Starless, part 29

Before the party could leave Mia and Redmond were called in to talk to the council. The military wanted to see and perhaps study the artifact Redmond was carrying. Mia was a little taken aback by the news. Why now? Why did they want to study the artifact when they knew full well it was too dangerous to use?

While she had not told them the full extent of what she knew about it she had been certain they understood what was at stake and that none of them could communicate with it safely. She had every assurance that Redmond’s quest and his plans were going to be safeguarded before she even invited him to her village.

“This is not what we discussed.” Mia said out loud in bemusement. “What are they thinking?” She sighed and looked Redmond in the eye. “You two go ahead. I’ll meet you at the transporter pad. We can’t let the military get their hands on the artifact, no matter how good their intention may be.”

“Agreed,” said Redmond. “We better get on our way.”

“I’ll get you out of here without being noticed and then I’ll go and give the council the news that the artifact is no longer here.”

“Will you be ok?” Reg interjected.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.” Mia gave him a big smile. “They are an enlightened bunch as a rule, and I have broken no laws. The worst they can legally do is chastise me. I’m not without a great deal of friends and influence.”

Reg was apprehensive at the thought of being without her even for a day. But Mia reminded him that they were never farther from each other than their link. While they were a distance apart it would go dormant unless called awake. But it would always be a feeling with in each of them.

Mia took them to the entrance of a tunnel at the outskirts of the village without being noticed by anyone that might give them away. Then she kissed Reg and went back to face the music. Reg still wasn’t completely convinced everything was ok, but there was nothing he could do about it but watch her walk away.

“She will be Ok, won’t she?” Reg asked.

Redmond reassured him that there was nothing to worry about, though he wasn’t as certain of it as he appeared. “Like she said, she has broken no laws.”

Reg was satisfied with that, at least for now.

The two traveled for several hours along the narrow tunnel before they came to a large room like the one they had first made camp in several days ago. The layout was much the same. There was a water fall on the south end and a small grove of trees that provided the magic fruit Reg had become so fond of. Redmond decided they should rest there a while before going on.

As they sat and ate Reg kept eyeing the case the artifact was in. It wasn’t long before Redmond noticed.

“So you want to know what the artifact is, do you?”

“Not such an unusual desire, is it? After all, it would be nice to know what we are all risking our lives for. I’m in this as much as you now.”

Redmond agreed. “Yes you are, my friend, so I will tell you.

The first words out his mouth after that were a bit of a shock. “The artifact is a universe.” He said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Reg’s jaw dropped. “A universe? There is more than one?”

“There are seven of them in our unit,” Redmond continued. One of them is, of course, the one we live in. They are linked and share consciousness as one being. But they are separate entities at the same time. Together they make one unit. There are many such units. In turn each of those units are interconnected and form something unimaginable; and for us incomprehensible and unreachable.

Each unit on its own is living a kind of dream. They are not aware of their form nor do they actually have one. The artifact’s shape is just an illusion. It’s just the way we perceive it. The reality is somewhat different.

Think of it like this: If I put you in a room with no windows and shrunk the room to the size of a pin, you wouldn’t know anything had changed because everything would have changed to scale. You could even use your measuring tape and get all the same measurements you got before the room’s size changed. Size then is relative: as long as everything changes to scale, as far as we are concerned nothing has changed. Only if you could look at the outside of the room would you notice everything else was much larger than it had been. So for universes size is irrelevant.”

Reg just stared transfixed so Redmond continued.

“They are also not aware of their connection or relationship with other units.

When I say they are living a dream I mean they are like the Hindu god. In Hinduism on Earth they believe we and all of creation are just god’s dream. In a sense that’s true. Our perception is an illusion. But that illusion corresponds to reality. The gods do dream and in so doing make us real without them knowing it. Their nature is the process of existence itself.

We are part of them like cells are part of us. They need us as much as we need our cells. By us I don’t mean the few ants like us that live on planets, but all things. But like us they are not aware their cells (us) exist in the way we do or that we are conscious. They have their own unique illusionary perspective which corresponds to the underlying reality which is itself irrelevant. That is to say that in some sense all perspectives are part of reality so no one perspective can capture it. Reality is all the perspectives, mechanics, events, and properties combined.”

“Like in chaos theory,: Reg offered. “On earth they used to play a game called guess how many jelly beans are in a jar. It came to the attention of a scientist that something strange happened. Even though practically no one ever got the answer correct, it was discovered that if you add all the guesses together and divide by the number of people who participated, you always come up with a number that is very close to the answer. Often within one percent. While the individual does not always come up with the right answer, the combined effort of many people, using their unique perspectives, does.”

“That’s right.” Redmond said calmly. “Statistical mathematics is the language of the totality.”

Reg was floored by all this but his imagination was racing. “So why is that universe here, inside this one?”

Redmond smiled and said: “Now you have the problem in hand. Good for you. When the crossover device was first used, it created a small hole in the universe we exist in. The more it was used the larger the hole got. We had no idea at first that this was happening or we would have scrapped the project. That hole is where the artifact drifted into this universe.

This is a real problem. Since that happened time and the laws of physics have been altered. It is almost unnoticeable right now unless you time travel and remember other time lines. But it will get worse the longer the other universe is here and the longer our universe is in a damaged state.”

Reg thought he saw the light. “So the problems this planet is having are linked to the artifact?”

“The problems this planet is experiencing have partially to do with the artifact. But that isn’t the only problem nor is it the direct cause. It just aggravates the situation. All of us have our own concerns. This planet is at stake, but so is our entire history and perhaps the history of this universe. Perhaps even the history of both universes.

I can’t guarantee that if we fix the hole in our universe and convince the artifact to leave our universe that the planet will be fixed. But I can guarantee that if we fail on either count there soon won’t be a planet to worry about.”

“So you are responsible for all this?” Reg asked before he could stop himself.

Redmond’s reply came swiftly without missing a beat. “Yes,” was all he said.

“And now you want me to talk to it and somehow fix it all?” Reg couldn’t help feeling a little put upon and not a little out of his league.

“I’m sorry to have to put you in this position, Reg. I’ve been looking for someone to do this job for the last 20 years. I thought I had found that person in Mia, but that was not to be. At this point you are the only one the artifact has spoken to. It has mistaken you for part of itself; part of its subconscious if you will. That’s what we need to implant the information it requires.”

“It has spoken to me” Reg gasped?

“It was the gate keeper you met.” Redmond answered.

“I’m not sure I’m ready now that I know all this. I don’t know if I can do what you need me to do.”

“I am.” Redmond said reassuringly. “But we need to get the catalyst that will ensure our success. We better get back on the road.”

Reg and Redmond continued to talk as the miles and hours passed. Eventually Redmond saw a light ahead and announced that they were almost at the transporter pad. It was at that moment Reg felt something tug at him. His link with Mia seemed to come alive for just a brief moment.

“Mia is being held against her will and we are walking into a trap.” Reg exclaimed in a whisper.

Redmond stopped in his tracks and motioned for Reg to turn around and go back the way they came. Several yards back Redmond slipped between the rocks and Reg followed.