40.

Captain Moon stared out through the transparent exterior wall at the hyperatomic plane. She knew that the Keeper of Dreams had left the regular universe behind and was now traveling in a parallel dimension in order to break the speed limit on the universe. She also knew that the drives on the Toormonda ship which she had appropriated were pushing her along at not one or two times the speed limit, but at it’s maximum speed of three hundred C.

That was slower than the theoretical limit of the Tunnel Drive by a factor of ten, but that was fine. The primary reason for the length of the mission was due to the need for medical checks between stops, and to give the data analysis team time to do their work on the recovered data. Although they were presently behind schedule, with the ability to push through from jump to jump as soon as the probes were located and collected, they should soon catch up and then beat the clock.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Takeshi asked, stepping up beside her. The short Japanese man scratched his nose and adjusted his glasses. “I wonder what the subspace dimension looks like. Not enough to try to find out, but did we ever try sticking a camera outside during a jump?”

“It was black,” She confessed. “Pure black and static on the recordings. We didn’t test it with the Seeker , but we know from previous jumps where efforts were made to observe the subatomic plane for visible light.”

“Are we sure the entire subplane universe is black?” Takeshi asked. “Perhaps it’s black around earth, and different colors as you travel away.”

“Huh. Who knows?” she commented. “I guess now we know where the mist comes from, though.”

“It’s so milky,” Takeshi admitted.

“And beautiful,” Captain Moon agreed.

Outside, the foggy universe of the hyperatomic plane was being pushed back by the aurora of the ships FTL drive. In the fog were suggestions of shapes and patterns which were just outside of being random, or perhaps that was just the human mind filling in gaps where there weren’t any. She sensed no danger or hostility from the shapes that she saw outside; they were calming. Like standing aboard a seagoing vessel at night in the middle of a fogbank.

“You think there could be life out there?” Captain asked.

“Not as we know it,” Takeshi said.

“We’re skimming across the surface of another universe, are we not?” she asked

“Yes, but the hyperatomic matter doesn’t form into elements the same way that matter coalesces into protons, neutrons and electrons in our universe,” Takeshi explained. “It’s all without a charge. Light passes through it and can even be refracted by it, but it only clumps together because of gravity and another attraction force that I don’t understand quite yet. There are no chemical reactions, and there for no life as we know it.”

“I see,” Captain Moon said. “Do you think that there’s a parallel universe out there that’s trying to reach out and touch ours, like we reach out to touch this plane of existence?”

“I don’t know,” Takeshi answered. “I’m still struggling to adapt to all of the dimensions which the aliens have discovered and mapped already.”

“How many have you identified?” Captain Moon inquired.

“That we can reach out and touch, twelve,” Takeshi answered. “That are theorized? Between fifteen and thirty-two. Not all of them are useful. Some of them require huge expenditures of energy to interact with and result in nothing but an increase in entropy and loss of energy in our universe.”

“Yet they discovered it.”

“Humans did. During the war,” Takeshi agreed.

“And just like everything else that humans have discovered, everyone who even touched the project claimed credit for it, I suppose?” she inquired.

“Indeed. It’s most frustrating to learn that our accomplishments are being denied and second-guessed by races whose own histories shown they were handed everything beyond a certain level of interstellar travel and communication,” Takeshi grumbled. “Many of the races of the universe never left their homeworld before they were encountered by the previous empire.”

“Let’s not let ourselves get worked up about it,” Captain Moon suggested. “While I understand your frustration, we’re not going to change public opinion simply by bitching about it to each other.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Takeshi agreed.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

They spoke for a while longer, then retired to different parts of the ship. Ji-eun spent a while exercising, and then proceeded to record another segment for Project Radio Tower to disseminate to the universe when they returned to Yonohoan space.

~~~~~

Eolai took careful aim, adjusted his stance, stretched his muscles, and then let fly. The holographic ball flew through the air with a slight curve to it as the physics simulator adjusted took into account the way that he had twisted his hands during the pitch.

The white ball flew at high speed towards Diego, who calmly caught it upon a holographic bat. The crack of the connection filled the exercise room. The computer calculated the projectile’s trajectory and it was launched into the ceiling.

“This would be most fun to perform using physical objects with no concealed technology, much like the other games and sports you have shared from your culture,” Eolai agreed, holding out his hand for the computer to place another holographic ball in it.

“Yeah. Baseball is a pretty big sport in the country where I grew up,” Diego agreed. “Kids play it growing up, although most of them quit at some point as they grow older. Very few people play it professionally, but the ones that do are paid well, and some of them are very famous. Centuries later and people still know who Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson were. Although Jackie Robinson is arguably more famous for his role in racial integration than his skill as a baseball player. He was a great player, don’t get me wrong, but it was his leadership in healing the wounds and prejudice in our nation which make him a historic figure. He’s long dead, but when people talk about interracial unity, his name still comes up.”

“I hope that he had many children that led happy lives,” Eolai said formally. “And that his children’s children continue to walk in the light.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know that,” Diego admitted.

“Do you believe that he would be proud of your efforts on behalf of your people, and the attempts of bringing then closer to mine?” Eolai inquired.

“I’m quite certain that he would approve,” Diego agreed. “Although I wouldn’t presume to put words into the mouth of the honored dead.”

“You are learning to think like a Yonohoan,” Eolai said. “Many of my actions and motivations are guided by the question of what I would do if I were to meet my father once more.”

Diego blinked. “You’ve met him?”

“He left many Rocktala messages for me before he died the final time,” Eolai explained. “Much of my philosophy for life comes from the time I spent enjoying those messages. It pains me that a man I know so well and love so much died millennia before my birth. I take solace in the fact that he planned each message with loving detail and care, planning lessons for my education in the path that was laid down for me to follow. I am proud to follow this path which was set down for me. I wept for days when I read his final message to me when I was fifteen years old and he declared that I was a man.”

Diego processed this information. “I think I’m a little envious of you, Eolai. You’ve known from a very early place what your role in the history of the universe was going to be.”

“I am extremely envious of you, Brother, for your freedom in finding your path for yourself. While I walk the narrow path to bring honor to my father and honored ancestors, the lack of freedom does chafe sometimes,” Eolai answered.

“The grass is always greener on the other side,” Diego said, and then he was forced to spend several moments explaining the context of the colloquialism.

“Do you resent my selfishness in pulling you off of your life’s path and placing you onto mine?” Eolai asked.

“I am so overwhelmed that I’m still processing a lot of emotions on the matter, Eolai,” Diego admitted. “A small part of me resents that you took advantage of my naivety about your culture and intergalactic politics and history. But I understand that my naivety was a required part of the equation. If I had known what I was doing during the ceremony, then it wouldn’t have counted the same. You could only adopt me into your family if I didn’t understand the significance of the gesture when it was made. If I had calculated the risk or reward rather than simply grabbing your hand instinctively when you reached out to me, then I would have been rejected by the Yonohoan people as an opportunist.”

“You would have still been a clansmen,” Eolai assured him. “But the government and the people might not have recognized you as my brother to the extent which they do now. They would have argued with me when I left to fulfill my part of the oath.”

“But you would have still gone,” Eolai asked.

“Eodar never questioned the voracity of those whom he took in as a brother or sister. He recognized that the brotherhood ceremony possessed far more meaning to him than it initially would to those who passed the tests and traps unwittingly. Yet to say ‘this world was defended by Eolai in the name of his brother or his sister’ retains historic weight. Many, many times has my father died in the fulfillment of the oath of brotherhood. Many of his allies has he led to their deaths for the sake of that bond. Many of his enemies have crashed against his bullwark as he protected those who could not protect themselves. Humans and our allies too, he made no distinction in species. He was steadfast in a way which I cannot fathom even having heard him speak.”

“I am honored and humbled that you have included me in his legacy, Eolai. The part of me that is resentful is growing smaller day by day as I understand the gift that you were attempting to give me and my people in your actions,” Diego said.

“It is a little thing. And a selfish thing. You see, I have always wanted a brother, but everyone who I ever found worthy was all too aware of the significance of what such an oath entailed. I fear that you are justified in your resentment, Diego, for it was selfish of me to ‘push you into the deep end.’”

“I am in the process of forgiving you for that, Brother,” Diego said. “But your apology helps sooth what burn remains. Now come here and let me show you how to throw a proper curve ball.”

‎