“So in 1971, our dad starts experimenting with exotic materials and a miniature particle accelerator…” Ross paused, “…times were, different back then. Safety wasn’t exactly a high priority as much as progress and invention.”
“Our mother had died about the time the lab was founded, so he threw himself into his work. He was always very kind and took care of us, but to say he was a workaholic would be understating the fact.” Eve said.
“We don’t know what elements he was using, or what isotopes he was toying with for sure, but there was an accident or an overload in the fall of ‘73, something happened to create an unstable chain reaction. He stayed in the lab to try and stop it, while Sauer-Konig and Epperman ran upstairs to try and get safe.” Ross continued.
“Sauer-Konig was up and out of the building pretty quickly, but Epperman stayed at the top of the stairs and tried to get our father to abandon the lab and save himself...” Eve spoke then paused.
“When the chain reaction ignited Epperman said it was the most beautiful and the saddest thing he had ever seen, it was also the last thing he ever will see because the intense light burned his retinas beyond repair. Even now he says he sees only light, not darkness like most people who are blinded.”
“He also said at the time that he was certain our father was killed.” Eve interjected. “His exact terminology was that he had seen Albert dissolve into an event horizon of pure light.”
“The lab was a total loss, and inaccessible for almost exactly a week, 168.2 hours to be precise. The basement lab flooded with a sort of electrified milky plasma, all the stairwells filled with it. It was if someone had broken a water pipe in the basement and flooded the entire level.” Ross continued.
“Only it wasn’t water.” I added.
“Exactly, but nobody had seen or even theorized anything like it. We had people here from all over trying to figure out what the hell was going on.” Ross said.
“Then it was gone. After almost exactly 168 hours it disappeared, no trace of an origin or an egress point, but gone. The lab was destroyed of course, all the equipment was trashed, anything paper was burned to cinders, and anything electronic or electrical was totally fried. It was like a high heat electromagnetic pulse had somehow liquefied and then dissipated over the course of a week.” Eve explained.
“That’s weird. I’ve never heard anything like that before.” I stated, to try and stay active in the conversation.
“And you wont.” Ross stated.
“We aren’t even to the awesome part yet.” Eve crossed her arms.
“So there we are, smashed to shit lab, our dad is dead. Gavin is here working but Mavin and I are Freshmen fresh off the bus ride from Brecken and are glorified interns. We have to explain to our grant holders how we need funding for a multimillion dollar lab because we destroyed the last one…”
“Which they refused, of course.” Eve laughed.
“So Delta starts to crumble and becomes less of a laboratory and more of a fraternity. Lots of weed, lots of beer, lots of sex…” Ross smiled.
“A year goes by, and it comes back.” Eve nodded.
“Wait, what? The plasma?” I asked surprised.
“Yep, like it never left. Epperman is down there blind as a deer in a snowstorm, a few other folks you haven’t met yet too, they are all just hanging out listening to music one minute and Sauer-Konig goes upstairs looking for matches, comes back and the basement is flooded again.” Ross explained.
“So, we assume they are all dead of course and shit gets real complicated real quick.” Eve said, “We get a government liaison and everything, basically a baby sitter.”
“And our grant money returns.”
“Like magic!” Eve laughed.
“So, a week later like clockwork the anomaly is gone again. No trace of Epperman or any of the other folks, just full on gone just like our Dad.” Ross paused to take a breath, “So all of a sudden we have sensors and radiation detectors and all manner of shit to try and study this thing… all of it comes to nothing, it’s like it was never there. No trace elements, no clue it was there except a burned out basement and fried circuits.”
“Killed his old Hi-Fi system, he is still pissed about it.” Eve laughed.
“Government gets bored and leaves us alone, then it comes back a third time. Gavin is sitting by the stairwell by chance and the whole wall behind him lights up. Thankfully we had kept everyone out of the basement just in case.”
“I like this part. Gavin is sitting there eating pizza one minute, the next he is on the floor in a sea of light coming from the basement stairwell. He stands up and is about to pick up the phone to call the liaison, and Epperman walks up the stairs with a rock in his hand.” Eve said gleefully.
“Gone a fucking year, walks up the stairs completely naked, totally hairless… looks like a fucking skeleton, still blind of course and then he hands Gavin a rock.” Ross said.
“So by now Gavin is screaming, like he is having a bad trip. Scared out of his mind and just totally losing his shit.” Eve shakes her head.
“So I know you are into chemistry but how much do you know about geology?”
“Just basic stuff, honors in high school.” I made an excuse.
“So turns out, this rock is Astatine.”
“That’s not possible.” I paused, “Astatine is basically lightning in a bottle, it’s unstable and only exists as a natural isotope for like seconds.”
“A+ in geology Simon.” Eve laughed, “Rarest element in the world, estimated to be only a single gram on the whole planet at any given second, then it decays and burns itself up almost instantly… and Epperman just walks out of the basement with half a pound of it suspended in solid form.”
“They ended up calling it Astatine-1975 of all things. Anyway, people in the Department of Energy lose their shit, as a fuel this stuff is basically cold fusion in suspended form, gives off beta waves.”
“…and Epperman has a whopper of a story to tell.” Eve interrupted.
“Right, so Epperman is an old guy, fucking ancient. He was in college in the thirties, so he is like seventy something years old by now, but he was never a skinny guy. But now, he looks like death warmed over, skinny as a rail and is walking around the house eating everything he possibly can, we have to stop him before he eats to the point of killing himself. He is basically starving to death by the time he comes back. Turns out, from his point of view he has been gone for ten years. And he and the other five people have been surviving on fresh water, grass, mushrooms and sapling leaves for a fucking decade.”
“Wait, what?” I was starting to get lost.
“Time dilation.” Eve explained and Ross nodded.
“So a year here equated to about ten years there… wherever there is?” I asked.
“Exactly, except for the week where the field is open that acts like an anchor and floods our basement, but there it basically rips a hole in the sky.” Ross explained.
“Wait, so you’ve been to wherever this place is?” I inquired.
“So get this. Other side of this thing is basically like a proto-world, not a round planet, not suspended in space or a universe like our reality. It’s basically a bowl surrounded by nothingness, just pure light. In 1974 it was just plains of grass, a river, a few hills and mountains, and just very basic plant life. From the point of view of the other side, a hole in the sky opens up, covers the entire sky horizon to horizon, and there are earthquakes and the whole place basically reforms and evolves, violent upheaval, biblical dawn of the dinosaurs type shit, get me?” Ross explains.
“Ok, I’m getting it… not sure I believe it.” I shook my head.
“So Epperman tells us, that not only have they been eating almost nothing but grass for ten years, but two of the people paired off and she had a kid over there, and asks where this kid is and why he can’t hear his voice?”
“It was pretty heart wrenching, but it turns out if you are born there you can’t come over here, only i
f you are from this Earth reality can you cross back and forth.”
“That’s not even the best part.” Eve whispered across the table.
“We aren’t there yet.” Ross chided. “So somehow, our dad had created a pocket universe of some sort, carved out a miniature reality that free floats in some sort of dimensional freefall that is tangled up with our own. So, this rift is open for a week and we send food and supplies, anything we can think of we just start throwing it into the basement. Eve gets the idea to throw bags of seed for sustainable crops and then a group of hippies get the idea they want to go full commune in this new world. The government isn’t in the building yet and we have about sixty people from Delta and their friends and shit just full on walk into the basement with whatever they can carry on their backs.”
“A week later, the rift closes and we are back to normal life again for another year. Government comes in and all but kicks us out of the building, as the week approaches Gavin gets the idea he wants to go to the other side this rotation, he wants to map it all out see what exactly is going on and somehow gets all the government folks to go along with it.” Eve said.
“So the rift opens for the fourth time, just like a clock chiming and before anyone comes through on our side Gavin walks down the stairs. Eve gets scared and reaches out to stop him and trips on her pants and falls in.” Ross laughed.
“You could have spared me that part. But anyway, I arrive there flat on my stomach and they have built a wooden stairway and a deck using bamboo they had planted from seed we had sent previously. I guess before that when you came through you fell about eighty feet into the water. I stand up and it’s basically the Garden of Eden.” Eve said and I could still see the wonder in her eyes.
“Not the actual Garden of Eden. Not really.” Ross reassured me.
“A ring of the tallest mountains you have ever imagined all around the horizon, and hundreds of square miles of hills, grass and green.” Eve smiled.
“It’s been ten years on that side, so they have full gardens and orchards, basic housing all set up at this point. From the sixty seven people from our side that went though, there are now almost a hundred thirty people over there because they all decided to start having kids.”
“Babies!” Eve mused.
“So it’s Gavin and Eve… Epperman goes back too, a few people come back to our side from there, but nobody can bring their children back with them, so the number is very small. I stay here, pretty unaware of what is going on for the most part, just a few messages pass along that Eve and Gavin will see me in a year and that they are pretty set up as far as survival is concerned. On the Earth side, we spend the next year debriefing the returnees. Drawing maps from memory, putting together a murky picture of what we are dealing with over there. Meanwhile, the DoE is chomping at the bit to get more of the Astatine element and all they want to hear about is how we are going to get them more of it. They set up an entire lab in Antarctica to study and work with it.”
“Thus the wheels of progress turn.” I shook my head.
“See he gets it.” Eve nodded.
“So the next year when the rift opens we are ready. A whole military squad goes in, a mining team, government geologists…” Ross started.
“So on our end, the sky basically evaporates and guys with guns pour through. I’m sitting there with about three hundred people ready to welcome Ross into Eden and instead get a gun in my face.” Eve shook her head.
“Holy shit, that took a turn.” I stated.
“So one of these guys has poor trigger discipline and gets pushed while wading through the crowd, he has his finger on the trigger of his weapon… and kills a kid. Bullet goes through his chest, through the abdomen of his mother and into the leg of another kid behind her. Whole place goes up like a fucking dumpster fire.”
“Keep in mind that until now there was no crime, no fighting… the only conflict that Eden had seen had been interpersonal stuff. Like infidelity and jealousy, that sort of thing. It had been populated by a bunch of college educated hippies and their children.” Eve shook her head, still visibly angered.
“In the end the armed team of ten had eight dead. We lost twenty natives and six Earthers.” Ross gave the tally.
“Meanwhile the geologists and cartographers are just standing there holding their dicks and doing nothing. So I do my best to calm the crowd and I managed to talk the remaining two jarheads into giving up their guns. From then on, no firearms allowed through the rift. Ever.” Eve furrowed her brow and retained her righteous indignation.
“So Eve comes back to the Earth side with Gavin and she hasn’t aged a fucking day, she went in twenty one years old… and walked out ten years later from her point of view, the exact same age. Only a year on this end but still, no change. Except for the hair.” Ross grinned.
“Don’t get me fucking started.”
“Heat from the plasma burned all their hair and clothes off. We didn’t figure out a way around that till later. She looked like a hairless ferret.”
“Fuck off Ross!” Eve pushed him and laughed.
“Anyway, that’s the bulk of it…”
“So wait, so it’s what… 1977 by now? I’m not even born yet. And you are completely ageless while there?” I computed.
“Exactly, so it’s been thirty years on the Eden end, three on the Earth end. We are on our second generation of natives, on the cusp of a third generation. Gavin with the help of the two soldiers manages to calm the DoE suits enough to agree to not send any more soldiers through, and even gets official apologies sent through.”
“They were so close to going full Manifest Destiny on us.” Eve shook her head and crossed her arms.
“We eventually worked out a system where we bring a bit of the element back through every cycle, and in return Delta stays in control and maintains a positive relationship with the natives. As long as we deliver every year, nobody says shit to us anymore and if we need something we just have to ask.” Ross explained.
“So 1974… that’s almost what 230 years Eden time?” I asked.
“Well he can do math, that’s a plus.” Ross chuckled.
“230 years, and roughly twelve generations of natives.”
“All of which see us as…” Ross started.
“Parental figures.” Eve Interrupted.
“Sort of, but yea, Elders might be a better word.”
“We have worked very, very hard to discourage any sort of worship or other such hogwash. It has been difficult.”
“Eve has always been very motherly to the people there and worked very closely with them. They took to calling her Matron for a few cycles…”
“When I introduced history and literature, Matron became Mavin and almost nobody who has been there even a single rotation calls me Eve anymore. When an entire civilization calls you something it sticks.”
“How many people now?” I asked, visibly astounded.
“Last census had around 62,000 give or take a few hundred.” Ross stated.
“And this place… can handle that size of a human footprint?”
“Ah, well, let’s just say that the environment has learned to be very hospitable to us, and we do alright.” Ross answered.
“The earthquakes and upheavals are very rare now too, it’s like the environment was shaping itself to our needs and now that we are thriving we require much less change.” Eve offered.
“You are talking about intelligent design.” I cut my eyes at the pair of them.
“We, ah… hmm.” Ross stammered.
“We try very, very hard to avoid any kind of religious connotation or link when it comes to Eden. It makes the Department of Energy and a lot of people very nervous and if this ever got out… we would need divine intervention to save us from the people here.” Eve explained.
“Who is Lasher?” I blurted out the question which shocked both of them.
“Heinrich Sauer-Konig.” Eve shook her head.
“We call him Lasher now, we all h
ave our names that don’t really translate well on this side of the rift. But Lasher is ominous enough.”
“He was a German scientist who came over after World War Two with all the other so called great minds, only he didn’t adapt or change his politics… or aspirations much. He went through on the fourth rotation, and has been a fucking problem ever since then.” Eve gritted her teeth.
“Keep in mind, we aren’t immortal over there. Just ageless, fragility is universal and death is certain. Lasher has killed his fair share of Earthers, he wants to lead everyone into repeating the same mistakes Earth has made for the entire history of human civilization. If this story has a villain, he’s it.” Ross explained.
“Explain this Lord of Flame thing to me?” I asked.
“Names and titles have different meanings here than there, it is difficult to explain. It is a title given to Mavin’s uh…” Ross stopped.
“Chosen?” Eve offered.
“Chosen is a good word. We don’t bring people through permanently anymore, it’s too hard to vet everyone to prevent another Lasher or to give him more fuel to manipulate people. Each of us who stay there is allowed one companion at a time, our chosen… I have Audriana, Gavin has Austringer, there are about half a dozen folks you haven’t met yet, but Mavin has chosen… you.”
“Two hundred years, is a long time. How many…” I started to ask.
“Martin was the last one.” Eve offered.
“That was…”
“A century and some change from my point of view, yes.” Eve nodded.
“And it only lasted one cycle.”
“It wasn’t romantic with your dad Simon; it was more professional and scholarly. He was a great friend to Eden and to all of Delta.” Ross tried to stay ahead of my questions.
“Don’t think I’m some shrew though, I just usually am attracted to natives.” Eve laughed slightly. “I do have a bad habit of outliving them though.” She joked, but I could see a bit of sadness in her eyes.
“Ok, explain the part about my dad then.” I was ready to hear it.
“Eve you should tell this part.” Ross sat back and wheeled his chair backwards slightly.
Deltas: Delta Horizon Book One Page 8