After it was all over we left the Dleene home world. With hyperspace closed down hereabouts we wondered just exactly how we might get home any time soon. The Dleene had said nothing.
To the mighty Dleene it was no great problem.
One of their Uni-Minds very kindly teleported us almost the full distance to Earth.
Who needs hyperspace when you have the Dleene?
End
Multiverse Jumper Unit
“How are they able to keep following us with all of the extra-dimensional teleports we’ve made to escape them?’ asked Danny.
“The extra-dimensional jumps the Multiverse Jumper Unit is doing for us are only apparently random,” I replied. “To the superior technology of the Streath enforcers there is a probably a semi predictable pattern of some kind slowly emerging.”
“Then we are done for,” sighed Danny “sooner or later they’ll get us.”
Barring a miracle I couldn’t see any other possible outcome. They would get us, no doubt, just as we were about to jump to or even just as we arrived at another dimension, or just possibly right in the middle of an extra-dimensional teleport. It was something the Streath particularly enjoyed. You jumped but never actually ended up at the intended destination or any other single destination in the Multiverse. Your component atoms would be sprinkled throughout the Multiverse. Tiny bits of you arriving in a variety of different dimensions.
How we came across the Multiverse Jumper Unit was nothing short of a miracle. Unless of course it wasn’t a miracle at all and someone or something was intent on Danny and I having the unit.
I took a closer look at it. I’d seen holographic images of them but this was the first one I’d seen in the flesh. For what was a nigh immortal piece of equipment it had just started to show its age. Looking a bit worn around the edges.
“I wonder if it’s the original?” enquired Danny almost whispering.
“I can’t see how,” I replied “the original would have been made by the,” I paused for a moment “by the Treene ancients and would never deteriorate. No it must be an early replication. By a lesser though still highly advanced race.” I was pretty sure of myself.
On our next jump we arrived in a dimension more alien than anything we had thus far encountered. And that was saying something.
“Not a worry,” I yelled to Danny above the weird noises that began to penetrate my mind. “The jumper unit will have us out of here in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
I could not have been more wrong. For some reason the Multiverse Jumper Unit didn’t send us anywhere. Though it still appeared to be working. It was still making that strange slight humming sound that it always made just before taking you on an extra-dimensional jump.
“Has the unit broken down?” enquired a very scared Danny. I sensed this was not fear of the Streath even though they couldn’t be far away but a fear of the more immediate dangers represented by this unusual dimension.
Visibility, even with maximum techno assist, was very poor here.
“No Danny,” I replied. “I think the unit has been overridden in some way. Something is preventing it from taking us any further, at least for the moment.”
The poor visibility was getting poorer. The eerie noises louder and wraithlike shapes flitted in and out of our technology assisted vision.
Then the wraiths, whatever they were, moved away from us, the noise in our heads abated and visibility improved somewhat. Enough for us to detect no less than five Streath extra-dimensional enforcers entering this unusual dimension. One such would have been more than enough to capture and return us or kill us but no as always the Streath had to go for overkill. They came heavily armed and armoured with the most advanced technology available to them. More than was necessary but such was the way of these ruthless machine like aliens.
“What do we do now?” enquired Danny.
I was fresh out of ideas.
Would they just kill us and be done with it but no they attempted to envelope us in a transporter enclosure. A kind of transparent huge garbage bag if you are taking your garbage along on an extra-dimensional trip. I suppose they viewed us as being no better than garbage.
I say they attempted to envelope us because just about then the Multiverse Jumper Unit decided to move Danny and me across to another dimension. I was amazed that we arrived safely and that the Streath did not follow us.
“This is a pocket dimension only,” our minds were assailed by telepathic communication soon after we arrived in the new dimension. “A place that is difficult to leave without assistance.”
An entity emerged before us. Thankfully it was not one of the Streath, unless they had added shape changing to their already impressive resumes. No this entity had more the look of one of the ancient Treene. A race we thought no longer existed.
“The Streath could follow us here though?’ I asked hoping desperately the response would be in the negative.
“They will if the surprise we had for them in the preceding dimension doesn’t come to fruition,” telepathed the entity.
“We know how important you and Danny are to the Streath,” the entity continued using telepathic communication. An agent of ours located you before they did and gave you the Multiverse Jumper Unit. It’s the original unit by the way. Just in case you were wondering.”
“The programming for the Multiverse Jumper had to be very precise,” continued the entity, somewhere along the way having substituted verbal conversation for telepathy. “With no hint of a trap. Yet eventually we wanted the Streath enforcers to end up in the dimension you were last in – the one you found so strange. A dimension we call the Nameless dimension. They sent the best of their kind after you. Which is what we wanted. Just as this pocket dimension is difficult to leave so to is the previous dimension you were in. All the more so if we add to that difficulty. If anyone does leave either dimension it is usually on our terms” The entity didn’t say so but I took our to mean the ancient Treene still somehow existing after all this time.
“You used us then,” said Danny in his most righteous accusatory tone.
“Used you and protected you at the same time,” the entity qualified Danny’s remark.
“There is a greater good,” continued the Treene entity. “This act represents the start of a concerted effort to discourage the Streath from the more extreme aspects of their self appointed enforcer role. To make them think twice before taking the Multiverse law into their own hands.”
Danny and I were returned home. Had we been able to return to the Nameless dimension we would have seen all that remained of the Streath enforcers were a few non lethal elements of their external armour. Elements that would very soon be absorbed into the structure of the Nameless dimension. The Streath extreme weapons could never have been left here or anywhere else. The locals would have found a way in which to utilise them. If we had looked for traces of the Streath such as physical bodies or residual life energies we would have found nothing. Their atoms scattered among the strange winds that cut across all dimensions.
The life forces of the Streath were potentially renewable but not after the resurgent Treene had finished with them.
For the Streath enforcers who could so enjoy interrupting their quarry mid extra-dimensional teleport there was a poetic justice in this.
End
(Not so) Brave New World
Canberra, Australia
2099
No one came to meet me after I emerged from the cryo chamber. Which was no great surprise. Most people I had known would be dead now unless they were also on the cryo program. I wondered if an ageing grandchild or great grand child might show up but they didn’t. Why would they?
I didn’t look up any possible descendants of mine. There just didn’t seem much point. Instead I opted for a low budget instant mind update to fill me in on the basics of what had happened over the last 83 years. A basic albeit, I suspected, heavily censored history course if you like. Then I went for an unsupervised stroll aro
und some parts of Canberra. I soon realised I did not have the authority to enter many of the areas in the megalopolis. I was given no reason for this lack of access.
I did learn that all the major Embassies were located together in a large protected enclave. Similarly the politicians were all housed together in a separate protected enclave with the high level government bureaucrats in yet another protected enclave. I wasn’t quite sure if the protected enclaves were to keep ordinary people out or keep the diplomats, politicians and senior Government bureaucrats in. Or, just perhaps, both.
I noticed also that there were no older people about. I hadn’t seen anyone looking physically older than me. That is to say older than I was in 2016 when I was put under. That bothered me.
The low budget mind update was very basic and rather vague and left me with a lot of unanswered questions.
I walked, in areas where I could, for hours taking it all in. 83 years of changes to the city of Canberra. People scurried about in a hurry to get where they were going. Some would go into little booths and not come out. When I investigated this I found I didn’t have enough credits to access any of the booths. I wondered if the booths had a “Tardis” effect. That is to say they were bigger on the inside than on the outside.
No one seemed prepared to stop and just pass the time of day. I stopped at several of the numerous, if run down and cheap, synthetic coffee booths and even here people were furtive. Taking a quick coffee and then heading about their business. Whatever that might be.
The coffee booths did provide public 3D audio-visual-sensory newscasts. Yet I had the feeling that none of the locals were listening to them. For some reason. Perhaps they had heard it all before. Perhaps like my cheap mind update they were also heavily censored.
Though there were references to things not mentioned in the mind update. Things such as ionisation lists, compulsory cryo-freezes, relocations far down time, enforced migrations off planet and other even less pleasant things. Not a one of which made me feel very comfortable at all.
All the while I was conscious of the numerous tiny robotic flyers that seemed to be everywhere. Both in the open and in any buildings I was able to access.
Then I got the shock of my life bumping into an old acquaintance from back in 2016. He had not aged at all since that time though he was still the oldest looking person I’d seen here yet.
“I’m one of the immortals,” Derrick said softly, almost apologetically. “There are only a handful of us.” He explained that immortality came at a very high price that very few could afford. I presumed he meant monetary price but he didn’t elaborate. I wondered if the price was non monetary what he might have done to achieve immortality. Perhaps he sold his soul to someone.
We spoke about a few old colleagues.
“Bill Johnson? Yes he was ionised in 2035.” Derrick said it so casually that he might have been talking about Bill having a haircut.
“Fred Perkins? Relocated far downtime in 2042.”
“Michael Swan? Emigrated off planet in 2051.” It seemed to me that Michael might have been a bit old for an off planet trip even by 2051.
“Joy Skoz? Returned back to cryo freeze for an undefined period.”
“Gee Derrick,” I asked ‘are there any of our old friends that did okay for themselves. Apart from you,” I added.
Derrick stated the obvious that apart from us two and Joy and Fred all other mutual friends were long since dead.
The puzzled look on my face probably told Derrick that I didn’t know as much about these things as he must have presumed I did. He looked distinctly uncomfortable as if he shouldn’t even be seen talking with me and quickly took his leave.
“Careful what you say or do,” was his parting remark pointing to the ubiquitous, myriad tiny robotic flyers. “As an immortal I’m cloaked from them but you are not.”
I needed more information about 2099. A lot more information. Not just about Canberra but the state of the world as it was now. Yet my meagre residual credits were only enough for a short period of base level accommodation and would not allow me to indulge in a higher quality mind update. Even so I was beginning to wonder how valuable the deluxe mind update would be anyway. My suspicions were that it would probably still be heavily censored. My various attempts to try to engage current day locals in conversation were singularly unsuccessful. In short I was clearly seen as a new arrival from somewhere and no one wanted to talk to me.
The public newscasts had filled some gaps for me but they used terms I didn’t understand. I needed access to whatever passed for the internet these days. Not without difficulty I found it. A small booth that advertised pay as you go “All Net” access. It was expensive so I could only afford a few minutes of access. Also there was a warning sign in the booth that any All Net access would be closely monitored. It didn’t say by who but I supposed by whoever the authorities were nowadays.
Even before I had finished my very short All Net search I received a visit from robotic authority. The first time I’d seen them since I emerged from the cryo sleep. So while the little robotic flyers were everywhere, their larger cousins were not so visible. Unless of course you did something wrong, I surmised.
“Citizen, it’s been a long day for you and you’ve done quite enough, you mustn’t tire yourself. We will escort you to your accommodations,” the bots which looked and sounded identical spoke simultaneously.
While no pressure was applied I had the clear feeling it would be if I resisted. Even the number of the little robotic flyers about seemed to increase as I was escorted to my accommodations.
That night I looked for the umpteenth time over the limited results of my interrupted All Net search.
It was a list of some formal penalties for various transgressions. Ionisation was actually an immediate penalty applied to citizens committing a range of listed major crimes. I noticed there were worse penalties than this.
I wondered what my expectation of life might be in this world of 2099. A new arrival with meagre residual credits, possessing little knowledge of the current environment, with presumably no useful skills for this time period, and looking physically older than almost anyone hereabouts except perhaps for one or two of the so called immortals.
I shivered in my cold basic accommodation. Some credits could have warmed me in Canberra’s cold climate but that would have been at the cost of even less days of accommodation.
Welcome to my not so brave new world I thought.
End
Dlarthh
Earth
2154
“I can’t save him,” I cried “I can’t save my own son.” It was all the more galling given that I was a highly competent surgeon. Yet his injuries following the cloned wolf attack were too great.
Then the alien came upon our small group unannounced his appearance a total surprise. Our first thoughts were that he must be an advanced guard for the star fleet that was approaching our system. A star fleet that had already made its intentions towards us all too clear.
“Who are you, what are you doing?” I asked frightened by his sudden appearance and actions.
“Your son’s life force is about to leave him,” responded the alien “he is about to die, I’m giving him a part of my own life force to combine with his and thereby save his life.”
It sounded like a major sacrifice but our visitor quickly explained that the part of his life force that he had yielded up would very soon be renewed.
The alien was dressed in what looked like quasi armour of some kind. It looked badly damaged and he disposed of the damaged armour in an odd way. Creating a levitating transparent cube large enough to take the armour which appeared to dissolve in it before the transparent cube itself disappeared. It was an interesting form of waste disposal. I wondered how prevalent it might be among alien races and considered it could only be an option for the advanced types. Evidently the armour, or whatever it was, was not self repairing. Or perhaps, even if it was, the damatge to it had simply been too
great.
Unlike the alien’s physical body. He had physical injuries but his body was in the process of visibly healing itself even as we looked on. Clearly he had a very significant self healing factor and as a medico I found it fascinating to watch. Though nothing was said the alien looked like he had just arrived from a war zone of some kind. Though where that might be I had no idea.
Then I felt something very light brush against my mind. The alien had quickly mind scanned me. That had to be it. I’d experienced this before but never in such a subtle scarcely perceptible way.
“It’s the easiest way,” he said presumably referring to the mind scan “to immediately acquire knowledge of your language, culture, technology, overall situation and other things. I am Dlarthh of the Tlell,” the alien continued. “I am not one of the aliens currently approaching your star system and know nothing about them other than what I found in your minds.”
This announcement, and none of us present doubted the truth of it, begged all sorts of questions but we met it with a stunned silence.
My daughter little Danni was the first to finally speak up to ask something that was suddenly on all of our minds.
“Can you help us with the alien fleet coming here?” after a short pause she added a “please”
It was a premature request. We knew nothing about the alien before us. Other than that he could read minds and give of his renewable life force to help others live. Yet we had nothing else. Earth had nothing else. No one else to turn to. Expectantly, hopefully we awaited his reply.
“Knowing almost nothing of the threat that faces you, I don’t know whether I can help or not,” said Dlarthh speaking in the unified Earth language of the mid 22nd century. “Yet I will do what I can.” He modulated his voice which initially was too low, almost guttural sounding, to the standard mid 22nd century NorAm male accent. Which we found altogether quite reassuring.
A Collection of Science Fiction Gems Page 10