NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30

by Thomas Rabenstein

  »The aura is gone,« Vasina replied briefly. »It was produced by a strong mental charge, which disappeared during the activation of the stimulation field.«

  »The dimensional transfer has been prevented by your work?« 40028 asked with a pleasantly modulated voice.

  »That’s correct. Otherwise, the parasites galaxy would have shaken our galaxy,« Paafnas explained quietly, licking over his eyes.

  »What happened exactly?« Nok asked mesmerized. »How did you do that?«

  »Many things must have happened,« added Nexus Tor. »For the defense of such a threat, I would’ve expected something much more ...«

  »Spectacular?« Maya interrupted. »Believe me, our needs for dramatic events were already met beforehand. Everything required had already been arranged by the Galactic Brotherhood. It speaks to the maturity of these people that the defense of our living space was mastered quietly and without big fireworks. Someone had to make sure that the train was a bit too fast when entering the station and overshoot the platform,« Maya joked with a smile in reference to a parable Pi had used.

  »I don’t understand a word,« Nok smirkingly admitted.

  »It was a question of the right time sequence. The invaders had already completed their final fine adjustment of interdimensional transfer by moving a star cluster of several sacrificial suns to our galaxy,« Vasina explained. »After the successful cluster materialization in our normal space, the invaders used the parameters for the final transfer of their small galaxy. That’s when the plan of the Galactic Brotherhood began to unfold.«

  »The blazing energy matrix around the Solar System stimulated Nebular. There were temporary anomalies of some fundamental cosmic constants which were obviously necessary reference points for the dimensional transfer,« Nok continued the thread.

  Herimos exposed his teeth.

  Vasina nodded approvingly.

  »It seems that you’ve also acquired some valuable insights during our absence. Our galaxy was briefly raised to another energy level. The anchor points, which the invaders had determined for the intended materialization, had changed. As a result, the parasites galaxy fell past us and could not manifest itself in our space.«

  Nuri Jawa was overwhelmed by her emotions. Freed from the tensions of the last days and weeks, she erupted into spontaneous tears of joy, sobbing, she hugged Hassan, who held her in his arms. For a moment, she forgot her shyness toward Hassan and his hybrid reality.

  »Where is it now?« Nexus Tor asked a simple, but difficult question.

  »We have no idea where the parasite galaxy is drifting between the dimensions,« Herimos admitted. »It’s no longer a threat to us. I’m guessing that the parasite galaxy is drifting deeper and deeper until it reaches the lowest energy level where it remains in stasis between the dimensions forever. Well, that’s my most favorite theory for now.«

  Herimos laughed out loud.

  »Where are Toiber Arkroid, Lai Pi, and Voit Masgur?« Nok asked the inevitable question.

  »Our friend Voit was murdered on the Cysan world! We buried him there,« Maya replied with sadness in her eyes.

  Nok sighed and just nodded. Apparently, she had expected losses.«

  »Toiber Arkroid and Lai Pi are sending their regards, they are, however, no longer in the Solar System,« Vasina revealed. »We said Goodbye to them a couple of hours ago.«

  »What?« Nok asked a bit confused. »Where are these men?«

  »Arkroid, his family, and Pi left the Solar System. He wanted it this way,« Vasina said.

  »It was inevitable, Arkroid said to us,« Maya added.

  »He was on Earth? I don’t get it. Why didn’t he report back?«

  Nok was irritated.

  »Arkroid possesses knowledge of the future. The Librarian, a Kokradian by the name of Boiltos, gave him the insights. It was paramount to Arkroid that he didn’t disturb this particular timeline,« Vasina explained.

  »You’re saying that he has left the Solar System due to a vision of the future?« Nok asked stunned. »I’ve always considered Arkroid to be a realist. What has happened to him?«

  »During our expedition, we had to revise our understanding of the time, fate, the future as well as the past, several times. You didn’t experience what we have experienced. Arkroid takes this matter very seriously. I don’t know if I will meet him again in my lifetime, but I respect his decision,« replied Herimos.

  The Neo-Sapien was very serious and left no doubt that he was one hundred percent behind Arkroid’s decision.

  What did you find out

  After twenty-four hours in which no new disasters occurred, Nok Daralamai allowed herself to relax and smile for the first time.

  The anomalies had vanished. Nebular had, in the words of Hassan Khalil, reestablished a normal and stable universe again.

  Klori’Tar, who called from the burning Cobalt Hunter, confirmed the rapid fading of the parasite galaxy. That this effect came about quickly, Kuster~Laap credited to the parasite galaxy’s fall below the dimensional horizon.

  People could look up at the sky again at night and see the stars because the dimensional field had faded. The field generators on the planetoid which housed the Globuster matrix had been destroyed or were no longer functional.

  In this context, sad news was received at the Triton Base. Jonathan Fitz, Stephano Bruno, and a Hawk pilot were reported missing, believed killed in an accident on the planetoid Haumea. The installations on the planetoid had exploded and very likely killed the three men. Given the previous losses, this accident pushed somewhat into the background. People had to look forward and repair all the damages.

  Kuster~Laap and his two bodyguards were transferred with a Hawk to the tachyon portal. He wanted to go to Scutum-Crux and learn about the developments there. The time of the prophets and Chiropters was over, or so it seemed at least. Slowly, a sense of normality began to take hold of the people in the Solar System.

  The exchange of information between Nok’s staff and the expedition team went well, but some questions remained unanswered.

  »Who were these mysterious invaders who invaded our galaxy and wanted to infect all life with their degenerate technology?« Nok asked.

  She was looking at Hassan, who shrugged helplessly.

  »Why are you looking at me like that? I have no idea who they are?«

  »Maybe time will tell,« 40028 speculated.

  Hassan looked at the robot and replied strangely, »You said it. It actually may just be a matter of time.«

  »It’s amazing how quickly everyone goes back to business as usual,« Nexus Tor remarked thoughtfully. »The situations on Earth and the colonies have stabilized. Some ships of the refugee fleet have left already; others remain here for the time being. The crews want to know us better. If we’re asking the Shwakans for a few more favors, then soon, we won’t have any plankton left in our oceans on Earth. For many people, all of this was nothing but a nightmare, now the danger is over, fortunately.«

  »Is that so?« Vasina asked. »The Great Tremor threatened us almost a million years and was relatively easy to block. Somehow, I can’t believe that this is it already.«

  »Although, I’m happy for our galaxy that we could relatively easy fend off the danger, I want to put your statement into perspective a bit,« Herimos grumbled. »The attack was not just blocked. It took one million years until the tide turned. The plans and counter-plans had been developed long beforehand. The Progonauts were tragically defeated. False prophecies and many misinterpretations made the rounds. Entire nations had been manipulated. An entire spiral arm was evacuated, then a risky look into the future ... in fact, we just won a battle that began a long time before we were born, which raged for the whole time in the background.«

  »But why was Humanity the focus of this scuffle? Why were our people separated and genetically manipulated? Why us?« Maya asked.

  She was clueless. Her questions and feelings were genuine. No one had suffered more under these manipulations as her. She would
never forget her encounter with Morgotradon.

  Hassan waited for a moment before he said, »Somehow, and thinking of it, the events read like a long story of which the end has not yet been written. There’re still too many unanswered questions.«

  »Where did Arkroid fly with the Techno-Ferry?« Nok asked uneasily. She shivered slightly. The idea that a person knows the future, made her nervous.

  »We don’t know,« Tranos replied. »Our friend didn’t tell us anything. I think, he didn’t want to burden us. Everyone who knows the future becomes part of it.«

  Hassan frowned.

  Louder than intended, he addressed Tranos, »Who told you these words?«

  Demonstratively, Tranos crossed his arms before his chest. He wanted to be treated with respect. He was an old school Progonaut!

  Vasina nodded reassuringly and Hassan formally apologized.

  »I’m sorry, but it is very important. I’ve heard these words before.«

  »Toiber Arkroid himself mentioned them,« Tranos replied calmly. »However, he didn’t reveal the exact meaning to us.«

  »Perhaps, it’s better not to know what the future has in stock for us,« Maya interjected and played with the age-old Progonaut memory cube, which she just had taken out of her pocket. So far, she didn’t have the time to examine the old artifact.

  She had decided, however, to make a serious attempt to restore the data from the cube.

  »Toiber Arkroid may have some knowledge, but he was also fallible,« Nok pointed out. »Due to his warning, I had Mercury evacuated. Fortunately, his premonitions didn’t come true.«

  »He also withheld this message from us,« commented Vasina disappointed. »Only Klori’Tar knew about it. Unfortunately, he can’t be with us and discuss this issue.«

  »The Progonaut woman has obviously forgotten that I have good ears, and reign over virtually unlimited technical potentials and after the withdrawal of the Techno-Ferry, possess the most advanced ship in the galaxy. I can hear every word. It wouldn’t be wise of me to be together with you in the same room … as you know, you wouldn’t survive it.«

  Herimos produced a series of uncharacteristically high tones. It sounded like a strenuously suppressed laughter.

  »That means that Arkroid has also not revealed how far he can see into the future?« Nok asked not expecting an answer.

  »Maybe, I can give you an answer,« Paafnas picked up the thread to everybody’s surprise. They all looked at him inquiringly.

  »Paaf, you didn’t …,« Herimos began.

  »I was curious. I’m sure that Toiber didn’t notice it,« he excused his actions in a muted voice. »He seemed so changed after he met Boiltos on the planet Kug. I had to try. All I wanted to know was what had happened to him after the mental information transfer.«

  Vasina and Maya stared at him. As Paafnas didn’t continue right away, the two women shouted at the same time, »What did you find out?!«

  Paafnas straightened up slowly.

  »I have reproduced only a small part of its neuronal network and came across something amazing. Every memory that we carry within us is leaving a pattern in our neuronal network behind. Typically, I can understand those memories by replicating the network. In Arkroid’s case, I wasn’t successful.«

  »Strange,« commented Tranos. »What’s your conclusion?«

  »His neuronal network was in constant motion. It regrouped every second, formed previously unprecedented connections, erased existing ones, only to regroup again at the end. From my point of view, chaos prevailed in Arkroid’s brain!«

  »Are you telling us that he became insane because of the knowledge transfer?« Tranos asked cautiously.

  Paafnas shook his head.

  »I wasn’t able to replicate his neuronal network because it had become very complicated. Mapping his neuronal structure was beyond my humble abilities. It is as if to Arkroid’s memories always regrouped. Only now, through our conversation, I understand what this observation means exactly.«

  Hassan was breathing faster. He had understood what Paafnas wanted to say.

  »The Kokradian didn’t just transfer and implant knowledge into Arkroid’s brain. It may be that Arkroid felt this way at first. The truth is that Boiltos gave him the ability to see the future! Just like him. Arkroid’s visions didn’t end with the defense of the parasite galaxy. The man thinks further and further into the future!«

  A chill ran down Nuri’s back as she heard Hassan’s words.

  »If he really knows the future and therefore very likely knew that the disaster would be averted, why did he leave then?«

  »That’s not good,« Vasina oracled and rubbed her temples. »Perhaps, he has seen even more. His warning and the hasty departure may relate to another upcoming event.«

  »It’s not over yet?« Nok asked uncertainly around the room.

  Paafnas, Herimos, Tranos, and Vasina seemed to agree and almost simultaneously shook their heads.

  Vasina slowly ran her hand through her black hair before she said, »No, it’s not over yet. I fear that the dangers and challenges facing Humanity have just begun!«

  END

  The Great Tremor was averted by means of the Jamal-Combs and the solar energy field has revealed its intended purpose. No one, except perhaps Hassan Khalil, has understood the events surrounding Nebular to the last detail. Many questions regarding the parasite galaxy have not been answered conclusively and are still in the dark. Who were the attackers? Why was Humanity in the focus of those threatening events? What about the degenerate technology and what is behind the term Nebular? Despite many unanswered questions, people are happy to have escaped a galaxy-wide disaster. Humanity has once again survived and the Protectors of the Galaxy were able to complete their mission successfully. But is that danger actually banned for all time? Toiber Arkroid’s hasty departure is another puzzle. Can he actually think into the future? Did he see something; Humanity has to be afraid of? Where did he fly to with Lai Pi, his family, and Nautilus? One thing the crisis has accomplished, however. Humans and extraterrestrials have moved closer together. The danger, which almost destroyed countless peoples, was not forgotten.

  In 2120, Humans are greeted with respect all over the galaxy and gratefully referred to as the Protectors of the Galaxy. Earth has become a meeting place for peaceful exchanges between galactic peoples. Humanity is taking the next steps of technological development. They are entering the Tachyon Era.

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  About the author

  Thomas Rabenstein, born on 15.03.1963 in Hof on the banks of the Saale, was excited by Science Fiction from his early years on.

  Active in the Fantastic-Fandom, he’s inspired by classic movies, TV-series and novels. In the 80s, using the new medium known as the Internet, he published his first short stories.

  Highly interested in Astronomy and Space Technology, he integrates this knowledge into his novels.

  Since 2011 Thomas works as a self-employed author and self publisher. With the Science-Fiction series Nebular he enriches the genre, while also working on several other projects like the 2030 series or the vampire saga TOHIL. Apart from writing books, the author creates 3D illustrations and animations, loves music and cutting-edge technology.