My name is Ezra Waitomo, but this is not my story, it is my legacy. I'm not overly fond of discussing myself, much less putting such details down in writing, but I believe it may provide much needed context. Perhaps because I have lived my life I do not find it of particular interest, so I will attempt to keep this brief.
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I grew up in a world much like your own, where my people had to struggle and adapt through science and ingenuity in order to survive. By the time I was born faster-than-light (FTL) travel had already been invented and much of the universe had already been charted and colonized. I've always had an inquisitive mind and an adventurous spirit, but there were no new frontiers to explore.
That is, until the G.F.S. Mobius initiated an FTL jump within an FTL jump and disappeared without a trace. Jump drives had always been built with safety measures to avoid this, because the leading physicists at the time theorized it could destroy the universe. That's when I decided to join the Gaian Federation as a researcher and engineer working as part of a team trying to discover what happened to the Mobius and its crew.
As our research progressed it became more and more likely that the Mobius had been sent to a parallel universe. Over the course of several years, I became friends with a member of the military liaisons to the research team, a woman by the name Charlatte Cooper. When all of our unmanned probes failed to return, Charlatte and I volunteered for the first manned mission.
At the time we believed that the jump was somehow disabling our probes. We retrofitted a light transport shuttle with an FTL drive and loaded it with spare parts. My job was to repair any damage caused by the jump, while Charlatte would provide protection and assistance if needed. After much debate it was decided that the jump would take place near our people's home planet, Gaia. The hope was that, if we needed to land to make repairs or request aid, a parallel version of humanity would be easier to communicate with, if they even existed.
A normal FTL jump feels like you are rapidly accelerating and standing still at the same time. Most people pass out their first time through and jumping twice made the sensation even more dizzying. I passed out immediately when we jumped. Charlatte managed to hold on a bit longer due to her training and told me the space around us looked as if it were being viewed through a kaleidoscope before she passed out.
When I woke up my initial thought was that the jump had failed, but I quickly shook that idea off after noticing the science vessels that had been monitoring our jump were nowhere to be found. After a quick systems check I determined that the ship had safely made the jump. The limited data our instruments picked up combined with Charlatte's report on her kaleidoscopic view of space confirmed our teams hypothesis that we had in fact jumped to a parallel universe.
The research team and I had spent nearly 10 years working on an equation for navigating between universes, of course without any hard data from the probes it was purely theoretical. Using the data we got from the jump, I tried to fill in as many variables as possible to chart a course home. While I was working, Charlatte observed that there weren't any satellites or signal relays nearby and attempts to make contact with the nearby planets proved fruitless.
When the calculations were finished there were still a few variables left unsolved, but Charlatte and I decided it was our best chance to get home, thus we attempted the jump anyways. This time neither of us passed out. I witnessed the kaleidoscope effect that Charlatte had mentioned as I watched the view of the universe subdivide and multiply. Eventually the view of the universe formed multiple independent regions that began to separate from each other. These regions began to elongate into columns. The columns struck out at different angles and their surface appeared to be moving while the image beneath stayed constant, as if there was water running down each column. I realized that we had just exited the nearest column. It was at this point that the navigation computer attempted a course correction, but the space outside the column was fundamentally different than the space we were used to and the thrusters had no effect.
I manually overrode the navigation computer so it wouldn't waste any more of our fuel as I watched us slowly drift toward another column. As we entered the column the kaleidoscopic view of the multiverse reappeared and began to collapse down into a single image of another universe. It was obvious at a glance that we hadn't made it home, the oceans of this Gaia were green. Scans showed that the atmosphere contained large amounts of oxygen and the planet was populated by large animals. It seemed that we had arrived in a universe where the dinosaurs weren't extinct.
Fortunately, we brought enough food rations to last a year as I dedicated the next three months to crunching the new data we'd received and reworking the navigation formula. Unfortunately, I arrived at the conclusion that the formula required 5th dimensional coordinates. Based on Charlatte and my observations, the columns we saw were a representation of each universe's 3-dimensional plane. I hypothesized that the 'water' was the 4th dimension, time and its 'flow' across the columns was the literal passage of time in that universe. The space between the columns was the previously unobserved 5th dimension that separates the parallel universes. The final conclusion was that without knowing our current position in the 5th dimension, our home universe's position relative to it, and some way to navigate in that space it was going to be nearly impossible to get home.
Stolen story; please report.
We spent another two months modifying the monitoring equipment. We hoped to pinpoint our home's position during our next jump. It was also vital to analyze the composition of the 5th dimensional space in order to develop a method of moving within it. After nearly six months we were ready to attempt another jump. During that time, the company we provided each other was the only thing keeping us sane and we held hands, as if it were the most natural thing to do, as Charlatte initiated the jump.
The adjustments we made resulted in a flood of new data when we arrived in the new universe, but before I could even begin to decipher it Charlatte started taking evasive maneuvers. A large destroyer class vessel had punched in near our position and was attempting to catch us in a tractor beam. Our transport shuttle wasn't as nimble as a fighter, so it wasn't long until we were caught. Before the tractor beam could pull us in Charlatte initiated a jump out of that universe.
Immediately alarms started blaring. The resistance from the tractor beam caused the jump to sheer a layer of plating off our hull and damaged most of our external sensors. Upon arriving in the new universe no new data came in, rendering any positional data from the previous jump practically useless. However, Charlatte and I had already accepted long ago that we were lost and most likely wouldn't return home. By this point the mission had become more about survival than anything else.
After a quick assessment, it was clear that the ship was in need of extensive repairs, but the good news was that the hull wasn't in danger of failing. In order to carry out the repairs we needed to land, so we began our decent onto that universe's Gaia. What little data we were getting from our sensors showed that the air was breathable and surprisingly free of pollutants. The lack of satellites around the planet combined with the clean air suggested a preindustrial culture.
Upon landing, I immediately began making a list of needed repairs. The good news was that, with the materials we brought with us, even working by myself I could have the ship space worthy again in a year or two. However, perhaps due to making multiple jumps in a row or fighting the resistance from the tractor beam, the FTL drive had burned itself out and wasn't something I'd be able to fix. It seemed that our universe hopping adventure had come to an end. When I broke the news to Charlatte she simply took my hand, smiled, and welcomed me to our new home.
While we were still lost in each other's eyes, a small wisp of flame floated in between us, before suddenly exploding with bright light. The unexpected flash of light left us disoriented and during our daze a group of people subdued us. We were taken to a nearby town, where we were held for questioning. It wasn't surprising they'd be cautious of us, given the entrance we made, descending on their world in a smoking hunk of metal.
We didn't speak the language, so it took awhile to convince them that we weren't a threat. Eventually they let us go, but they asked us not to leave town for the time being and we pretended not to notice the people they had following us. However, they confiscated our ship and refused to return it. I was disappointed they wouldn't even let me see the data from the previous jump. Just because the FTL drive was wrecked didn't mean I'd given up on trying to solve the problem of movement in 5th dimensional space.
Fortunately, I soon found new questions to obsess over: Were the myths about magic from our universe based in fact? And if so can I use science to study it? As we walked around the town we saw a chef grilling kebabs with a wave of his hand. A youth stomped on top a hill, covering it in frost so that her and her friends could go sledding. The more we looked the more magical the actions of the residents seemed.
While I was lost in thought Charlatte made another interesting observation: When we were descending the geography made it look like we were going to land near Germany, so why do most of the people appear to be of Asian descent?
We were summoned to the capital, the local leaders were obviously interested in visitors from another universe. However, due to the continued difficulty in communication, the meeting with them was postponed and we were sent to a local school. While attending the school, Charlatte picked up the local dialect rather quickly, I admittedly struggled with it for many years. More importantly, the school provided us with answers to our most pressing questions.
Instead of building the Great Wall and adopting an isolationist stance, China spread out, building an empire that encompassed the Middle East, most of Europe, a large chunk of Russia, a small slice of northern Africa, and several of the smaller islands around Japan. Eventually the empire broke up, but the resulting countries remained on good terms and this friendly relationship prevented most of histories largest wars, including several world wars. This also resulted in a lack of competition between countries, which is why this planet, known as Pangu, had yet to experience an industrial revolution. This was also the reason many of the people in this area were of Asian descent.
Without the external pressure to invent new technologies to make the country stronger, citizens were free to look inward and focus on self improvement. Combining mystical doctrines and meditative practices from across the previous empire a cultivation system was born that could nourish one's soul and allow it to manipulate the world through an energy known as Chi. Apparently this was the reason for all of the people's amazing abilities. Charlatte and my interest had been piqued, as a soldier Charlatte wanted anything that could give her an edge and I was very curious about the theory and science behind how such results were possible. Unfortunately, the ideal time to start cultivating was before the age of ten. As Charlatte and I were in our early 30s, we were told it would be difficult to even master the basics.
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That was longer than I expected, but hopefully this glimpse into my life will provided the context you'll need for the greater story ahead. As I said, this is not my story, it is my legacy, it is my pride, it is my shame. This is the story of the Scholars of the Braided Path.