The Netherworlds
Under The Multiverse
The challenge, the event on the horizon was greater than imagined. It was something of inter dimensional importance. As Sophie landed with her father at the Electoral Center, important matters brewed. Without her knowledge, the twelve year old inhabitant of the world simply hypothesized as The Cold had already change the world.
On each of the 4,363 worlds connected to what was simply called the Nexus, a nervous Ambassador awaited today's session. For as long as anyone could remember, all worlds, including the original world who bound the first string to the Nexus located in the Netherworlds below the Multiverse, were present. The was a big deal.
Something of critical importance forced the Ancients from the first world to end millions of years of reclusion and appear. The ambassadors of a hundred worlds suggested the Lower, the world of these Ancient creatures, was no longer relevant in the Multiverse or yet, it had vanished.
They were a minute from being proven wrong.
No one could remember when these powerful creatures from the founding world were last present on the Nexus or why they left. They had, for eons, avoided their own creation. Legends teach how the Ancients, born in a deep world named the Lower, gave birth to the verbal communication bridge uniting worlds. These founders named it simply the Nexus. They call the place where the lines are drawn the Netherworlds for lack of a better word the Netherworlds.
By law, the Nexus had to remain the only legal channel of communication between the worlds forming the Multiverse. Opening a different direct pathway, even between adjacent realities condemns a world to nothing less than extinction. Because the Multiverse is impermeable to matter, nothing physical can translate between the multiple layers of the Universe. Only data in the form of raw energy can permeate between the invisible barriers separating worlds. This is like sound or heat can permeate between adjacent hotel rooms. The reason is simple: each world is built on different fundamental laws of physics. In each place, the fabric of life itself differs. The number Pi, for example, is different in every world. In fact, Pi is meaningless in most worlds without a tangible physical reality. The biphasic nature of the Multiverse mirrors the vinegar and oil floating in a heated lava lamp.
Old tales describe how the God-like creatures living in the Lower, frustrated by the inability to physically travel between worlds left them doing the next best thing: bully everyone else into submission. But even that went so far and after hundreds of millions of years, they grew tired and more reclusive.
The Ancients wrote the laws on regulation of energy seeping between worlds. In the same way, neighboring houses in a suburb, even if separated by an indestructible and impermeable wall, they placed rules on music and air temperature control.
One by one, as each world forming the Multiverse reaches a level of technology sufficient to hurt neighbors, it becomes relevant. The Ancients wait patiently and by twisting the mere fabric of space, they can create an energetic points in space used to talk to a new world. Had earth became relevant, it would have seen a portal blink and with simple Morse-like code would have become part of the Nexus.
The creatures of the Lower force open a link in the Nexus and give this new world a seat at this exclusive table in exchange to adherence to a strict code of conduct. No world (which remains) has yet to turn down the Ancients. Joining the Nexus comes with the valuable encyclopedic lore of everything that has ever transpired over the bridge. The priceless historical lore includes a transcript of each discussion ever held.
Since each world is built on a unique set of laws of physics, but a common mathematical truth, worlds and realities tend to vary wildly. The Nexus in a first world may look like a mirror, in the next the heart of a Nova. Mathematicians call these anchors between worlds singularities, or points tied to some type of infinite property of space. A singularity to a scientist is difficult to explain, but to ordinary people is much simple. At the heart of every tornado is a point of quietness. Every funnel, to exist, needs a singularity where wind speed is zero. No vortex can exist by its own nature without a singularity. A head of hair has a rosace, a point where the skull is visible. The same is true for everything in life.
The Nexus is no highway built of stone. To visualize the fragile network, one should picture dangling strings in the air tied between balconies over a dirty New York alley. Strings blowing on a windy day on which laundry is tied. The Nexus is a fragile network of non-centralized links that crosses the Netherworlds of the Multiverse.
More importantly, the Ancients tied ropes from a central singularly from their world called simply the Dot, a powerful singularity of unequal power.
As one should expect, the use of the Nexus is highly regulated. Each world names a creature called the Ambassador. The prestigious title is passed down for centuries in each world. In most layers, the title of Ambassador is held by the most influential life form. Information over the Nexus is exchanged at a very slow pace; each world has equal rights to listen and speak, so delays are important in the long chain of communication. Words often must travel hundreds of branches before they are heard by all. In the best scenario, a faint voice is transmitted. Most often, Ambassadors must decode a series of beeps and silences to reconstruct a text.
Today, the powerful creatures of the Lower are scheduled to attend. Cynics believe for them, voice and not simple beeps will conveniently be available. The “Gods” from the Lower are the feared enforcers of the law of the Multiverse, and have in the past extinguished entire worlds in violation of their rules. No one alive, in any of the 4,362 worlds, has ever spoken or even heard the voice of a creature from the Lower.
There was power, then communication.
Today's session opened at the request of the Ambassador from a small quantum world on the edge of the border surrounding the Multiverse, one called the Purple. In it lives the Metils, a belligerent race of rock-shaped quantum constructions. Because the rules of the Nexus require worlds to select a polite and respectful Ambassador, and since everyone from the Purple is rude, the creature talking is a simple powerless mouthpiece.
The Ancients never offered a true explanation for their curtailing of the speed of transfer over the Nexus. To these immortals, the Nexus insults and bled the Multiverse of its energy. For that reason, the Nexus must only remain open for the shortest period of time and its use remains highly regulated. Discussions are limited to highly critical matters with universal consequences.
The last Nexus opening dates back to hundreds of generations in most worlds. Today, the Nexus will open as wide as it can. The subject given by the Metil Ambassador is of grave concern to every world. The creature simple whispered, "The Cold Lives."
To anyone with even a basic understanding of universal dynamic, the Cold is the greatest potential problem to all. The Cold is a bordering world known to every living organism in the Multiverse. This place, like most city sewer systems, remains one of the greatest mysteries. It is named so because cooling energy leaves other worlds and is imagined to enter The Cold. Everyone believes this lost place is dark, cold, and lifeless. Nothing can exist in The Cold but death. Every world borders the Cold where dead souls are believed to accumulate.
***
The Nexus powered up slowly as millions of joules ripped the singularities open one by one. The doorways began to hum. In places the gates resonated or shone with color. In every world, there was purring, that was the sound of the natural equilibrium of the Nexus. The Multiverse as people communicated sustained wounds. The low humming noise was called the great silence if anyone cared. After a long wait, the communication bridge finally began to send sound. What came next would be the most important conversation ever to be broadcasted over the Nexus.
***
"Salutations," spoke the very nervous Metil Ambassador from the Purple.
"Salutations," replied the Moderator from the Nexus. Eons ago, the Ancients delegated one world the role of Moderator of the speech. The Moderator and the Metil Ambassador knew enough and would keep pleasantries to a minimum. The creature from the Purple resumed, "Life and intelligence exist in the Cold, it destroys our world. We are dying." There were murmurs in the other worlds, but they quickly these fell silent.
"Impossible," replied the Moderator trying to remain stoic. His voice was very distinctive and never changed over the centuries. There was no need to waste time to identify who spoke over the Nexus.
Everyone knew the place called simply the Cold. The Metil Ambassador continued, "We have direct evidence that life in the Cold exists. It is also highly intelligent. It has now developed powerful technology."
Before the Moderator could answer, strange bells and chimes began to ring.
They filled the gateway with a ballet of sound. No one knew such a music could travel the Nexus, nor what meaning it held but it inspired respect. The Moderator and the thousands of Ambassadors waited in silence.
The bells continued for a while. This sounded like a forgotten language.
Finally, the bells stopped to let a stern male voice speak. "The Metil speaks truth, life does exist in the Cold. We have known of its existence for some time. It is beautiful, meaningful and shines above us all." The discernibly annoyed voice was that of an Ancient from the Lower.
"We are greatly honored," replied the Metil Ambassador.
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"Shut up!" snapped the creature from the Lowest. "Stop wasting time, tell others of your intentions." The Metil ambassador shook in fear alone in his Purple world. He knew what he was dealing with, the survival of his world.
"There is life in the Cold, it is highly intelligent and technologically advanced,” repeated nervously the creature. The Ambassador had just violated one of the most important rules of the Nexus. Redundancy was forbidden and wasteful; if something had been said, it should not be repeated for any reason.
What came next from the Ancient was rather unexpected for a creature most vied as deity. "Imbecile." The universal translator always used the right word. The creature from the Lower did not hold back. Every participant on the Nexus owed a duty of respect to other Ambassadors; there were no insults allowed here. Obviously the Ancients were free from this rule. "Your race, with a single exception today, is a nuisance to the Multiverse. If the boy called Mall-ik dies, your reality will be destroyed. We know of your intentions and we know of your hostile actions. Stop wasting time and energy. Speak or die. The others must know, your insolence may doom them all."
There was a long silence.
The Metil Ambassador took the threat seriously. "The creatures from the Cold are opening deadly rifts in the fabric between my world and theirs. The technology they are using is causing unprecedented destruction. Raw energy is flowing into our world in the form of rivers of zexs."
The chimes sounded a high note. The Mediator took his cue, "Ancient One, I beg for permission to respond."
"You may. You have served the Nexus faithfully. We honor your words. Talking to such an primitive life is difficult for us." The Ancient's tone was more pleasant with the Mediator.
The moderate voice continued, "Before today, the Cold was believed to be empty. The energy levels there are too low to hold life. No real powerful and destructive energy floats there. The Cold is, as its name suggests, cold, dead, empty. Even the most advanced form of life in the Multiverse can easily demonstrate that nothing can exist there. You describe destruction; that implies energetic levels above these theoretical thresholds. Please explain. How can there be intelligence? Much less one capable of opening rips in any fabric between your world and this place. You must be mistaken."
The Metil knew his next words would be critical. "Moderator, we dream your words were truth. Arriving at our conclusion took longer than anticipated. Specifically, because of the Metil's adherence to this common understanding that nothing can exist in the Cold. The Venerable One confirms today our observations. The Cold holds complex and beautiful life. It is vast beyond our imagination. Trillions of lifeforms live on points called planets, stars. They dance in their dimension." The Metil Ambassador was making his case. "We do not fully understand the physics of the Cold, our information is still partial, but..." He knew how ridiculous the rest would sound: "We managed to collect images from this new world."
The Metil had just admitted to violating yet another law of the Nexus. No direct communication was allowed between worlds. For a fraction of a second, the inter-world communication bridge buzzed with chatter. The noise ended as quickly as it began.
"Images? How can this be possible?" Few were able to contain themselves. "Was there exchange of information through a newly uncovered singularity between your world and the Cold? You know all communications must be connected to the Nexus, so all can hear. Have they communicated with you first? Did they send or receive the message?"
There was a long pause. The Ambassador was consulting his own world's experts before he answered. He ventured, "The Cold has reached out. I beg you to listen to my entire explanation. My words will appear implausible, yet they remain true. We have prepared a report. Please read it before judging us. We ask permission from the Moderator to transmit. The complexity of the Cold is beyond ordinary physics. Their world seems to be..." The ambassador was bracing himself for the feedback. "...united by a single equation. It is the unified world."
Several people on the Nexus were unable to keep silent. The bandwidth was sufficient on the line to transmit the noise. Silence returned.
"Unity?" the Mediator exploded, in shock.
"Yes."
The laws of physics were different in every slice of the Multiverse. The laws which bound each realm also served to protect them from other realms. Each world was built on laws with elemental forces and energy, each law regulating a force inherent to the fabric of the space in that area of the Multiverse. Most worlds of the Multiverse were defined by seven to nine laws. One world was the envy of others with only five forces and three laws. Legends suggested the Lower was based two laws only. No reality was defined by one. In fact, no theory ever postulated allowed for it.
The deep male voice from the Lower spoke, "We confirm. Unity is a theoretical possibility. We have proved it. It is improbable unity is present in the Cold, yet a world with only partial understanding of the Multiverse, like the Purple, could conclude... incorrectly.” He continued. “At the low energy levels of this world, the Cold should not be unified." The use of a conditional verb tense by a creature of the Lower was a cause for concern. There was a ping. "The Purple's finding is impressive," concluded the Ancient.
The Moderator replied, "Thank you, oh great and wise one. Ambassador, we must point out that of your own admission, you have engaged in research into this newly discovered dimension. This research must have taken time, during which, you willfully withheld this information from us. Life with slow and cold particles such as the neutron and the proton is in theory impossible."
The Metil replied, "As you will see in the report, the world we all call the Cold seems to have evolved beyond our scale. It operates at a much larger dimension. It is vast without border."
"Nothing is boundless."
"We know. The creatures alive in the Cold are each made of trillions of particles. At such a large scale, most of the weaker forces will shift to the square of the distance between two particles. This very weak force acts over very large distances. Points of infinite compression exist in the Cold. The creatures from Earth call this force gravity. Gravity is the dominating force in a world faced with very large sizes. Gravity unites the other forces. Said simply, the Cold is different enough to render all our past observations false."
The Metil continued. "We now know there is life in the Cold, and its complexity is shocking. The Cold is vast, larger than any of our worlds. In fact, it is larger than all of our worlds combined. Over time, our waste, our debris have accumulated into structures of a size beyond our imagination. To the unified world, using a unified theory, large structures and small structures are self-similar. Size loops upon itself. These monsters have now reached a level of technology such that they can create rifts between their world and ours. Millions of Metils have already died. We cannot tolerate the situation; we must end this destruction."
As everyone expected, even to the best of scientists, what had just been said was too much information to digest at once. A female voice spoke next on the Nexus, it probably was an Ancient since she was unknown to the Ambassadors. "Metil, what you say is of paramount importance. Since time began, we have found no door to the Cold, no singularity. Many worlds are dying as energy abandons them. If the Cold has such abundant energy, it may be the solution we have been seeking desperately to rekindle life in some worlds. We must know more. The survival of many dying worlds depends upon it."
There was a ping. The Mediator knew it was his time to speak next. "How did you get this valuable information about the Cold? Have they contacted you, is there a singularity?"
"Please believe me, the words I am about to pronounce sound equally ridiculous to us." There was another silence.
"Answer." There was a new voice on the bridge, it was not forceful but robotic.
"We... We... One of us has entered into direct communication with them, went there and returned." There was a gasp.
"Your scientists cannot be allowed to open singularities."
"No, you misunderstand. One of us, a boy, slipped into a rift between our worlds. Our creature entered and walked into the Cold. The creatures from the Cold have interacted with us directly. One followed us and came back briefly into our world before it returned in its world." There was an cacophony of voices over the Nexus. The Metil continued, "Many catastrophic effects have begun to appear in the Purple, killing millions. The rifts are flows of deadly energy. They wipe out entire portions of our world. The energy levels are beyond imagination. Flows of spinning zexs crash into our cities. The rifts had patterns of appearance, moving from one location to the next before closing. With time, more rifts began opening. Little remain of the Purple, but our world is dying."
The Moderator spoke. "We will not waste time questioning. We will read. Understanding is always a wise prerequisite to action. Maybe the Nexus can help you."
"There is more."
"Speak," snapped the annoyed creature from the Lower.
"A young entity from our world was assigned the surveillance of one of the rifts as it opened. Because of the danger, we sent one of our least valuable assets. He was to stay safely at a distance, in the back of the rift. What came next we know to be true. We uploaded visual information from his recorder to confirm it. He somehow was able to look into the rift, perceive the other world, and move through it directly. He moved physically into the window entering the Cold. Once there, he made contact with a sentient being, a creature named Sophie."
"Your tale is fiction. Nothing you say is even remotely conceivable from a physics perspective. The size difference between your world and the Cold alone is... unbelievable. Was any Metil technology used that would explain this strange story?"
"None except a scaler. We often use a personal guide called a scaler, a device that allows us to stream in self-similarity. This is a movement device, to teleport in space. Our kind only scales downwardly, into the smaller. We compress, move, and return to our original size. We are unable to scale upwardly, yet as part of this boy did the opposite. He scaled up. He even returned to us twice his original size."
"Ambassador, this tale is complex; farcical at best," replied the Moderator.
The Ancient interrupted, "Are you telling us that these deadly rifts are pouring flows of energy and destroying entire cities in your world, yet a single individual walked into one, socialized on the other side, and came back alive?"
"Yes, that is precisely what I say. We also refused to believe him until we reviewed his recorded memory. But the situation gets even stranger. Our individual actually changed in the Cold into a new physical form to adapt to the material limitations of the Cold. In the other world, his body was no more. Our citizen talked directly with an entity from the Cold. He spoke in her language and without any translation technology. This creature was able to simply follow our guard as he made his way back into our world. The recorder even shows the foreign creature speaking our language. The Sophie began to move in our world, without body. Like a god. Her words alone were so powerful, they almost killed our curious guard."
"She? You give a gender to this creature?"
"Yes, it had gender, it called itself Sophie, female."
"Troubling. The implications of entities capable of changing worlds is...." The voice trailed off, never finishing the sentence.
"This Metil must be interrogated," said a voice over the Nexus.
"The individual escaped and returned to the Cold. Through our empathic bond, we feel he is not dead, but he is no longer in our world."
There was a long silence.
"Escaped? You arrested him?"
"Before we could review the data stored in his recorder, we did not believe his story. He abandoned his post, and was put under restraint. We returned with him to the same rift. His contact with these creatures, with the one called Sophie was obviously made at a deep mental level. When the rift reopened, he saw her and entered the Cold. We confirm he alone sees these visions and can pass between worlds. Others have died trying."
"What you say is... impossible."
"Yes, we know. Our world is being destroyed by the carelessness of a group of sentient beings from the Cold."
"We understand, and we feel your pain. However, the importance of the situation warrants careful study before action. We will need all your data, all your research. The individual who crossed must be retrieved," said the Moderator. "If he returns, you are not to interfere with him."
"Agreed," said the Metil Ambassador to the Moderator.
The female voice from the Lower asked a simple question, "What is this creature's name who survived?"
"Mall-Ik."
“I knew it,” said one creature of the Lower to the other. The creature from the Lower memorized the young creature's name and spoke once more. Now there was disdain in her voice, "The boy.”
Then after a long silence, it added, “Now speak of your war with the Cold!"