Dale Mettam

by The Pub at the Center of the Universe (retail) (epub)

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what if it is the Y’lem?”

  “I thought that was the point?” Kirk was confused by Lu’s sudden hesitancy.

  “But what if it is the Y’lem and we don’t free him?”

  “But we’re here to free him. That’s the reason we’re both seriously hurt right now.”

  “But what if we don’t?” Lu said. “The universe ends, or the potential universe ends. Everything that was, isn’t anymore. And the Y’lem will start from scratch.”

  “Are you suggesting that we let the universe end?” Kirk said in complete amazement.

  “Look, you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save me, right?”

  Kirk nodded, yes.

  “So what’s the difference between that and sacrificing everything for those who have suffered and died already?”

  “OK, let me get this straight. You’re seriously suggesting that because people have suffered and died we let the universe end, and they’ll be saved from that reality?”

  “I know its a big thing, but I know of the terrible things the Prions alone have done throughout their history. And they weren’t the only ones. We have a chance to make it so billions of people don’t die.”

  “But...”

  “Think about it. I studied some of your people’s history. You have a chance to make it so that everyone who died in needless wars, never do. You can end the potential suffering of billions upon billions.”

  “But what about the good things? What about Shakespeare, Picasso, and Mozart?” Kirk said. “On my own planet alone, my species has created such beauty, exhibited compassion, and loved on equally enormous levels. All that would end too?”

  “I said it would involve sacrifice,” said Lu.

  “But all this assumes that in the new universe... the real universe. It assumes that there will be no evil, no suffering, no needless death,” said Kirk.

  “But the Y’lem would have learned from this attempt.”

  “But they wouldn’t do that. It isn’t what they do.”

  “But they could,” Lu insisted.

  Kirk thought about this for a moment, turned to look at the blob in the containment cube, then back at Lu.

  “You’re right. They could do that,” he finally agreed, then hit the red button

  Chapter Forty

  “Why did you do that if you agreed with me?” Lu asked.

  “Because I wouldn’t want to live in a universe where I didn’t have a choice.”

  “The choice to be evil? To commit crimes of such terrible consequence?” Lu was shocked.

  “If I never has a choice, how do I know I’m doing the right thing?”

  “Because you would be!”

  “But how would I know?”

  They turned their attention to the console as it gave a slow whine and the energy beam flickered then disappeared. Immediately the blob in the containment cube fell to the floor of the cube with a thick spletch.

  Kirk looked at the controls again. Slowly some words were changing from Prion into English. A small lever had the word open above it. So Kirk flicked it. The cube, previously glowing at the edges, went dull, and it slowly folded apart, lowering the prisoner to the floor of the room.

  Kirk and Lu exchanged worried glances, and Lu braced herself, ready for an attack.

  The blob seemed to pulse for a while, then slowly it began to form the shape of a man.

  “You!” said Kirk. “But how?”

  Kirk nodded. “George. He crashed my car, back on Earth.”

  The old man gave another slight shudder and changed his appearance again.

  “Mr. Wells?” Kirk exclaimed. “What did you do with that money?”

  The old man shuddered and changed again.

  “Herbie?”

  “Herbie?” asked Lu.

  “My milkman,” said Kirk in amazement.

  “The Y’lem deliver your milk?” asked Lu, looking at Kirk in awe. “You must be more important than I thought.”

  The old man gave a final shudder and returned to his orange robes.

  “Hang on a minute,” said Kirk, now very puzzled. “If you could make sure I was in the proper place at the right time for Lu to pick me up, that means you could have gotten out at any time. Why did I need to come and rescue you?”

  “I have been here since before Agent Pillah departed to retrieve you,” said the old man grinning.

  “Oh, I get it,” said Kirk. “You came back from the future to help me.”

  “Actually you are correct in that I did aid you. More than you know. However, I did not return from the future alone. Several times I cam forward from the past.”

  “Okay, my head is likely to explode if I try and work this out,” said Lu. “Let’s just get out of here while our luck is holding, shall we?”

  Kirk studied the old man, who smiled back at him, eyes twinkling as if he knew some secret joke that he wouldn’t share.

  “Rescuing you wasn’t the only reason you needed me to come here, was it?” Kirk asked the old man.

  “You’re more astute than you appear.” The Y’lem smiled, flicking a glance at Lu.

  “What are you talking about?” Lu asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” Kirk answered absently.

  “Now we need to work out how to get away from here with only one F.R.B. and three of us to travel.”

  “I think I might be able to help in that department,” offered the old man, clicking his fingers.

  When he woke up, Kirk ached everywhere, though waking up at all took a lot of the sting out of that discomfort. He vaguely recognized the room, and slowly memories came back. This was the bedroom of his apartment in the Shady Boughs apartment complex.

  He propped himself up in his bed and realized he was not alone. Sitting in a corner was Plaach, snoring quietly in a large chair. Plaach gave a louder snort, woke himself up, then jumped to his feet when he saw Kirk was awake. He grinned.

  “I’ll just go and let them know,” he said, scurrying out of the bedroom.

  “Wait?” Kirk said. “How did I get here?”

  But it was no use. Plaach was gone.

  Several minutes later the door opened and Plaach returned followed closely by North Rubik and Lu Pillah. Kirk smiles as he noticed Rubik wearing a Kuiper belt with the distinctive buckle.

  “They shanghaied you as well, did they?” Kirk beamed at Rubik.

  North stuck his thumbs in his belt, framed the buckle with his hands, and gave a slightly embarrassed, but proud grin. “Somebody has to be around to put your wild plans into practice.”

  “So how long you gonna lay around?” Lu asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed. “We have a caseload building up back at the office, partner.”

  “I think I’ve earned a little rest after the last few days.” Kirk replied.

  “Yes indeed,” Plaach said. “Chief Boh Yah Di gave me express instructions that I was to make sure Special Agent Deighton got as much rest as he needed. And to make sure he had as few disturbances as possible. He told me it was a personal request from the Y’lem.”

  “Chief Boh Yah Di told you that?” Kirk asked, slightly surprised.

  “He was made a Universal Securitat cadet, after Rubik here gave a full report of what happened on Prio,” Lu said.

  Kirk looked at Rubik questioningly. “What about that incident on Titan you wanted to resolve?”

  For a moment, Plaach looked worried. North gave a slight shake of his head and Kirk replied with a small nod that he understood. Plaach relaxed.

  “Well I need to get some more rest,” Kirk said through a long yawn. “Why don’t you all go and leave me alone. Tomorrow we’ll all go out and get a beer and some curry.” He look
ed across at Plaach. “Maybe some Kenturkee Fried Chicken if you like. On me.”

  Plaach grinned and ushered everyone out. A moment later he came back Kirk told him to leave a well. “I’ll be alright now,” he said. “Congratulations on your cadetship.”

  Plaach gave a crooked self-conscious salute, then left.

  Kirk rolled over onto his side and almost jumped out of bed. Sitting where Plaach had been earlier was the old man in faded orange robes, Hg’Wlz.

  “How did you get in here?” Kirk asked. “For that matter, how did I get here? And how come Plaach and Lu don’t seem too worse for wear?

  “The Y’lem wished to show their gratitude to those who aided them. You will find that with a little more rest, all your aches will fade into a distant memory.”

  Kirk tried to read the wrinkled grinning face that studied him.

  “I knew you would succeed.” The Y’lem smiled wistfully.

  “Well I did have this annoying old man steering the way from time to time.” Kirk replied.

  “Nonetheless, when the time came, you were the man of the hour. You were the one who made the decision. Someone else...”

  “You mean Lu?” Kirk interrupted.

  “She is an example, but merely that. She is not alone in her convictions, and whatever you might have thought, her proposal was a brave and honorable one.”

  “And my decision wasn’t?”

  “It could have been, if you were simply attempting to maintain the status quo, or seeking to gain some personal advantage. Even making that decision based on cowardice would have been the right decision for the wrong reasons.”

  “And how do you know I wasn’t just scared?” Kirk said.

  “Because.” The old man beamed.

  “Because, what?”

  “Simply, because.”

  “You mean because I made the right choice for the right reason?”

  “I mean because.” The old man took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The universe will never know how much it owes you.”

  “Just doing my job,” Kirk said.

  “But in truth it wasn’t your job.” The old man leaned forward and intertwined his fingers. “I took you away from everything you had, all you were, and all you could be on Earth.

  “A small sacrifice given the alternative.”

  “What if I was to tell you I could return you back to your life before this? What if I was to tell you that I could take you back to Earth, this very minute, and give you a better life than you left?”

  “You mean a reward?” Kirk asked. “For a job well done?”

  “Something like that,” the Y’lem’s face was now impassive, unreadable. “No-one can deny you earned it.”

  “Are the Prions finally defeated?” Kirk asked.

  “Defeated, no. But they will prove to be a greatly diminished threat to the universe. Beyond the Provost, there was but one Prion who could have maintained their empire in its current form. And he, I’m afraid, failed to believe he would be any different from any other lover an Exoticisian takes. When you arrived on Prio, The Lord High Prime Minister left for a planned liaison with his spy master. Who I believe was briefly your neighbor.” Hg’Wlz pointed to the ceiling.

  “She was a Prion spy?”

  “A happy coincidence for them, though your presence proved too much for her, and she soon departed.”

  “I tend to have that effect on women.” Kirk smiled.

  “Well, their rendezvous proved to be disappointing for the Lord High Prime Minister, though I believe satisfying, if short lived for Ms. Lawando.”

  “So my mission was a complete success?”

  “More or less.”

  “And if I returned, what about here?”

  “No one can really know what happened,” explained the Y’lem. “Even those who were there will eventually forget. What was, what could have been, they will merge into what is. Life will go on.”

  Kirk looked towards the door his friends had just departed through. He looked out of his window, and saw the leaves glowing and swaying peacefully above. And then he realized, his friends had just left.

  He turned and looked at the wrinkled face that was in turn studying him intently. A slight smile on his old face.

  “I don’t think I can go back to Earth right now,” he finally answered. “My partner just told me I have a large caseload. And I suspect it’s getting bigger by the day.”

  The Y’lem’s face cracked into a wider smile. He stood, nodded once, gave a slight bow, and disappeared.

  Epilogue

  The Temple of Twil returned to its usual peaceful self. Initiates were once again kept so busy on the lessons of their Senseis almost all forgot the tremor which rocked the entire Temple one day earlier. Life had returned to normal. If there were any lasting concerns about what had caused such a rift in the fabric of Potential, it was entirely hidden from all but the highest levels of Twil.

  However, to assume that all was forgotten would have been a grave mistake. Existing as it did, in a state of pure Potential, even the slightest shifts could be felt by those who spent millennia attuning their very essence to the ebb and flow of the fifth dimension.

  Something able to rock the Temple itself was a matter requiring the most serious investigation.

  The Lama waited in patient meditation for reports to come back to him. His four highest councilors had shown less composure, but the Lama knew this was needed. For himself to be able to concentrate all his attention on the matter at hand, in serene tranquility, it was necessary that others should be less calm. Worry, even panic, were no less important in times of stress and chaos than a cool hand. It was, after all, why he created these four high priests from the fabric of Potential. They could deal with the panic and fear, leaving him free to focus.

  It had not taken long for the first Paladins to return. All found evidence of a rift in the Potential of the Universe, but none, so far, had managed to locate the source of the disturbance.

  As more of the Paladins returned, with similar reports, the high priests grew increasingly uneasy. Their recommendations grew more severe as time passed and they learned the full extent of the rift, but learned nothing of its source.

  Finally, eight of the nine sent out had returned and the Temple was no closer to finding the source than before they dispatched their emissaries across the Universe. The high priests advised sending more Paladins, but the Lama simply smiled, swung down from the treehouse he’d built in the impossibly lush orchard on the asteroid, and held up one hand.

  “We still have one more Paladin who has yet to report back.” He counseled calmly, before running towards a group of young initiates, slapping the nearest on the back, and shouting, “Tag! You’re it!” then leaping away as the other initiates exploded away in all directions. They filled the orchard with a laughter that did nothing to soothe the jangling nerves of the high priests.

  Finally, more than a week later, the Temple received a message from the last Paladin. The Lama convened the four high priests and shared the report. It was simple and to the point.

  “I have located the source of disturbance,” the Lama read to the priests. “The event occurred on Prio, but source has now shifted to Sevres Prime. Please advise.”

  The consensus had been uniform. “It must be neutralized,” the first high priest advised to the unanimous, approving nods of the other three Priests.

  “I think that would be both premature and ill-advised,” replied the Lama.

  “You don’t think this is ...? the third Priest asked, fearfully voicing a concern that was felt by his colleagues.

  “I do not have enough information to begin to think anything,” answered the Lama in a calm voice. “It is why I requested the Paladin simply watch, learn more, and report. When we know more, th
e correct course of action will also be revealed.”

  The high priests were not too happy with this, the Lama had spoken. They recognized there was little chance of them convincing him otherwise. Especially on a Wednesday afternoon when the Lama planned to swing on a car tire strung from a branch in the orchard.

  They filed out, no more reassured than when they arrived.

  The Lama sat for several minutes after they left, meditating on the events leading to this point. He knew his most trusted advisors were worried, but that was their job. The Lama climbed to his feet and looked out of his window, down at the Temple grounds. There was little point worrying about what might be. It would happen, no matter what. All he could hope was that when it came, if it was something that was a true threat to the universe, he would have enough strength to weave the fifth dimension enough so whatever happened simply became what might have happened.

  With a slight shrug of his shoulder, he ran out of his chambers. The tire swing was calling.

  About the author

  Here’s all the stuff you never wanted to know about me. Of course, if you’re planning on becoming an obsessive fan, this stuff is just the tip of the iceberg.

  I was born and raised in Sheffield, England. This is the city most recently known as the location of the movie “THE FULL MONTY.” When I was there, removing all your clothes for a group of baying women was not a viable career option. If it had, there’s a distinct chance my working life could have gone in a totally different direction.

  Having graduated college, I worked for a small regional newspaper as a staff writer, restaurant reviewer and weekly contest compiler. Following that I worked in print and advertising, writing print copy and promotional/ training videos. Around this time I also found myself relocating to the states. In the middle of writing a training video for lawyers, I realized that the best bits weren’t the training parts, chopped those out and was left with my first short story about lawyers in hell.

  Since making the move away from writing believable and sometimes humorous lies for other people, I’ve written screenplays, a novel, and numerous short stories. Three stories have made it to the quarter finals of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. I am also sweating out my second novel; developing and scripting comic book titles; and on the screenplay front, I’m working with a couple of production companies on a comedy and a horror movie.