He began his trance, as the object took him back to a time when the worlds of Tolaria and Sentros didn’t exist. He surmised that the object was a least three billion years old, and questioned how this could even be possible. The metal itself didn’t appear that old. He could also approximate its origin, which was somewhere deep within the constellation of Orion in the human’s universe. It came from a world extremely technologically advanced; where both space and time were easily traveled, and where peace was the true meaning of life. ‘Sentimental fools,’ he thought. ‘Living for an idea that would never last.’ Dwelling further, he saw their planet was destroyed by a supernova, and were forced to leave for a new home. After that, he sensed nothing more about them.
After he realized the explosion was an elaborate hoax, he called for his men to return to the clearing. When they responded, he addressed them, and dropped the object from his hand. “I want the human found!” he roared. “Lieutenant Zaroz?” The lead Belorion in the crew saluted him. Most of his crew was Belorion, but there were other beings as well. “Take five guards and go over to that canyon,” Riona told him. “Find him, but don’t kill him. I want him alive.”
They followed his orders, venturing into the jungle. Riona stared at the debris, smiling. “So you are clever, Zarcon?” he sneered. “How clever will you be when I capture your human friend? You’ll feel every bit of the pain I will inflict upon him, and then you’ll surrender. And then the Republic will be mine.”
While Riona planned his diabolical plot, the human had just awakened from his mishap. Jeff felt the blood that ran from his face, arm, and legs in the darkness of a cavern. He couldn’t understand why these creatures didn’t harm him. He was only food, like so many other animals they dragged into their lair. They brought him here from the lake, but he was unaware how. It was apparent there wasn’t any intention on killing him; they didn’t injure him or show hostility towards him at all. When Jeff tried to break a light stick with his good arm, they threw rocks at it to put it out. He groped in the darkness, crawling on the cavern floor. His right leg was broken, and he could only drag himself across the sand. His left arm was broken as well, had a gash about an inch deep, and there was a superficial wound on his head.
He needed to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, so he ripped the silky fabric of his spacesuit and tied it tight around his arm with his right hand, using the rest of the cloth to make a sling to reduce the unbearable pain. He could tell it was late afternoon due to the sunlight that came through the entrance of the cavern. Unfortunately, it seemed too high for him to reach in the condition he was in, but decided to at least give it a try.
He dragged his wounded body, as he heard the sounds of the reptiles awaking. They were quick to grab him, and held him as if to suggest him not to leave. “Why are you keeping me here,” he painfully asked. There was no answer, only a distinct growling sound, as they held his arms tight, and he screamed in agony.
He knew he couldn’t communicate with them, but he had to somehow. He felt for his laser, which for some reason they didn’t take away. When they let go of him, he fired in their direction at the ground and they jumped back in fear. He then fired at the rocks with his laser, spelling the word ‘peace.’ The letters glowed in red, and the reptiles pondered them. They never spoke English before, and they had seen humans before- but from where?
Zeloria was in the other universe, but Earth was in this one. Was it possible they saw humans from Mars or Earth before, or were the Tolarions involved somehow and brought Zelorions here? None of it made any sense to him. They were too primitive to create spaceships of their own, and even if they did, they would also have the problem of inter-dimensional travel, unless they crashed here years ago and regressed evolutionally. According to what Zarcon had told him, there were no intelligent humans within this particular galaxy capable of
such travel.
He also wondered how the human from Earth got to Tolaria in the first place to create their tyrannical race. The more he thought about the present, the more he missed the past. He recollected a time when Lori and he were on an expedition on the far side of one of Jupiter’s moons, Calissto. The two of them were sent on a scientific mission to collect rock samples from the moon using a planetary drone. Jeff remembered how beautiful the giant gas planet was as they approached it. He was younger then, about twenty six years old. They gazed at one another, Lori’s blond hair flowing to her shoulders, and then at the moon Calissto.
“Pretty isn’t it?” she asked him.
“Yes it is,” he answered, smiling back into her blue eyes. He didn’t want to tell her just yet, but he had strong feelings for her at the time. Space was a very lonely place for him. There were other women at the base, but he always loved Lori, even when they were in the academy together. Other women had nothing in common with him; they were either too pushy or ignored him completely. She was the only one who could ever really understand him.
When the two arrived at Calissto, they sent the probe to collect rock samples and to determine a future base site. Nothing unusual happened on their mission, and after that the two continued to be close friends. They did exchange a brief kiss, but she told him she wasn’t ready to make any commitments yet.
Those were the days before she was transferred to base control. He always thought her transfer was a direct result of their involvement with each other, even though his superior, John Carver said it was because of Jeff’s inability to follow orders. He would have followed them if he thought they were justified. The transfer ended up being a promotion for her.
Now, ten years later, he longed for any kind of interaction; even the inhabitants that were on Zeloria. It was apparent that their rival, Riona, despite being part human himself, despised humans.
As the glowing rocks faded to a low ember, he saw that his captors didn’t understand his message. He dragged himself towards the exit, only to be pushed back down again. Growing impatient, he fired his laser at another one of them, as it jumped in fear. They immediately surrounded him, and he slowly dragged himself across the cavern floor.
They were no longer afraid of the light intensity, and began to
adjust to its effects. This was due to the fact they were beginning to live in daylight, and had begun the evolutionary process the computer spoke of. They grabbed the human and carried him into another tunnel which was away from the outside light. He lost his laser when one of them shook it from his hand, so he had no choice at the moment than to do want they wanted him to do.
He felt helpless as he was led to a larger section of the cavern, and sat down on a flat, stone table. The creatures fled the room afterwards, heading in the direction from which they had come, a door shutting the tunnel entrance behind them. The room brightened in an array of colored censored lights, all pointed in Jeff’s direction. He eyed the room for some sign of their operator, but saw nothing other than an immense computer, which was too advanced for such a primitive culture.
“Who are you?” he yelled, expecting no answer from the machine.
Much to his surprise, an amplified voice answered. “Welcome,” it said. “We are inhabitants of a long dead world called Talok.” As the voice spoke, an image appeared on the wall unlike anything he had ever seen. It was that of a being that was half man and half reptile. He was slender and seemed extremely intelligent.
“If you have found this transmission,” he continued. “You will know that our world no longer exists, and that my words are true. Many eons ago, a supernova destroyed our planet. We were forced to flee across the universe in hopes of a new beginning, but our people became divided, and began to fight with one another. If you have found this world, you have probably found the survivors, if any, of our race. As I speak, it is most likely evident that an evolutionary process has began on them, as this installation contains the genetic properties to enable them to do so. If you are a human listening to this, there will be no change in your anatomical structure. If you are Talokian, however, you will be a
ltered considerably. You may have traveled here somehow, maybe from a distant star. I wish you luck in your experiences with our race. By the time this transmission is completed, a new race of Talokians will begin. Farewell, Friend, and may peace be with you.”
Jeff chuckled at their farewell, knowing there could never be peace in his time. When he sat up on the table, he noticed his bones were no longer broken, and his wounds were completely healed. Feeling a little dazed, he jumped from the table, stumbled briefly, and the tunnel door opened. The Talokian descendants entered, the
protégés now appearing much like their mentor on the cavern wall.
“Greetings,” the leader said. “My name is Jalok.”
“You spoke?” Jeff stated, amazed.
The leader gazed at him, smiling. His eyes were wide open, unlike the blindness they possessed earlier. “Of course I spoke,” he said. “We are no longer savages. The genetic process is completed, thanks to you, and we are true Talokians again. We apologize for the way you were treated upon your arrival, it was necessary to get you here. We were primitive creatures of the night when we attacked your ship.”
“My ship?” Jeff questioned. “What about it?”
“We attacked it, I’m afraid. Your friends left in it this morning.”
“Left?”
“Yes, is there a problem?”
“Something must have gone wrong.”
“I don’t know. They didn’t seem to be scared of us.”
“Riona,” Jeff surmised. He knew now their enemy was closing in on them. He figured he would be safe as long as he stayed with the Talokians. “There is an alien humanoid chasing us. He wants us for what he calls treason. He is a dictator, and has already destroyed one race of people.”
“It sounds as if he has not found peace within his own heart,” Jalok said. “Only then will he realize war is not the way. Our race was virtually eliminated due to such maliciousness towards one another, but we were sent into this galaxy to be reborn.”
“How long ago?”
“I cannot say for certain,” the reptile said. “As far as we know it was billions of years ago. No record was able to be kept, other than the transmission that you saw and heard, and the knowledge passed onto us by the regenerator through contact with you.”
“Why did you need a human?”
“We were once part human, as we are once again.”
“Have you ever seen a human here before?”
“No, you are our first. We visited humans millions of years ago, but not on Earth. It is more likely that Earth was populated as a colony from one of those distant planets.”
Jeff couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was this really possible? He began to believe anything was possible, having witnessed the improbability of the science he already saw. Even though he was fascinated, he had to get back to the matter at hand.
“Have the Tolarions been here?” he asked.
“What are the Tolarions?” Jalok asked.
“They are ape-like creatures with one eye, and have a nasty reputation for conquest.”
“They sound like this Riona that you speak of.”
“They are very similar.”
“No one has landed here before you.” Jeff could tell he was sincere by the way his eyes were fixed upon him.
“Is there any way to contact my friends-a transmitter, mind meld, or something?”
“I’m afraid not," Jalok said. “We just regained the knowledge of our forefathers. It will take some time to rebuild our civilization here, probably about a year of your time. ”
“Are you serious? That’s all it will take you is a year?”
“Yes, we have the technology to complete such a project and more. Your Riona probably destroys a civilization in considerably less time, however.”
“Is there any way to get off this planet?”
“No. You are stranded here for the moment just as we are.”
“I thought you were capable of building an entire civilization from scratch?”
“We are, but we lack the materials to build you an adequate spacecraft right now. It will take a day or two. We also need you to remain here a day or two to finalize our evolutionary process. After that, you will be free to go.”
“I’ve heard that tune before, but now I feel I can trust you.”
“It is the least we can do for you. Why don’t you relax in the room you just left, until we can build our hub of the main complex. Perhaps the computer will have answers to questions you may have. Feel free to ask what you like.”
“Thank you,” Jeff said. “You are the only ones who have agreed to help us.”
They directed him back into the large computer room, and he sat down on the stone table. The tunnel door shut, and once again the lights focused on him. He peered at the great wall of machinery.
“I am Varmoth, the Talokian teacher,” a voice announced. “Ask me a question, Human.”
“Why was I needed to start the Talokian genetic process?”
“You were brought to this chamber because you were needed to activate my memory banks to start the process.”
“How is this process possible?”
“I am artificially engineered biological genetic system. I can create biological entities using DNA from various sources or alter those that already exist by blending DNA. I am able to see, hear, feel and think as you do. I was needed to change their structure, just as you were needed to change mine.”
“I still don’t quite understand, but there are a lot of things I don’t understand. How are human genes linked to reptile genes?”
“Many billions of years ago, on Talok we had dinosaurs as you know them. They did not die out, but adapted to their environment. As they grew up along side of humans, there was a merging of the two genes using biogenetics, and the result is what you see now.”
“Where am I in relation to my home planet, Mars?”
“Thirteen point five light years away. It would take 70,000 thousand years to reach by your current conventional Martian spacecrafts, and a few hundred using your current mode of travel.”
“Is there any way of reaching it sooner?”
“Yes, but you are not in access of such a device.”
“Could the Talokians build such a device?”
“Yes, but it would take at least two months, even by our standards.”
“Is there any other way?”
“Only through time travel or inter-dimensional travel.”
“How could I have gotten to another region of space without my knowledge?”
“I cannot answer that. Possibly through inter-dimensional travel.”
“That would explain a lot of things,” Jeff replied. “Do you think that I was brought to another universe somehow?”
“Affirmative.”
“Explain the inter-dimensional process to me.”
“Dimensional transporting is a process in which a device converts exotic matter, dark energy or antimatter into energy by using the density of a star, binary star or a black hole. This energy created forms what you call a wormhole or singularity. The wormhole generating device allows an opening of space and time, permitting one to either go forward in time, travel to a parallel universe, or to another location within the same universe.”
“Could you explain what happened to the Talokians, and why they were able to survive so long?”
“The Talokians were a highly advanced race from Talok, a planet deep within the constellation of Orion. They existed long before your
planet Mars was formed, and traveled the universe seeking others who were as peaceful as they were. They achieved a universal understanding, and invented several serums to diseases that may have killed your people in the past. About three billion years ago, their sun exploded, and destroyed their world. Those who managed to escape traveled throughout the universe in search of a new home. Their peace did not last, as they became corrupted on their journey, and fought with each other. Those who survived knew they had to
preserve what knowledge they possessed for future civilizations. That is why they came here. They built this complex which has survived the bonds of time itself.”
“How old is this place?”
“2.4334 billion years old.”
“How is that possible?”
“This world knows no time. It has remained the same since the Talokians’ arrival.”
“Nothing can stay the same for that long a time. Every world must change somehow.”
“Not this one.”
“What about when your sun dies?”
“Then, and only then, will we parish as well.”
“Wouldn’t the atmosphere have deteriorated long ago?”
“I provide the atmosphere, as I provide the vegetation, the water, and the mountains.”
“You can control a planet?”
“Yes. I provide the life sustaining properties, and the world itself does the rest. Without me, it would eventually die.”
Jeff contemplated a plan. “Can you create an ion storm?” he asked, knowing it would cause Riona’s ship to be disabled. He then would have enough time to destroy his ship and end his evil plan here.
“Of course,” the computer replied, as its panel lit up erratically, and within moments, it completed the task. “Ion storm will start in approximately three hours. The main hub of the complex must be completed first.”
The storm would last several hours and totally disable their spacecraft for days, enabling the Talokians enough time to complete their task and for them to construct a ship so Jeff could escape. Since Riona had already landed, time was of the essence. Even if Jeff destroyed his ship, he’d still have to deal with the humanoid, and find a way to kill him.
The tunnel door opened hours later, and revealed the complex they had constructed in the canyon cavern. Jeff left the canyon cavern, marveling the structure, as he walked across a constructed wooden suspension bridge towards the object, which was over the waterfall. By now he was sure that Riona saw it as well, but maybe not since the storm had begun, and the visibility was deteriorating. The only other place he saw structures like these were on Belor, and once again he felt primitive and inferior compared to them. How could such a superior race possibly need his help?
Dimension Lapse (Dimension Lapse Series Book 1) Page 10