by G. L. Argain
“So Earthlings do believe in Yhn, just like so many other intel-beings…Do you believe that Yhn exists?”
Andrew had often said that he was an atheist, but like always he had his doubts. “Well, I don’t really know for sure, but I just have the feeling that he’s the one who deals with our deaths. You know, if you die, then your soul—your spirit—is released into the afterlife, and God determines where we go. Supposedly, we stay in a place of pure bliss known as heaven if we’re good, and if we’re bad, then we go to a place of pure misery known as hell. There could be something more to that, but I just don’t think there’s any way of knowing for sure until we die.”
This time, Juvir stayed silent for a few moments before responding. “That sounds fairly similar, though the ‘heaven and hell’ part sounds rather new to me. The most popular beliefs say that once we die, our souls may either be recycled into a parallel universe, are sent into the void between universes, or stick to a place within the universe while, in an unknown way, connecting to the void. That void is known as the ‘Impossible Realm,’ where absolutely anything can happen regardless of logic or reason. Could you say more about the heaven and hell that you had mentioned?”
“Umm…well, heaven is thought to be above Earth, and hell is known to be below Earth. God and his son Jesus Christ watch over heaven and the Earth, while Satan controls the people in hell. God and Jesus look just like humans in white robes, while Satan looks like a red, upright demon with horns on his head.” Andrew had paused for a moment, trying to figure out all that he could say. “This is all according to one major religion, by the way. There’s plenty of other religions that exist on Earth.”
Juvir nodded his head. “Go on.”
“God had created the universe and everything in it. Humans started out as two children of God named Adam and Eve. They gave birth to…I think seven children, and they mated with each other and so on down the road, thus forming the human race.”
“Do most humans believe that?”
“Well, not as much anymore, but I’m sure plenty of people still do.”
Juvir rubbed his forehead using his thumb and the side of his index finger. “There’s plenty of scientific proof refuting a lot of that. The incest alone—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not saying I thought humans started out that way, or even that Jesus was the Son of God. But if I heard that God created the start of the universe, and that the universe took care of itself from there, then I would go along with that.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what you believe, just as long as it doesn’t contradict with proven facts. At that point, people will think you’re stupid. At the very least, that’s how it works here among intel-beings.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that even though your species has proven otherwise,” said Juvir, “there are some that still cling on to their religion like it is fact. Let me put it this way—there are an infinite amount of things to know about the universe and everything in it. Since that amount is infinite, there will always be something about the universe that we can’t prove with science, some kind of evidential gap. Religion fills in that gap by providing theories that make sense, but don’t have concrete evidence. Religion should always be revised whenever new evidence comes up, as there could either be a gap again or religion ends up overlapping fact and needs to be reduced.
“The main religion for many planets nowadays says that Yhn—the body-less, shapeless creator of this universe and possibly any other universes—does not control our lives as we live. Only before and after life, only when we are in the Impossible Realm, does Yhn play his part. All of this is pure theory—there is no way to prove it scientifically. However, it makes sense when it is placed among the scientific facts that we already have. That is acceptable religion. And just to finish off, don’t mistake philosophy for either.”
Andrew didn’t want to hear anymore of this. Yet, at the same time, he enjoyed listening to it. He, who had been so unsure of what to believe all this time, found something that fully made sense. It was broad, but it fit so well with what Andrew already knew while explaining what he didn’t know for sure. He wanted to stop listening because he felt that one should only take so much religious discussion in one day.
“Well, that was…” Andrew said, “…a lot to think about. I think I’ve had enough for one day.”
“Enough of what?”
“Enough of all of this—aliens, technology, genes, and now ideas about life and religion and what not. I think I should just…go sleep.” It had been less than three hours since Andrew had woken up to the world of the AOIB, but those hours had been taxing for his mind and body. A nap would do some good, he thought.
“You slept a lot when you first came here, and now you want to sleep some more? How much—”
“Please, just…no more. Let me sleep.”
And so, Andrew fell asleep on the operating table.
“Should we tell him when he’s done sleeping? Or should we just wake him now?”
“Patience, Zepentiro. We will wait until he wakes up; he will decide for himself.”
While Andrew slept, Juvir and Zepentiro—another member of the AOIB—stood talking in the hallway.
“What if what he chooses is dangerous enough to kill him?”
“Then that’s his choice. Isn’t it in essence the same either way?”
Chapter 12
The planet Ku-an Doel is ninety-percent inhabited by trillions of diverse intelligent life forms. They have learned to live without naturally generated air or food, and all the water they need is recycled. Artificial, tree-like towers placed once every mile convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Most food is stored in the form of food pills that expand in the presence of stomach fluids. Any organic food contains artificial preservatives and ingredients; it is considered a luxury for even the wealthiest of people. Cities are constructed both on land and on water, but nothing in the sky; cities built in the air pose too many hazards, even with the advanced technology to keep them up. The only thing natural that the people choose to keep is sunlight, which is needed anyway on the remaining tenth of the planet that is left untouched and uninhabited.
Of that one tenth, 97.5% of it is ocean—a large volcano with the name “Erlenkeymll” occupies the 2.5%. According to the natives of the planet, this name means “Tower of the World.” This volcanic land has been made the only wildlife preserve of the world. The volcano is nearly the size of Olympus Mons from Mars, being twelve miles high and hundreds of miles in diameter. Above sea level, wildlife can only be seen on the lower third portion of the behemoth of a volcano, since the atmosphere above does not contain sufficient conditions to support natural life. The slope is so smooth and minor that the actual horizon from the planet’s curvature cannot be seen from the summit. The only way to reach the summit quickly is by spacecraft; an advanced tank with its own oxygen supply could get up there, but it would require three days to do so. Aside from the method of transportation, anyone who reaches the top must wear a spacesuit.
Small lava flows occur every year from the side of the volcano and start fires; however, the cap of the volcano itself has not erupted in many, many millennia. There are many species of trees, plants and animals that live on the volcano—all of them are recorded in the AOIB database. None of the animals are technically “intelligent,” and if there were any, they wouldn’t have the thumbs to put their intelligence to recognizable use.
Every few thousand years, when the top of the volcano erupts and the whole island becomes covered in lava, several people go out to rescue all of the animals that they can and bring them back to their zoos. Once the lava has cooled and the vegetation grows up to a sustainable point—which can take decades or even centuries—the animals are taken back to their homeland.
The scientists involved take some seeds along with the animals and plant as many as they can after the land has cooled. This makes the volcanic region somewhat artificial in a way, since peop
le—not nature—are responsible for the health and safety of these living organisms.
The only people that are allowed to permanently reside on the island are Anzem and Shul, the scientists that watch over anything that occurs on the volcano. Their laboratory lies near the coast, away from any places that small lava flows have been known to reach. Both scientists have agreed to let Andrew do his training on the volcanic island if he wanted to.
“Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait…WHAT?!?”
“It’s simply a choice, but I thought you would prefer this over the usual method. After all, you might get along with the animals there.”
“‘Get along with the animals?’ Are they all aggressive? Or do they just hate you people?”
Juvir revealed plan to Andrew about the physical training he would have to do. Normally, all trainees build up their muscles from special machines and more genes. However, this method comes with side effects that often inhibit and sometimes arrest necessary bodily functions. For example, a miweri—the same species that Juvir belongs to, though to no social or political relation—took the standard training course and ended up with an unnatural form of cancer. He received several cuts throughout his body and decided to take a quick-fix chemical that would restore his muscles within seconds. Lucky people would end up with lumps where some of the muscle fibers were bigger and stronger than the rest, causing stress on the tendons and making injuries even more prevalent. This specific miweri, however, had developed a mutation from the chemical as tumors the size of volleyballs boiled out from the wounds of his body. He died within minutes.
The alternative path: live off the land for four months, enduring the elements. There are some plants and animals that Andrew would be able to eat, but he was told that he would be running away from his meat more often than chasing it. Since the island is so large and diverse, there would be different predators to worry about in each area, some stronger than others. Andrew would need to learn how to live in the wild before he could take down such predators.
“They do hate the intelligent population, probably because they don’t like the way they’ve been treated by their keepers. They hold a grudge for all of the tests and alterations that we’ve done on their kind.”
“So does that mean there’s intelligent animals with that darkened-muscle gene who could easily kill me?”
“No, but most have the regeneration gene, so killing any animals will be more difficult.”
“Shit.”
“…My associate Zepentiro is against this option because of these dangers, but I’m letting you decide for yourself. Well, do you want to go through with it?”
Even with a four-hour nap, Andrew’s mind wasn’t sharp enough to decide with much haste. To have lumps and cancerous tumors boiling out of his body…or to be mauled by a wild animal far away from civilization…oh, the choices.
“…Am I going to be doing this training alone?”
“Only for the latter option. If you stay here for your training, you will be doing so with other trainees. They will be the only intel-beings outside of the AOIB to know that you exist.”
The human’s antisocial tendencies kicked in and he came to a decision. “I do believe I wanted to see something natural in this place. Might as well go to the giant volcano.”
“Then you’ll leave tomorrow.”
The AOIB members came together once more before Andrew went to sleep for the night. He wasn’t tired, so he asked to go as well. It wasn’t a formal meeting like before—everyone just came to chat.
Zepentiro said to Andrew, “Are you really going to do this? Think of the risks! There’s no technology, no hot water, not even a ready-made house to take shelter in!”
“Isn’t that called ‘camping?’” replied Andrew.
“What’s camping?”
Andrew let out a sigh before continuing with, “It’s where you spend more than a day out in the wilderness without much technology.”
“Sounds rough and uncomfortable.”
“I sure wouldn’t risk it,” said a random member from across the room.
Andrew said no more, though he did ask everyone to stop raising him questions. There was more bullshit on this planet than there ever was on Earth. Two aliens were talking about some celebrity news that happened an hour beforehand. A guy named Nidu tried tackling another intel-being nearby a swimming pool and bounced right off of his torso. The other guy simply rubbed his belly and laughed as Nidu ended up falling into the pool. It was a little funny, but it was no justification for him to become a world-famous meme in a matter of minutes.
To think these are politicians and not other alien trainees, Andrew thought. I’m really glad I’m going to that island.
After the meeting, Andrew walked into a room where many large “bubbles” were lying around all over. According to the intel-beings, they were beds. Andrew lied down on one that fit his size—he was getting more coordinated now—and found out that this bubble was the most comfortable thing he had ever laid his body on in his entire life. He thought, Why didn’t they use these for operating tables? The material that these beds were made of were more expensive and less practical than hard surfaces when it came to medical use. And yet with this comfortable bubble bed, it took him close to three hours to fall asleep. He had a lot going through his mind, he had slept plenty already, and the day-night cycle at his position on the planet differed from his biological clock.
The Earthling had another odd dream that night. He saw several people, some human and others alien, that he believed he knew; however, he had never seen them before in his life. They seemed to have a personality like his own, and he made friends with whomever he talked to. Suddenly, a flash gave him a color-negative image for a fraction of a second, and all of Andrew’s friends developed a look of fright and terror in their eyes. They backed away slowly before turning around and running away into the red horizon, darkening with every second. The sky had become black, the ground was a dark orange, and several blurs of white flashed past him in all directions. His senses in the dream faded down to the point where there was nothing, that he thought the dream had ended, then a lightning bolt struck him and he woke up.
He was almost as frightened as he was after the last dream he had, letting out a big moan to show he was not pleased. The human then realized that somebody was right beside him, looking down with something held in hand. It was difficult, almost ridiculous, for Andrew to try and ignore the guest.
“Okay, what the hell…what’re you doing screwing with my dreams?”
“I didn’t alter your dream at all—I was just monitoring it. Looks like you’ve got something coming to you in your future…something huge.”
“What—what d’you mean? It was just a dream, it couldn’t be much more than that.” In reality, Andrew had the feeling that the guy knew what he was talking about.
“I heard you were the newcomer to this place, so I decided to see what kind of dreams you would have.” Aliens can be creepy enough without being seen, but this guy had the nerve to tell what the human was dreaming about, of all things. “Vivid, yet abstract…sounds like somebody has a deep connection to the Realm.”
“What…the fuck…are you talking about? And could you at least show me your face so I’m not creeped out as much?!”
The guy turned on a light that detailed his face. He looked like a crossbreed between a human and a bald squirrel while having the eyes of a cat. Turning on the light just changed the eeriness to a different form. Andrew looked disgusted, and the alien could tell.
“Hey, I was just as amazed to see you, especially with all that hair.”
“What the hell! I’m not that hairy!” the human whined.
The guy held out a piece of what looked like glass, and a lighted reflection appeared. Andrew saw his face and realized he did have a bit of a mustache and a beard going, but he didn’t think that he was as hairy as a monkey.
“I know you’re not as hairy as some animals can be, but you still look a lot like o
ne. Mostly it’s the hair on your head.”
“Well, some of my people actually like to have hair.”
The guy said nothing, returning to a screen by his side.
“So what are you doing with my dreams, anyway?”
“I told you, I’m just monitoring them to determine your personality and your connection to the Realm.”
“What realm?”
“The Impossible Realm. I’m part of a group devoted to studies towards dreams and their connection to our unknown world.”
“Um, last time I heard, it was impossible to prove anything about the Impossible Realm—hence the name.”
“Maybe not possible to absolutely prove, but we’ve found plenty of bits and pieces that back up our theories.” Sounds like string theory. “We have faith in that whenever we have dreams, we see a part of the Realm and a hint of our lives in our own universe.”
In a way, this made sense to Andrew. And yet, at the same time, it sounded like a crackpot theory. After all, why should cults be limited to Earth?
“So, what does this say about my dream and my future?”
“My guess? Something big, scary, and epic, all involving you.”
“Yeah, that’s real specific.”
“Oh, so you do know sarcasm! I wasn’t sure if your species had developed—”
“Just get out of here! I wanna sleep!”
“Would you at least like a Quik-Sleep spray before I go?”
“No, I—…what?”
“One spritz of this on your face and you’ll fall asleep instantly. It’s totally safe!”
“How do I know you’re not just drugging me?”
“You’re going to sleep anyway, it’s not gonna matter much in that perspective.”
“NO! Just go!”
“Alright, alright!” He took his stuff with him and walked out the door.
Andrew didn’t even get to know the guy’s name.