Ezra pauses and looks at me for a long time, silently.
I become self-conscious. “What?”
He continues, “Nothing. There was one day, one event, which changed everything. That very moment in time shifted everything for the Onoch family and the cosmos.
“Caleb and Balthazar were in London attending University. Balthazar decided to come home for a surprise visit during fall session break. Balthazar had followed in his father’s footsteps. He had received accolades for his past and current dissertations as a budding physicist. He had just been awarded an internship with NASA in the States and was eager to tell his father. Balthazar was always seeking acceptance through Sebastian’s eyes, which could sometimes be perceived as an aggressive and competitive nature.”
Chapter 14
Balthazar entered the Onoch Estate.
“Hello? Miss Sasha? Mr. Edmond?”
He walked into the lounge.
“Father, are you here?”
Balthazar slowly approached the lab outside of the main house. Even though this area was off limits to Balthazar as a child, he was an adult now. Part of Balthazar was eager to tell his father of his success. Part of him was eager to see what had been hidden behind this fortress for years and years. Those childish thoughts quickly dissipated as he knocked on the heavy, metal door. The door shifted under his knock. He gave it a shove, and it opened a hair.
Balthazar pushed the door open wider.
“Hello?”
Sterile counters, sterile walls, and minimal furnishings. Beakers, metals, and maximum welding machinery. Computers generating data, downloading and auto-saving like an electronic record keeper. And the smell of a hot, metallic residue.
Balthazar couldn’t resist taking a look at some of the contents of closed cabinets and drawers. Balthazar accidentally bumped the keyboard as he sat in the chair. The desktop on the computer was still active. Balthazar looked around suspiciously for signs of his father.
Smell of hot metal?
Leaving open access to his data?
What had his father just finished doing?
Balthazar noticed a file folder on the desktop that was open. The file within the folder that stood out was labeled “Onoch’s Blueprint of Travel”.
Balthazar rolled his eyes, recalling his dad’s eccentric ways.
Balthazar clicked on the file, expecting to see his father’s recorded data of his travels over the years. Balthazar anticipated seeing some sort of excel spreadsheet.
Balthazar stopped breathing for a second and sat back. It was not a spreadsheet at all.
The folder revealed all of Sebastian’s notes, theories, engineering specifications, experimentation notes, and results of successful travel through wormholes. Balthazar remembered the times his father was too busy in his lab researching, experimenting, and theorizing.
“Oh my God. So this is what encompassed your life for all these years, you bastard.”
Balthazar leaned into the screen and read.
Chapter 15
Ezra takes a sip of his drink and shifts in his seat. “It’s not what you think. Sebastian was not traveling to Dobria while Balthazar was picking through his lab. He was attending a debriefing on current and future space travel missions at his department. His appearances at the department were becoming fewer and fewer.
“Debriefings were one of the few appearances that Sebastian had to be at in order to alleviate any suspicions about his frequent absence and insistence of working from home.”
Ezra leans back and continues.
As he pulled into the estate, Sebastian noticed the parked car upon the drive at the main house. He quickly parked and walked to the front entry. He moved from the entry to the formal living room.
“Hello?”
Sebastian continued to walk through the downstairs rooms, looking for any sign of an intrusion. He stopped and closed his eyes. A moment later, he sensed Balthazar’s presence and moved haphazardly to his office.
Balthazar was still sitting in front of the desktop when Sebastian entered.
Sebastian paused at the doorway and spoke calmly. “What are you doing here, son?” Uncharacteristically calm for someone who had just had his life’s work violated.
Balthazar turned in the chair to face his father. Balthazar held a small, black floppy disk in his hand that he quickly slipped into his shirt pocket.
“Father. You have been busy over the years with all of your travels. Tell me, what have you found out there?” Balthazar’s smile was filled with both quandary and envy.
Sebastian dropped his head in disappointment. “This is not for you, Balthazar.”
Balthazar interrupted, “For years I have followed in your footsteps, desperately wanting to be your protégé. You know of all my honors as a budding physicist. I know you are aware of my accolades even if you have never shown acknowledgement of them.”
Sebastian stepped through the door and shut it tightly behind him. “I do know. You are truly growing to be a great physicist.”
Balthazar stood. “I was coming to tell you about my most recent internship. NASA wants me to assist the aeronautical physicists on future launches for a year.”
Sebastian showed genuine astonishment. “Son, that is wonderful news!”
Balthazar said, “You know what would be wonderful news? To hear my father tell me that I am worthy enough to become his protégé, his right hand.”
The two silently stared at each other. Sebastian knew what Balthazar had discovered.
Balthazar gave way. “I want to be a part of this, Dad. I know what you have been pursuing. You have succeeded where so many have failed or not even fathomed attempting, for that matter. You have traveled to another galaxy, for God’s sake. I want in.”
Sebastian rubbed his head. “Balthazar, this is not for you.”
Balthazar was seething. “Oh. And you are so sure of this?”
“You are not ready to be a part of this. You are young and impressionable. There is an imbalance you can create in our world by opening paths haphazardly to other worlds. I was naïve when this began. Now, I wish I could take back what I have put into motion. It is not too late to stop what imbalance can perpetuate from here. I’m ending all of it.”
Balthazar moved to the exit. “I lack the knowledge? All I have is knowledge. Not love. Not nurturing. Not you.” Balthazar reached into his pocket and pulled out the floppy disk. “Dad. Knowledge. That is my power.”
Sebastian looked at Balthazar with sorrow in his eyes. “Don’t do this, son. Don’t start something you know nothing about.”
“Like the way you put ‘something’ into motion years ago. Taking your children to another city far from what they knew. Having them raised by the nanny and butler. Depriving them of your love? What about that delicate balance?”
Sebastian could not respond. It was true, he had failed in that realm of his life.
Balthazar pushed past his father. Sebastian could only focus on what would become of the knowledge that his son just acquired from his lab.
I stop Ezra. “What a jerk of a kid. Sebastian did all that he could with his family’s situation. Yeah, he was a little obsessive and eccentric. So what? He was brilliant.”
Ezra carries on, “Balthazar fled back to London. He delved into Sebastian’s research, riding on his coattails. He began building his own design and performing experimentation with the Copula blueprint. The programming of the coordinates of the Andromeda galaxy was a bit tricky, but not impossible for Balthazar.”
I interrupt, “Well, what about the implant? Why didn’t Balthazar use the second generation Copula?”
Ezra smiles coyly. “Sebastian had not included the second generation Copula design in the original file. Sebastian never left all his eggs in one basket.”
Ezra and I exchange a brief smile.
I whisper, “Good for you, Sebastian.”
“Within months, Balthazar is traveling.”
“Did he travel to Dobria?”
Ezra answers me in a matter-of-fact tone. “He can’t!”
“Why?”
“Remember, every Copula is coded and paired. Sebastian had put the coordinates of the Andromeda galaxy into the file Balthazar took. Sebastian had programmed his implanted Copula to synchronize with the homing device in the world he was traveling to, kind of like a cosmic string linking point A to point B. Balthazar could not access that information. It was only coded on the Copula in Sebastian.”
I smile and whisper again, “Two points for Sebastian.”
My mind begins to wonder. “So why would he need programming for a specific planet? It would only be necessary if he was attempting to have multiple codes, locations. I mean, he is only traveling to Dobria, right?”
I silently fear his answer as I look into Ezra’s eyes.
Ezra pauses. “No. He is not.”
Chapter 16
I sigh out of mental exhaustion and reach for the rubber band around my wrist to tie my hair into a bun. My hands work quickly. “All right, this is getting heavy.”
Ezra folds his hand together and leans his forearms on his knees. “Well, it gets heavier. Balthazar has found a world in the Andromeda galaxy. Balthazar saw the need for the stationary disc at point B just as Sebastian had. He also saw the need for other colleagues to be a part of the discoveries in this new world. This is where Balthazar’s lack of judgment and respect reared its ugly head. Balthazar lacked caution and respect for the nature of things. His team was a hodgepodge and rough around the edges group. Balthazar’s assortment of colleagues did not contain the strong morality of Sebastian’s team. Balthazar had inhabited a world quite different from Sebastian’s as well.
“Sonde was a sulfuric, volcanic environment. The surface was rocky with tall stalagmites emanating gases with high concentrations of acidity. The bubbling, liquid solvent that quick, eel-like life forms were darting through was infused with low levels of ammonia. But ammonia still. The liquid was murky and iridescent, purple swirls of chemical scattered over the surface. On the surface, this planet appeared uninhabitable by human life. Sulfur levels were significantly dominant in the sense that Balthazar and his team detected methane and ethane gases in the environment. Balthazar named the planet on the first visit, Sonde.
“Just as Sebastian had, Balthazar found signs of subterranean life.
“Balthazar encountered beings after his second expedition. By that point, he had already commissioned an astrobiologist, astrophysicist, and another physicist with whom he had a romantic involvement.”
I snicker. “Is this the part where you tell me the aliens…I mean beings, had three eyes, green skin, and spoke in an unrecognizable tongue?”
Ezra looks at me and says, with a snicker of sarcasm, “No. They barely resembled humans.”
I question him, “Barely resembled humans? How can you barely resemble something?”
Ezra looks more seriously at me. “They were able to shift into beings that would appear less threatening for the ‘visitors’.
“The first time Balthazar wrote of his encounter with a being that had not yet shifted…”
Ezra trails off. He blinks a few times and rubs his hand over his mouth and chin.
“The inhabitants were more demon-like in features. Sunken eyes that were blacker than deep space. Protruding forehead and chin. A gray coloration to their skin. And they were much larger than us in height and girth.”
I watch him as he explains the details slowly to me.
I ask before I realize what I am saying, “Have you seen one?”
Ezra stops and looks at me. “Yes. And so have you.”
I feel burning in the pit of my stomach, spreading to my brain. “What?”
Ezra says, “Let me correct myself. You have experienced the essence of a Sondian in your nightmares.”
I thought back over the past few weeks. Then, a specific event pops into my mind.
The kid that bumped into me on campus at the crosswalk?
Ezra responds without missing a beat. “Yes. That is why I had to get you and your parents out of there. They had made contact with you.”
Ezra continues, “They are more advanced than us. Sonde is hundreds of thousands of years older than Earth. However, Dobria is just a baby in comparison to both Earth and Sonde. They are both in the same galaxy, Andromeda, but are very different. The inhabitants’ adaptation to Sonde and its environment have spurred them to develop advancements much greater than ours.
“Speech was not necessary. They were able to share thoughts like a natural flow of speech. Balthazar was enamored by the transcendental concepts these beings possessed. He and his team saw these adaptations to the environment and language as gems to take back to our world, Earth. That is why Balthazar needed to have the stationary disc. He had plans that were beyond anything Sebastian would ever consider.”
My mouth is dry. I take a sip of my drink. “What did Balthazar’s team want to do?”
Ezra stands. “Now we are getting close to your purpose, Jesca.
“Balthazar’s team grew over the years, mere months in Sonde time. Time there moved similarly to Dobria’s. Cosmologists, astrophysicists, environmentalists, medical staff—Balthazar’s team encompassed about forty associates initially. All of the team members were young and eager to be a part of this historical endeavor. The collateral damage that could result was a distant fear that was overlooked by the amazing benefits they perceived for Earth.”
I ask, “Collateral damage?”
“Team members believed that they could create a cosmic link between Earth and Sonde indefinitely, allowing constant passage between the worlds. It was common in the 90’s for theoretical physicists to consider our universe to be expanding at an accelerated rate. Both Sebastian and Balthazar were neck and neck on their findings and research at this point. Sebastian was trying to halt what he had put into motion with Dobria and now with Sonde. Balthazar was pursuing his obsession with creating an indefinite cosmic link between two worlds. As both worked in two different directions, pulling against each other, another theory was uncovered. Because of Sebastian’s and Balthazar’s discovery of travel to another galaxy, and Balthazar’s obsession with creating a constant cosmic link, something never considered before had been put into motion: a collision of two galaxies.”
I add, “A collision? Many scientists believe that type of collision could be destructive to either or both galaxies.” I quickly stop and correct myself. “Well, that is so far off in the future. Billions of years, right?”
Ezra sighs. It is painful for me to hear that sigh. Ezra looks at me.
“Jesca. It is upon us.”
My nervousness intensifies.
Ezra walks to the window and stretches his arms above his head. “Remember Caleb Onoch? Sebastian’s eldest son? He ran with many of the same friends that Balthazar did back in London through university activities. Caleb had been seeing less and less of his brother and his growing group of rogue scientists. Caleb caught on to Balthazar’s periodic disappearing act that resembled his father’s from years before.
“Well, out of concern for his brother, Caleb called on his father. Caleb told Sebastian about Balthazar and his team’s traveling, discovering life forms in uninhabitable atmospheric conditions. Sebastian played along, knowing that Caleb would unknowingly talk with Balthazar about his and Sebastian conversations. Sebastian pretended to be aloof about the outrageous rumors that Caleb had heard about his brother behind closed doors. Sebastian reassured Caleb that Balthazar would never be a part of such an endeavor. That he was smarter than that.
“Sebastian knew that this conversation would only hold Caleb at bay for so long, though.
“Sebastian immediately put two trusted cohorts on a mission to pose as scientists interested in joining Balthazar’s team in London. Within days, Sebastian’s two associates confirmed the rumors. Sebastian knew that Balthazar’s team would speed the universe’s imbalance by attempting to create a permanent wormhole between Earth
and Sonde. Two worlds open to each other, allowing passage for other beings to mingle in our world and vice versa. It is not like leaving borders to countries unguarded and open. We are talking about other species with different physiological make-ups and physical appearances through adaptation to their atmosphere.”
Ezra pauses, realizing he is getting too deep for me again. “Okay. Sebastian sends in infiltrators. Ariel and Alice Sera.”
“My adopted grandparents?”
Ezra nods his head, confirming my words. “And they quickly became accepted onto Balthazar’s team due to their strong background as astrophysicists. They were granted passage onto Sonde. It took weeks for Ariel and Alice to get the level of trust needed to complete their mission.
“They were to disassemble the stationary disc on Sonde and destroy it along with the station and lab that housed all of Balthazar’s team’s work. They were then to initiate their Copulas and link directly from Sonde to Earth after the link from Earth to Sonde had been severed. When they succeeded in their mission, Balthazar was incapacitated and unable to recreate and access the copper disc materials. And unable to return to Earth.”
I am on edge.
Ezra says, “But Balthazar is his father’s son. He and his team rebuilt what was destroyed quickly. The superior Sondians found it to be advantageous to generously provide materials comparable to the ones Balthazar blueprinted for the disc.”
I ask cautiously, “Advantageous?”
“I think you know the answer to that, Jesca, passage to our world. Was it to co-exist? Or to take over?”
Ezra comes to sit next to me. “This is where you come in, my dear.
“Sebastian could no longer protect Earth with his team of trusted colleagues since they were dedicating all of their time to discovering vast amounts of information on Dobria. He had to have guards to protect Earth.
“Coincidentally, Balthazar discovered he could not protect the link between the two worlds, Earth and Sonde, without guardians on both planets. They both began to build a following through their colleagues. It became like a fellowship. Sebastian referred to us as Dobrians since we were supporters of humanity for Earth, further discoveries on Dobria, and protectors from the Sondian fellowship bringing about an imbalance to our world, Earth. Balthazar referred to his fellowship as Sondians: supporters of linking the Earth and Sonde and merging co-existence on both worlds.”
Piercing The Fold Page 7