothes?” Sinive said. “Considering we fell asleep naked…”
She was dressed in her usual white dress, while Tane was in his plain T shirt and elasto jeans. Neither of them had their storage pouches, nor any other weapons or accessories.
“Dunno.” Tane couldn’t feel the White or Dark Essence waiting beyond the edges of reality. He glanced at his arms. No threads of the Dark emerged from him, as could be expected when near gravity wells in the Umbra. Maybe the planet wasn’t a geodynamo. But why then could he not access the White Essence?
“Can you Siphon?” Sinive asked.
“No,” Tane said.
“Neither can I,” she said. “This definitely isn’t the Umbra. And if that’s true, at least on the bright side we don’t have to worry about microcrillia infection.”
“Yeah,” Tane said. But potentially something worse.
He felt it then: fear. Another sign that they weren’t in the true Umbra, which always had an emotion damping effect upon him.
He went to the window. Like the office interior, the landscape beyond was shaded in a reddish black hue. Thick smog or haze of some kind choked out the skyline, while closer, skyscrapers poked through, appearing blurry to the eye.
Above, the sun sat high in the red-black sky. He could observe it head-on without hurting his eyes, and it appeared as a blood red disk hovering in place above the smog.
He spotted a neon sign at the base of the building across the street. The words read: “Best Rub.” A muscular man was depicted beside the words, his big hands shown prominently.
Tane looked away and glanced at the sign again. Neither the wordage, nor the man, had changed.
“What are you doing?” Sinive asked, coming up beside him.
“In dreams, signs always change when you look at them a second time.” Tane averted his gaze and looked a final time. “The words are the same. This isn’t a dream.”
Sinive stared through the window. “We’re in some kind of red light district.”
“For women,” Tane appended.
“The Kazah Core Worlds are renown for their female pleasure centers,” Sinive said.
“The question is, how the hell did we travel all the way to the Kazah Core Worlds?” Tane said. “While slipping through to another universe at the same time?”
“Did the archaeoceti unlock some new inter-dimensional travel ability inside of you that you don’t know about?” Sinive asked.
“Don’t think so,” Tane said.
Motion drew his attention to several… things… that were advancing through the haze that enveloped the streets below.
Sinive followed his gaze. “What are those?”
Tane squinted, using his chip to zoom in. As the entities came closer, they became visible through the thick haze, and he made out broad, eight-legged carapaces topped by sideways-oriented heads.
“Dwellers,” Tane said. “I count six of them. They aren’t wearing environmental suits. And there are no Dark spheres around them, so they’re probably not Amaranth. They all have energy launchers.”
“If this isn’t the Umbra, what the hell are dwellers doing here?” Sinive asked.
“My guess is, dwellers are duplicated in this mirror universe,” Tane said. “Along with human buildings.”
“But not humans themselves?” Sinive asked.
“I don’t see any humans except us…” Tane said.
A small flyer emerged from the mist overhead and crashed into the street a few blocks ahead of the dwellers. The flyer fell into a side street that was currently out of view of the dwellers.
Tane spotted two more figures emerging from the vehicle a moment later. They darted through the mist, moving away from the patrol as they hurried toward a building.
“Wait, I take that back,” Tane said. “These two look human.” He zoomed in.
Sinive stood on her tiptoes beside him. “I don’t see them. No wait.”
Tane stared in disbelief at what he saw. When the pair vanished inside the base of the distant building, he reverted the zoom to the standard level.
“I didn’t get a good fix,” Sinive said. “Were you able to confirm they were human?” She was still standing on her tiptoes, squinting her eyes to peer through the haze outside.
“They’re human all right,” Tane told her grimly. “Too human.”
“What are you talking about?” Sinive said. “What did you see?”
“They’re us.”
“What do you mean, us?” Sinive said.
“Exactly that,” Tane said. “I saw you and me down there.”
Sinive frowned. “How is that possible? We’ve traveled back in time?”
“No, I think this mirror universe has a time delay,” Tane said. “We’re on 57A. Watching our mad dash from the dwellers all over again.”
Sinive gulped. “Well that’s… no good.”
“No,” Tane agreed.
“Maybe if we lay low, the dwellers won’t find us.”
“There’s not much else we can do,” Tane said. “We’re completely defenseless. No weapons. No Essences. Not like the last time we were here.”
“Wait, I take back what I said,” Sinive told him. “We can’t lay low. At least not in the open like this. Because if we’re really repeating our flight from the dwellers on 57A, they’ll be conducting searches in all the nearby buildings. Looking for us.”
Tane exchanged an urgent glance with her. “They could be in this building right now.” He stared at the closed door nervously.
“If they discovered us, would they really act on what they found?” Sinive said. “Considering that we’re not really the Tane and Sinive they’re looking for.”
“Except they wouldn’t know that,” Tane said. “They’d have no idea this universe was separate from the one other dwellers know. This would be as real to them as it is to us and our duplicates. If they find us, I have no doubt they’ll capture us and treat us like the two they were chasing.”
“You’re right,” Sinive said.
“And now that we’ve arrived,” Tane continued. “There’s probably no guarantee the dwellers will follow the same course of action as they would have when they originally chased us. They’ll take different routes, make different decisions. Our very presence here will probably cause this mirror universe to diverge in different directions.”
“I knew we could wake up the Engineer inside you,” Sinive said.
“I’m not sure that’s the Engineer speaking,” Tane said. “But the theoretical physicist.”
“I didn’t know you had a theoretical physicist inside you,” Sinive said.
“You’d be surprised,” Tane said. “We’re going to need some weapons.” He moved to the patina-covered door. It was an old fashioned model with a knob.
He hesitated only a moment, then grabbed the handle and swung the door inward.
Beyond awaited a hazy red and black common area with cubicles walled off from one another by glass.
He stepped through the doorway.
A thick tentacle promptly wrapped around his body and he was pulled upward and to the side. He found himself face-to-face with a sideways-oriented head. Unlike dwellers in the real Umbra, this one was just as blurry as he was.
Another dweller rammed its tentacles into the office behind him and pulled out the kicking and screaming Sinive. It wrapped its tentacles tightly around her, easily subduing her.
A spider robot came forward. Tarkwail model.
The dweller held Tane toward the robot so that his head was at the same height as the robot’s.
Pincers on the Tarkwail parted, and a bright light flashed from inside the metal head, momentarily blinding him.
“They’re taking a brain scan,” Sinive said.
“I know,” Tane said as the afterimage from the light faded.
“They’re going to chip you,” Sinive said.
“I know!” Tane said.
“Well do something,” Sinive said.
He smiled weakly. There was nothing he could do. This was his nightmare scenario. Trapped in the Umbra, or a mirror version of it, surrounded by dwellers, and without access to any weapons, or Essences. He was completely helpless and at the mercy of the dwellers.
A panel opened up underneath the carapace and a telescoping limb emerged. At the tip was a sonic injector; underneath, a vial of reddish-yellow liquid was attached.
He searched frantically for the Essences, Dark or White, hoping that he had merely overlooked them, but there was nothing out there. He sought for the Emerald as well, but of course it wasn’t present either: he didn’t have the bone crown.
He was completely cut off from his powers.
The injector touched the side of his neck and he flinched at the intense sting.
His vision grew dark and he felt nauseous as the nanotech began to grow in his mind, sending out long tentacles of control into his various brain regions.
Yes, he was completely doomed.
21
Tane was vaguely aware as the robot went to Sinive and injected her as well.
Another Tarkwail approached Tane. The dweller that held him lifted Tane’s bowing head so that the robot could extend its pincers and perform another brain scan.
When the bright light of the scan faded, the robot turned toward what was ostensibly its superior, and issued a clacking sound.
Tane was feeling better then. Well enough to raise his head, anyway.
The big dweller who seemed to be in charge stepped forward. Words issued from a voice box hanging beneath its head.
; “What is you name?” the dweller said. Each word seemed sourced from a different human speaker, replete with accent and gender. The words were distorted like Tane’s and Sinive’s had been, issuing on upper and lower octaves at the same time.
Tane expected to feel an overwhelming desire to please that dweller. Or at the very least an urge to obey. Instead he felt… nothing.
“What is your name?” the dweller repeated.
Still Tane did not respond.
“Who is your master?” the dweller pressed.
By then it became obvious that the chip hadn’t taken. He was still in control.
Someone had told him, maybe it was Sinive, that nanotech taken from the Umbra didn’t have any effect on the human brain. Which was why one couldn’t simply travel to the Umbra and pilfer nanotech in the hopes of enhancing one’s attributes for free. These dwellers had probably been using nanotech from a mirror human universe, which might be able to set in the twins of Tane and Sinive out there, but wouldn’t harm the real versions.
He received a text from Sinive. I was hoping it wouldn’t take.
You’re free, too?
I am, Sinive texted. I feel fine.
The lead dweller turned toward Sinive.
“What is your name?” the dweller said.
Sinive didn’t answer. At least, not right away. But then a moment later she said: “Sinive Rollingson.”
He got a text from her. I’m going to pretend it worked.
“Who is your master?” the dweller asked.
“You are,” Sinive replied.
The dweller repeated the questions to Tane. He ignored them.
Maybe you should pretend, too, Sinive texted.
Just wait, Tane replied. Look at them.
The dwellers were issuing incoherent clattering and shrieking sounds, and seemed to be arguing among themselves, as if they didn’t know what to do.
They finally quietened down, and the robot came up to Tane once more and produced another sonic injector.