The Key of Astrea

by Nicholas Marson

  “Why isn’t everyone outside celebrating?” Jenny asked as they walked out of the cabin. “There’s a festival with fireworks and everything.”

  “That’s for the tourists,” Lin answered. “These people just arrived in a new stellar system. They don’t know it’s Independence Day, and it wouldn’t matter to them anyway. As for the rest of us, festivals and parades happen every week in Acacia City. After a while, it gets dull. I hardly notice them anymore myself.” Lin looked up at the fireworks visible through tall windows high in the lobby.

  “I guess the allure would wear off after a while.” Jenny stared at the aliens. “But right now, I’m a fish out of water.”

  Lin led them into the same elevator that the birdlike aliens had recently used. It was utterly silent inside and smelled of oiled metal.

  “You use the duodecimal system?” Kensei pointed at the elevator’s keypad.

  There were two extra call buttons between nine and ten. One looked like the letter X and the other was a backward 3. Even odder was that a triangle had replaced the number three.

  “What’s that?” Jenny asked.

  “It’s one of the quirky differences between our universes,” Lin said. “We use twelve digits in our numbering system.”

  Kensei sighed. “I wish we used base twelve. It makes for much cleaner fractions.”

  Lin nodded and pressed a metal card against a gray panel. It beeped. She then pushed the B button on the keypad.

  Jenny’s stomach jumped as the car descended. After a moment, her weight increased as the elevator slowed to a stop. The doors opened to a basement that was nothing like Jenny expected. The hallway was well lit by bright lights in its tall ceiling. White walls met white granite floors. Across from them were two large freight elevator doors.

  “Is this where we’re taking the test?” Jenny asked.

  “Yes, but first I need to get you two inoculated.” Lin turned right and led them down the hallway. Her footsteps echoed down the stark white corridor.

  “Inoculated?” Jenny asked as she followed a step behind Lin.

  “Have you ever traveled to a foreign country?” Lin asked.

  “No.”

  “I have,” Kensei replied. “I was just doing a foreign exchange program in China.”

  “Did you have to get travel vaccinations?”

  “Typhoid, hepatitis, and influenza.”

  “Oh, I get it.” Jenny nodded in understanding. “We didn’t just travel to another country, we’re in another universe.”

  “Plus, you’re surrounded by aliens that share a lot of biological similarities. We need to get you vaccinated before you catch something more horrible than that cold.” She looked at Jenny.

  Jenny sniffed.

  Lin placed her hand on a black panel on the wall next to a set of double doors. A red light scanned her palm, and something clicked. She shoved the door open. Inside was a vast room filled with tall shelves. Worktables, desks, and a myriad of electronic equipment lined the walls. A male and a female lab worker stood at a worktable with their backs to them.

  Jenny looked at the metal shelves. There was something strange there. Something that pressed against her mind, beckoning to her like the call of the siren.

  “Welcome to our laboratory,” Lin said. “This is where we store and study a vast collection of artifacts. I used to work here as a researcher.”

  A cylindrical aquarium rested on a nearby table. A strange creature that looked part worm and part jellyfish swam inside. “What is that?” Jenny pointed.

  “That’s our pet, Legion.” The female tech pulled latex gloves off her hands and approached them. “It’s a siphonophore.”

  “What’s a siphonophore?” Kensei asked.

  “It’s a relative of corals and jellyfish. They’re a group of individual organisms called zooids that operate as a single animal. Isn’t it incredible?”

  Jenny leaned in closer and saw hundreds of tiny, translucent organisms, each the size of a grain of rice. “Yes, it is.”

  “Legion reminds us that we’re all just a collection of single-celled organisms working together as one,” The male tech said.

  “And it’s pretty,” The female tech added.

  “Cora,” Lin said, “I’d like you to meet our newest recruits, Jenny and Kensei.”

  “Welcome aboard. You must be so excited.”

  The male tech approached and stood beside Cora. “Hi, I’m Joseph. You’re here for vaccinations, right?”

  “That’s right,” Lin said.

  “Oh.” Cora hopped. “I’ll get them.” She took a hard-plastic case down from a shelf and set it on the table next to Legion. Inside were a set of vials containing dark fluid and a stainless-steel injector.

  Jenny leaned back and narrowed her eyes. “Why is it black?”

  “Normally, antigens are suspended in clear solutions,” Cora said as she took a vial out of the case, “but you would need over a dozen standard shots to inoculate yourself from all the different viruses, bacteria, and parasites in our universe.” She held the vial out. “But with this, you’ll only need one dose.”

  Kensei lifted his sunglasses and peered closely at the dark vial in Cora’s hand. “I don’t know.”

  “Saying this is a vaccination is like saying the sun is just a bright light in the sky,” Joseph said. “This serum allows for complete environmental adaptation, and it cures allergies, heart disease, and cancer. In addition, it grants rapid healing and heightened endurance.”

  “Best of all,” Cora added, “the effect is permanent because it creates a new organelle within your cells, just as mitochondria did millions of years ago.”

  “It also optimizes your microbiome,” Joseph added.

  “Like my gut bacteria?” Jenny asked.

  “And worms?” Kensei asked.

  “A hookworm infestation can prevent autoimmune diseases and overactive allergic reactions. There’s a fungus that controls an ant’s body, and a bite from a tick produces an allergy to red meat. This cure makes all the organisms living in your body work together as one. Which is why we call this serum ‘siphonophore,’ like Legion over there.” Joseph set the vial back into the plastic case.

  Jenny looked at the cylindrical aquarium with Legion swimming inside, then she turned her gaze on Lin. “Could this have saved my mom?”

  “It’s possible.” Lin nodded. “If we had found her in time.”

  Jenny inhaled sharply and looked up at the ceiling to keep her tears away.

  “Her death was not in vain,” Cora said as she placed the vial into the injector. “If it weren’t for your mother’s cancer, we would never have found you.”

  “How did you find us, exactly?” Kensei asked.

  “When we searched your universe for potential Æon we looked for several common factors.” Cora counted on her fingers. “A family history of early death, schizophrenia, migraines, hallucinations, and any unexplained phenomena.”

  Joseph looked at Jenny. “As direct descendants of Astrea Baillie, your family inherited a mutation that causes familial acute myeloid leukemia.”

  “So, this serum, siphonophore, will keep me from developing cancer?” Jenny asked.

  “Yes,” Lin said.

  I could break the family curse, Jenny thought.

  “I’m deathly allergic to peanuts,” Kensei said. “Will I be able to eat them after this?”

  “You bet,” Joseph said.

  “Then I’m in.” Kensei rolled up his left sleeve. “I’ve always wanted to taste a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.”

  Joseph gave him a puzzled look. “Something from your universe?”

  “Yeah,” Jenny said.

  “First, we’ll need to take a blood sample from each of you,” Joseph said as he gathered up six blood bottles with colored caps.

  “Okay.” Kensei held out his arm.

  “You’ll feel a sharp pressure.” Joseph said before filling three of the blood bottles with Kensei’s blood. Using a pen from his shirt p
ocket, he wrote something on the labels and set them aside.

  Next, Cora stepped forward with the siphonophore injector, and pressed the tip into Kensei’s arm. As she depressed the plunger, the inky fluid vanished.

  “Ow,” Kensei said rubbing his shoulder.

  “Yeah, that one burns for a bit,” Cora said.

  Joseph looked at Jenny and asked, “Are you ready?”

  Jenny took a deep breath. I can’t turn back now. “Okay.”

  “Which arm?” Joseph asked.

  Cora removed the empty vial and the needle from the injector and inserted fresh ones.

  Jenny shrugged. “Whichever.”

  “Ambidextrous?” Joseph said.

  “Yeah.” Jenny always felt like it was bragging to say it. It meant that she could do most tasks with either hand. She rolled up her left sleeve. First, Joseph collected the blood samples, which hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. Then, Cora pressed the injector to Jenny’s skin. She felt pressure, like the blast of a water gun, and fire spread up her arm and into her chest.

  “It’s going to be sore for a while”—Cora looked at both of them—“and you might feel a bit sick or dizzy, so take it easy and keep well hydrated.”

  Jenny rolled down her sleeve and rubbed her arm. A dull pain throbbed in time with her heartbeat.

  “Can you give my pet a shot too?” Kensei asked as he lifted Leon from his backpack.

  “Uh, sure.” Joseph searched the table for something. “We keep test samples around, which should be about the right dose.” He found a small syringe and injected the sugar glider in the thigh.

  Leon squeaked and scurried back into Kensei’s backpack.

  “How soon until I can eat peanuts?”

  “I’d give it a couple of days to be safe,” Joseph said.

  It may be too late to save my mom, Jenny thought, but I wonder if I could still help Bea with this? “Can we bring this home with us, to help our relatives?”

  “Absolutely,” Lin said. “Before you leave for home, we’ll supply each of you with as many doses as you need.” Lin rubbed her hands together. “Now, let’s get you tested for your keys.”

  Jenny looked around the room. “I’m ready.”

  Lin smiled. “Not here. It’s a special kind of test, one that requires a more meditative space.”

  “What do you mean?” Joseph looked offended. “I find it plenty relaxing here.”

  Lin grinned at Joseph and ushered Jenny and Kensei out of the laboratory. She led them down the hallway, passed the elevator, and into a large, bare room at the end of the hall.

  “I used to come here to relax on my work breaks,” Lin said. “Now this area is solely for testing new recruits.”

  Jenny couldn’t see why. The walls and floor were black and dark, and at its center was a tiny, windowless box with a single entrance.

  “Run Chinese tea garden,” Lin said.

  A trill sounded from a console near the door, and the walls and floor of the room flashed white. Suddenly, they were standing on a stone path leading to a small bridge spanning a bubbling stream. Jenny spun on one foot to take it all in.

  A soft breeze carried the smell of sunflowers and jasmine to Jenny’s nose. A green bamboo forest waved in rhythm with the wind. Above them, a bright-blue sky peeked out from behind ponderous white clouds. Koi fish swam in a nearby pond and dragonflies kissed the water’s surface. Even the plain box in the center of the room had transformed into a traditional Chinese teahouse.

  “This is incredible.” Kensei looked all around.

  “Have either of you meditated before?”

  “Oh yeah, lots.” Jenny had been meditating with her mom since she was four. Over the years, they had practiced every form and method, from A to Zen. At one point, they believed it would help with her schizophrenia. Most recently, Jenny had been using the techniques she had developed to control her headaches.

  Leon climbed out of Kensei’s backpack and onto his shoulder. Then, the sugar glider leaped for a nearby tree and hit the wall of the room. Kensei hurried over to Leon and made sure he was unharmed.

  “How about you, Kensei?”

  “I did a relaxation session at school one time,” Kensei said as he put the dazed sugar glider back into his bag. “It wasn’t very informative, but I learned a little about breathing and muscle control.”

  “That’s great, you’ll both have a head start.” The bridge creaked as they crossed the stream and entered the teahouse. It smelled of aromatic leaves mixed with oiled wood. Lin caressed a dark wood column. Intricate gold-leafed carvings adorned the woodwork. “This space is my oasis within the city.”

  “It’s hard to believe that it’s all a simulation.” Jenny looked at the maple trees and water features through the square windows. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Please, have a seat.” Lin indicated a circular table with a jade carving of a tree, and four chairs that bore ornate carvings of cranes and dragons.

  Jenny and Kensei sat down.

  Lin set an iron kettle onto a stove before setting a beautiful porcelain teapot on the table. She walked over to a wall of wooden shelves that held glass jars filled with dried leaves, flowers, berries, and who knows what. She pulled a jar from a shelf and spooned its contents into the teapot.

  “Jenny?” Kensei asked. “I feel weird, do you?”

  “Yeah.” Jenny’s body and mind felt disconnected. “You think it’s the vaccination?”

  “It is,” Lin said. “The tea should help with your focus.”

  “How will tea and meditation help us with the test?” Kensei asked.

  “You know that buzzing sensation you feel sometimes?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That is your brain struggling to perceive the patterns you’re sensing, and unless properly developed, these sensations will manifest as hallucinations that will lead to mental illness, or worse.” The kettle whistled and Lin filled the teapot. “This tea, combined with some focus and meditation, will allow me to determine the best way I can help you.”

  That made a lot of sense. Jenny thought. The doctors had told her that she was mentally ill because she could see a ghost, but that wasn’t all. There were headaches, and buzzing, and maybe even a doppelgänger.

  Lin poured the brewed tea into three matching porcelain cups. Jenny lifted her cup and took a sip. Her face scrunched up, and she shared a look with Kensei. The tea was highly bitter, but refusing to offend Lin, Jenny drank it all.

  Kensei drank all his tea, closed his eyes, and shivered. “So, these patterns are all around us,” He said, “like in nature?”

  “Sort of,” Lin said. “The patterns are the field vibrations that forge the matter and energy of our universe.”

  “Vibrations?” Jenny asked.

  “I know it sounds like pseudoscience. But field vibrations are literally everywhere and in everything. It’s the vibrations in energy fields that determine whether something has mass, feels solid, or carries an electric charge. Even in the most remote parts of outer space, there are fluctuations in the electromagnetic field. What we take for the complete absence of matter and radiation is an infinite field of possibility from which particles emerge. In fact, there is a field for every elemental particle, just waiting for sufficient energy to define each its own existence.”

  “How we can see these fields?” Kensei asked.

  “Well,” Lin cradled her cup in her hands and chuckled. “Your eyes read electromagnetic radiation, your ears detect pressure waves, and your skin measures thermal energy.”

  “And what organ sees field vibrations?” Jenny asked.

  “Your brains have the innate ability to detect vectors of field transformation and process the amount of stretching or compressing that occurs.” Lin set her cup down. “And like a hearing or eye examination, we have a method for testing your ability to sense these vibrations.” She retrieved a beautiful wooden box from a shelf and set it on the table. Engraved onto the lid was an owl holding four rings in its mouth. She put tw
o fingers into the owl’s eyes on the box lid and rotated its head. The brass rings spun, and the box swung open. Inside, four tuning-fork-shaped keys rested on red velvet, each inset with gemstones of heliodor, ruby, sapphire, or emerald. They were the largest gemstones Jenny had ever seen. Like something British royalty or a movie star would wear. “These four keys represent different frequency ranges.”

  “Wow.” Kensei lifted his sunglasses. His eyes glittered at the sight of the gems. “These must be worth a fortune.”

  “The gems are for identification only. Their worth is negligible compared to the key’s material.”

  “What material is that?” Jenny asked.

  “We call it nexum. The process used to create it is a mystery. Which is frustrating, because most of Cabin’s revenue comes from reverse-engineering alien technology. It’s what made Lance LaGrange the world’s first and only trillionaire. And yet, he’d trade it all to know how to recreate nexum.”

  As Jenny gazed at the four brilliant keys, she remembered Astrea handing a very similar one to Rygelus. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to feel the weight of one in her hand again. To feel the slippery warmth of the strange metal against her skin.

  Lin took the teapot and their empty cups away. “Jenny, since you have more experience with meditation, would you mind going first?”

  “Sure, what do I have to do?” She rubbed her left arm, which still ached from the shot.

  “Start by clearing your mind, and when you’re ready, place both hands on the brass plate.”

  Jenny sniffed at her runny nose and closed her eyes. She inhaled the herbal scents of the teahouse and regulated her breathing. Outside, the wind rustled bamboo stalks, and dragonflies flitted above the burbling stream. She focused inward. Her heart beat steadily in her chest. A sense of calm spread through her body, and her muscles relaxed. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the open wooden box. Then she placed both hands on the cold, brass plate.

  Lin lifted the first key. It had a ruby set into the shaft. “Tell me if you feel anything.”