Chapter Six
Travels
Devan goes straight back to Stubb’s to visit Allyson after his class. He is really attracted to Allyson, to her sarcasm and sense of humor. As he enters the café he sees Allyson and Jacob talking.
“Hey Jacob, I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah, Allyson and I were just talking about… you. You know, your love for basket weaving.” Jacob and Allyson laugh.
“Ok, ok. I said I was sorry. But whatever. Hey, Allyson mentioned something about visiting other inhabitable planets, even in other solar systems. Are you guys up for it? Like, now?”
“Sure man. I just have to finish up a few things. Allyson, are you good to go? Can you get someone here to cover for you?”
“Oh, yeah. I can’t believe Devan’s never been.”
“Great! What is the left-right sequence to get to… aaah, the Kepler system? Where Allyson did her field work?
Jacob answers. “First of all that system is pretty boring, no real action. Great for field research but not a lot happening. We’ll go to another solar system. And, that sequence is for local travel. You’d be dancing all day like a fool if you tried intergalactic travel that way. For that we need to go to a special node. A travel hub for intergalactic hyper-space travel.”
“Ok, cool. Let’s just go.”
“Hold on we’re almost ready.”
Allyson speaks, “I just got Hector to cover for me. I’m ready.”
Jacob leads the group to the nearest intergalactic travel hub. From there they wait for the next opportunity to travel to the Gliese system. While they wait Devan looks around, taking in as much information as he can about his environment. He notices something familiar and mentions it to Jacob and Allyson.
“Hey guys, there’s a Stubb’s here.”
“Of course, there’s a Stubb’s everywhere.” Answers Allyson. “There has been almost one Stubb’s per every 14 or 15 people for the last 4 epochs.”
“Right, I forgot.” Silly me, I’m giving myself away. Gotta fit in. Right?
Jacob interrupts. “Hey look there’s an opening to the Gliese system, let’s jump in.”
The method for intergalactic hyper-space travel is more involved than just walking down the street. With greater distances there is greater uncertainty where you may end up. Jacob leads the group to the Gliese portal and they enter. The experience is quite disorienting for Devan and he loses track of Jacob and Allyson. He emerges in another travel hub overcrowded with people, transport vehicles and swarming scanners, like the ones in Jacob’s medical facility. Devan can’t keep his footing. The crowds are so dense it is as if there is an opaque cloud of people, a fog. They rush past him, pushing and shoving, cursing Devan’s presence. He’s knocked to the ground before he can move. Nearly trampled he gets up and makes his way to a wall, pressing his body up against it as hard as he can. Standing, panting, watching the chaos in front of him. A man speaks to him.
“You seem lost. Never been to Gliese?”
At least Devan knows he’s in the right place. “Uh, no. Right… First time.” Devan looks over at the man. He looks human but nothing like the people on Earth. He’s short, and fat, and covered in hair in all the wrong places. He seems to be wearing clothes that have not been washed in weeks. Based on his clothing and the insignia on his shirt Devan guesses him for a Travel Hub worker. Perhaps a janitor. “Uh, so what are you doing here?
“Ah, I work here. I’m an intergalactic network administrator.” The man pokes Devan in the stomach. “I’m responsible for all the holes. Heh, heh, heh.”
The man’s voice is low, hoarse, and he laughs like he’s clearing his throat.
“Wow. That must be a lot of work.”
“Na, not really. Just when some dumb ass doesn’t know what he’s doing and jams everyone up. You know. Like you. Heh, heh, heh. Just kidding.”
“Well, yeah. Uh, sorry I guess,”
“Na, everyone’s a first timer once. So, what’s your name?”
“Devan.”
“Devan. Cool. Nice to meet you, I’m Frank.”
“Frank. Nice to meet you too.”
“Bullshit. You don’t know me. Heh, heh, heh. Just kidding. So what are doing here?”
“Well, actually, I came with two friends and we were supposed to visit an intergalactic planet. Sight see I guess.”
“Where d’ya come from?”
“Uh, Earth.” Devan is still in shock over the massive traffic in front of him and only partially listening to Frank.
“Oh! Earthlings! Fucking hoity-toity, MASTER RACE. Nice to meet you. Heh, heh.”
“Yeah, right, nice to… Hey what do you mean? You’re an earthling, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m human. Which is more than I can say for you. But I’m not an earthling. My family migrated to this system two epochs ago. Hey, look at me. What d’ya see?”
“Uh, I don’t know. A man?”
“A fat slob of a man. You ever look at yourself in the mirror? Adonis?” Frank says in a sarcastic demeaning tone of voice.
“Well. No. I have better things to do.”
“Oh, look at the princess. Real important. Well, where are your friends?”
“I don’t know. I guess we got separated. Do you know how I can find them?”
“Yeah. Go look for ‘em. Heh, heh. File a fucking missing persons report. Oh, oh, oh, go over to security and have them paged! Tell ‘em their mommy is looking for ‘em. That always gets ‘em. Heh, heh.”
“Hey. Fuck you.”
“Hey, don’t get all sensitive. I was just having fun. I’m guessing your friends wanted to take you to visit the Olarafs.”
“Yes, that sounds familiar. Probably.”
“Well, sorry to tell you. When you entered the “hole”, as I like to call them, you probably got separated and they went off to Gliese 581g while you wound up here, Gliese 667Cc. Sorry but it’ll be a while before you can get back to earth. You’re gonna’ have to hang out here. Place is a shit hole. Just one big travel hub, no real excitement, nothing to see.”
“Ah, that’s ok. It is what it is. I’ll just find a place to sit, have coffee, and surf hyper-memory for a while.”
“Jeez, you must have an extra special boring gene. Did they plant that in you back on earth?”
“Well do you have any suggestions?”
“I was afraid you’d ask. Well, if you can wait a while I know something that will amaze you.”
“What?”
“Better if it’s a surprise. If you’ve never traveled intergalactically, and I’m assuming that’s the case, then you are going to want to see it first.”
“Ok. It isn’t anything… weird?”
“Heh, heh. I don’t know how to answer that. Look, it’s cool and you’ll like it. Nothing dangerous. Nothing… sexual. Ooooh.”
“Fine. I’m in.”
“Ok. Look just hang out here for a bit and I’ll come by and get you. You won’t regret it.”
Devan goes to the nearest Stubb’s, it’s the only thing he knows. Watching the cloud of people swirl by is dizzying and mind numbing. He is having a hard time adjusting to each new experience but after a while starts to feel like he belongs. He reminisces in his mind about what he’s learned regarding the alternate history here and starts to think he could stay. It raises a moral dilemma in his mind. On the one hand he never really cared about anything in his world, no one does. So there’s nothing to miss. But for some unexplainable reason it just feels wrong not to correct the error. The only reason to correct an error is to avoid punishment or other consequences of the action that caused the error and that isn’t an issue here. It’s the perfect out. On the other hand he will never really be like the people here, not even like his friend Jacob. He will never have the genetic advantage they have. What would happen to him if that was discovered? The students in his class thought he was strange. He’ll always be strange. Could he learn what he needs to in order to get by? Frank approaches Devan as he sits in deep thought. He’s excited about their outing. Devan can see that Frank is carrying a suitcase.
“Hey, Frank. How long are we going for?”
“No, this is not luggage. We need to go to somewhere and put these on.”
“You said it wasn’t weird, nothing sexual.”
“It’s not. These are space suits.”
Devan is excited. Where the hell could they be going where they need space suits? Space. Devan follows Frank to a private office that looks more like a janitor’s closet and Frank gives him a suit.
“Here this should fit you. You’re big though.”
The suit is very thin and sleek. Almost like a spandex workout suit. There is a face mask with a visor and sensors near the ears and mouth. Frank points this out to Devan.
“Hey, we’ll be able to communicate through these and there’s an oxygen supply.”
Devan puts the suit on over his clothes. “Ok, I’m suited up.”
“Follow me.”
Devan and Frank approach the “hole”, a portal to another point in space-time. They enter, and exit at the event horizon of a black hole. Devan instantly feels as if he’s having an out of body experience. He feels exhilarated and terrified at the same time. There are no words in any language to accurately describe what a black hole looks like up close. If you could imaging something pitch black moving at the speed of light against a pitch black background that would be the closest thing to the experience. You can’t see it but you sense it, and you sense that there is movement. Devan can’t believe this is really happening. This is the closest thing to a religious experience for him. Just as he is at the height of intellectual ecstasy Frank nudges him in the side with his elbow.
“Hey, you wanna see something neat?” And with that Frack opens the front of his suit, pulls out his penis and begins to urinate in the black hole.
Devan’s feeling of ecstasy suddenly turns to disgust and horror. His body tightens everywhere.
“No!!! No! No! God damn it what the fuck are you doing?!”
“I’m pissing in a black hole! It’s awesome.”
“Why?!!! Why would you do that?!! This is the most amazing thing in the universe!!! It’s… It’s like looking into God’s eye and you’re pissing in it?”
“God’s eye? Boy you are a special case. Look, it’s a hole. A hole, like the hole in the armpit of my shirt or the one in the front of your head. There’s nothing special about it. It’s just a big hole.” Frank is still urinating as he talks to Devan. “Hey, don’t look at it. Heh, heh. Watch this. The piss adds mass, which makes the hole pull you in, but the momentum recoil pushes you back and you can find a balance. Watch! You can lean into it. Wheeeeeee. Aaaah!”
“I can’t fucking believe this. You twisted pervo. You ruined this whole experience!”
“Hey, you can feel it kind of tug on you. Ooooo, yeah.”
“Ok, stop. I’m going back!”
“Fine, fine. Just let me shake it off. Laundry night is another week away. I can’t walk around with a piss stain on my uniform.”
Frank and Devan return to the hub. Devan doesn’t know how to react to Frank after the experience at the black hole. He’s worked out the math a thousand times. On paper they are common objects but he’s never experienced one.
“Frank, what the hell was that?”
“Hey, you take shit too seriously. God’s eye, really? Tell me something earthling. You’ve been to the Grand Canyon?”
“Yes. So.”
“So. They got campers there, right? Gotta take a piss. People been pissing in the Grand Canyon for epochs of time. So this is just another canyon.”
“I guess.” I guess he is right in a sense. It is just a hole. It’s an amazing hole, but to this guy it’s common place. “So how is it we can stand at the event horizon and not get sucked in?”
“Well that’s a space-time trick. We were really in a bubble that was being held in a suspended state between one region of space far away and another right up next to the horizon. Just enough to see over it but not get sucked in. It sort of like a… an overlook platform.”
“So if we were in a bubble and protected why the suits?”
“Well it’s not that stable. Kind of risky. The suits aren’t to keep you alive in space. No. You see getting sucked into a black hole is about the worst way to die. Imaging being fully conscious for a few seconds while every atom of your body is systematically disassembled. They call it molecular dismemberment. It goes deeper than that, down to the quarks and gluons but you can’t really feel that. Well the suit is designed so that if it detects the slightest indication that you’re falling into the hole, it self-destructs and kills you instantly.”
“Wow. Thanks for the heads up.”
“What?! You’re fine. You liked it. What do you care?”
“You’re saying I could’ve died and you think I’m overreacting?”
“It’s a possibility but it never happens… often. Look, the suit is just a precaution but no one ever gets hurt. Besides it’s the most excitement you’ll even have. Heh, heh, heh.”
“What do mean by that?”
“You know, earthlings.”
“Well, I’m not originally from earth, I just live there now.” Devan senses there’s something to learn from Frank and wants to pull it out of him.
“Bullshit. Now I know you’re bullshitting. Outsiders don’t move to Earth. Where are you really from?”
“I’m from a colonized moon in the same solar system. Just here with a couple earth friends. Jacob and Allyson.”
“Sure. Whatever. You ever notice how everyone looks like a statue? Earthlings are made that way. They’re all grown in test tubes. A big science experiment.”
“No shit. How’d that happen?”
“It’s been that way for a while. I don’t really know the history but it had to do with the evolution caused by hyper-space memory access. That and certain communicable diseases that threatened to wipe out the population. In the end the Commonwealth decided that breeding should be done in a controlled environment.”
“How do they do that? I mean you can’t stop people from… breeding.”
“Oh yeah you can. You see earthlings still develop gonads but they are surgically removed and kept in a lab. The Commonwealth keeps track of everyone’s family tree. You know. They don’t just mix peoples genetic samples willy nilly. They pair off people based on genetic compatibility and make offspring. Earthlings are factory made. Naturally of course but it’s one big farm.”
“Shit. How do people develop without… you know?”
“Ah, they don’t really. At age 5 people choose a gender and undergo gender assignment. They then live their life as that gender but earthlings are essentially neuter. They do it to maintain some sort of normality. I don’t’ know, history. To look authentically human but it doesn’t matter.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“Yeah, pretty fucked up!”
“What do you mean by genetic compatibility?”
“You fucking with me? You act like you don’t know anything. Look at your friends sometime. How many earthlings do you know?”
“A lot, I’ve seen a lot of… earthlings.”
“Then you must’ve had your eyes closed. Race. They are all monoethnic.”
“Well, yeah I did notice that. But I didn’t really think anything of it.”
“Yeah well, race mixing is… against the rules, forbidden, outlawed. But it’s not really an issue since people don’t have a choice. They don’t do their own genetic mixing if you know what I mean, the government does. Ha! Leave it to the government to do all the fucking.”
“But things are… Perfect there. Or, they seem to be. Do people know this?”
“Of course. They know everything. You can learn about it in the hyper-space archives but I don’t care.”
“Don’t people… I don’t know how to say it. Don’t they care that this is how they were made. That their fate is controlled in a sense.”
“It isn’t. You’re confusing two things. It doesn’t matter if you come from a test tube or from your mother and father, you have no control over the fact that you exist. But you do have control over your destiny. These people know who they are and they’re fine with it. They have total control over what they do with their life. Within the confines of the “policies and procedures of the Commonwealth”, but they do like their life. Look, like I said this was the result of a serious epidemic that almost wiped them out.”
“I guess. I mean it sounds pretty messed up, like a Eugenics program. But if that was the only way to save the human race…”
“Earthlings. Save the earthlings… Heh, heh. Shoot the Martians! Ha! That just came to me.”
“Right. I’ve heard that before so keep trying. Anyway, yeah, if they had to do it to save themselves I guess it’s all good. But people don’t get together and decide to have children, even test tube children, the government does the pairing?”
“That’s right. The Commonwealth produces humans according to a specific demographic profile designed to ensure that there are equal number of all races present in society. That’s why everyone looks so exotic.”
“You said monethnic before.”
“Yeah. Monoethnic. I don’t mean that there is only one race on Earth but that there is no race mixing. No polyethnic earthlings. This is a result of globalization after the Great War. The Earth was pretty stable before the war and each major continent was economically developed. After the war when all countries adopted the Commonwealth political system and began migrating all over the earth is when the epidemic occurred. People determined that genetic incompatibility created weakened immune system. So a global committee of scientists determined that if breeding was kept under control and made a scientific process everything would be fine.”
That’s weird, back home the opposite turned out to be true. It is generally considered a well-known fact that children of mixed race couples have stronger immune systems. In our world we have all sorts of diseases but no one gets sick from them as a result of our racial homogeneity. Everyone is very promiscuous and everyone has all sorts of viruses and bacterial infections living in them but they just lay dormant in the body having no effect on our health.
“Hey! You in there? You zoned out for a minute.”
“Is that how they control intelligence? Or did that happen naturally?”
“Hey! Now you’re asking dangerous questions. You’d better leave that one alone.”
“So, how much longer until I can get back to Earth?”
“It’ll be a while still. But there is a portal opening to Gliese 581g soon. From there you can hop to Earth and still see the Olarafs.”
“Great. Well, it was nice hanging out with you, I guess. Thanks for taking me to see the black hole.”
“Yeah sure, and you got to see my penis. You’ll never forget it. Heh, heh…. (Coughing noises) heh….”
“Ok then, good bye.”
Devan walks off to the 581g portal. He can hear Frank laughing, coughing, snorting and making all sorts of disgusting noises as he walks away. Without looking back he steps through the 581g portal. Upon entering the other side, Gliese 581g, he is overcome with emotion, then with feelings of peacefulness. G581g is dark, at least where Devan is right now, it looks like a dark starry night. He sees a landscape similar to earth, with trees and other plants but all unique. New species like nothing he’s ever seen. Everything moves in slow motion as if suspended in a viscous fluid. Even though it looks like night there is a glow in the atmosphere, almost as if the air is made of the same fluid as in a glow stick. Devan sees a massive structure slowly move towards him. This structure appears to him to be the size of a whale, and it’s very intimidating but its movement is graceful, having the appearance of a gelatinous caterpillar standing upright. It appears to be floating, swimming in the air. This is an Olaraf. As the Olaraf gets closer it appears to shrink. Up close it is only slightly larger than Devan. Its body has a definite boundary but looks soft and fluid like a jelly fish. Devan cannot tell if he’s looking at its belly, head, face or what. But it does seem to have a front, and back, and sides. Its body is outlined with small appendages that resemble suction cups. It undulates, floating in space in front of Devan. The Olaraf speaks to Devan.
“Hello, I am Kekarklarah.”
“Kekarklarah.”
“You mispronounced it, but that’s ok.”
“How do you know how to communicate with me? Do you have a lot of earthlings here?”
“Hmm, you are not an earthling, not like others I’ve seen, I can tell. But, to answer your question directly. As I approached you I learned the language you were using in your internal dialog, your mind. Your thoughts are in hyper-memory for all to read. Unless you protect them.”
“So, you read my mind in a sense but you learned the language that fast?”
“Human languages are not too difficult to figure out. And to be clear. I didn’t read your mind, I never entered your mind or brain. This is a common mistake among conscious beings when they first learn to use hyper-memory. You put your thoughts into hyperspace. I just picked them up. Until you learn to use it properly your internal dialog is not… a private conversation.”
“Oh! I didn’t really know that. That’s good to know.”
“Why did you come to G581g?”
“Well I was supposed to come with two friends of mine to see the Olarafs. But along the way we got separated and I ended up on G667Cc.”
“Hmmm. Have you found your friends yet?”
“No. Uh, I was going to wait on G667Cc but then a man there told me I could catch a portal to G581g and go to Earth from there.”
“Was it Frank?”
“Yes, you know him?”
“Well he is the network node administrator. The gate keeper in a sense. He’s funny, don’t you think? Did he show you his trick with the black hole?” The Olaraf laughs but it’s indescribable.
“Yes. He sure did. I was not impressed. It really angered me.”
“But why?”
“Well, I’d never seen a black hole and I thought that is was… well it was an experience like no other. Almost religious and that ruined it.”
“Hmm. I’m sorry to hear that. But it seems like you gave too much importance to this natural phenomenon. It’s understandable. When we experience anything for the first time it can seem that way.”
“How do you know I’m not like other earthlings?”
“We can see it in your DNA. Also, many Olarafs teleport between parallel realities. We sort of live in a superposition of realities and… Hmm, average them out in our collective consciousness. We, as a species, are conscious and self-aware but work as a colony, like insects on your planet. We are a distributed consciousness network sharing data and experience.”
“Wait, so first of all you’re an Olaraf. Cool, that’s why we came here. But how do you know about parallel realities, how do you make them or control them?”
“That’s kind of silly. Nature makes them, like stars, planets, elementary particles.”
“But, we only just started making extra dimensions recently. Before that they didn’t exist. Maybe in the early universe but they disappeared in the later stages of evolution.”
“No. That is a common misconception among the more primitive species. They always think they created something when they first discovered it. This is part of the structure of our universe. It always has been. You see, your species evolved in the cold phase of the universe, from the ground up. As single cell organisms, then cell colonies and eventually complex life forms which became self-aware and discovered hyper-space. Our species started to evolve in the early hot phase of the universe. We were multi-dimensional organism made of highly correlated particle resonances. As the universe cooled our primitive counterparts became trapped in hyper-space, getting squeezed tighter and tighter as the universe cooled. We began to migrate into the openness of space-time and occupy matter, using it to build bodies for ourselves. So our evolution was from the top down. We started conscious then created bodies whereas you started as a body and became conscious.”
“So, are you saying that your species are… Gods, or something like that?”
“No, not at all. But again primitive species make that mistake. Consciousness and physical life both evolved, and evolved together. It just happened in a different order in some species. There are many life forms in the universe that evolved like us, consciousness first, body second. Similarly there are many forms of life similar to humans in their evolutionary path.”
Devan is enjoying this conversation but it makes him very concerned. He really believes that his reality was hard coded in a sense and that this reality is the result of an error. If he starts to listen to the Olaraf the only conclusion he can draw is that his previous reality was one of many and he really has no control over the outcome of resetting the initial conditions of the arcade game.
“So, does your species believe in God?”
“Of course. God exists. Isn’t that obvious?”
“No, not at all. Where I come from not many people believe in God.”
“Hmm, they probably don’t understand the difference between understanding or knowing God versus ignorant blind faith or dogma driven by superstition, fear, and habit.”
“How would you prove God exists?”
“I wouldn’t but I can explain what I know. Hold up your hand and extend your index finger upwards. What do you have?”
“I have a hand? Uh, I don’t know. I have a finger.”
“You have five on each hand but how many are extended?”
“One.”
“So, you have one.”
“Yes.”
“Now imagine I gave you an apple. Placed it in the palm of your hand. How would you describe what you have?”
“I’d say I have an apple, one apple.”
“So remove the finger and the apple. Does one still exist?”
“Well, I think so. Yes.”
“One is an abstraction. We use it all the time to describe material things around us but it exists on its own without an example to clarify it.”
“Ok, that seems reasonable.”
“Think about life. You live and I live. All the forms of life you know have this in common. But imagine that these forms of life ceased to exist. Life still exists. Wouldn’t you say?”
“I am having a harder time with that than the number one. But I do see that it’s reasonable.”
“Think about the conditions required to create life. If they did not exist in the universe life would not be possible.”
“True.”
“But life exists so the conditions that make it possible exist.”
“Yes but that seems like backwards reasoning.”
“Ok, but I’m not finished with my train of thought. I am not suggesting that our existence created the condition necessary for our existence. But that we exist means that the conditions for life were present, that life was a logical possibility in our universe.”
“Ok, true.”
“Take life away. Imagine that it doesn’t exist now. The possibility of life does. There is a thing we call life that does not require a living creature to have meaning.”
“I agree. Life, the abstract definition exists.”
“Now consider consciousness. You and I are both self-aware though we’ve achieved different levels of self-awareness. Imagine for a moment that neither of us were conscious and furthermore that life like yours existed but none of the life forms were evolved enough to be self-aware. The abstraction of consciousness still exists.”
“I think I agree. All these things we know have an abstract form and essential meaning or value independently of a particular example of them. Life and consciousness are things in and of themselves. You and I are examples of life and consciousness. The existence of the abstract meaning is required for any example to come into existence but you and I are not required for the abstraction to have meaning.”
“This is God. I would take it one step further and say God is the collection of all abstractions, the ones we are aware of based on experience and the ones we have no hope of becoming aware of.”
“That’s a very fulfilling thought but where I’m from people usually expect God to do things to help or hurt them based on their actions. They see themselves as images of God and God-like in a sense. When things don’t go well or corruption takes over a system people stop believing in God since they don’t see “proof” of God’s existence. They say, Why would God let this happen?”
“Hmm, I know. We see it happening. This is not what God means. It’s true that your life is a reflection of God’s since all life is an example of God. But only in the abstract sense. Look at me, I look nothing like you yet my life is a Godly image as well.”
“I do see. We share that in common.”
“There is no way that you can know what you will evolve into. You cannot see all these possibilities. But they are waiting to be observed by you as alternate states of being. God’s view of these is all encompassing whereas ours is small and limited. But it’s not God’s job to hold your hand and make the path clear. This is governed by your choices. The ability to choose is divine, a Godly attribute. It’s the responsibility of conscious life to respect God by respecting itself and to do this one must be able to speak God’s language.”
“What is that? What is God’s language?”
“The first example of an abstraction we discussed. Numbers, mathematics. All mathematical concepts are abstractions of relationships. God’s creative power is in the language of mathematics. Even primitive earthlings started to see this when they discovered geometry. For centuries your kind thought God was a geometer. But this is a very primitive conclusion. You then learned to understand topology, category theory, fiber bundle theory, and it seemed that there was no end to the mathematical concepts that could be discovered. Each one brought you closer to God. To know math, now that’s to look into the eye of God.”
“Wow, I love that.”
“Yes, so did Einstein.”
“What do you mean? You know Einstein?”
“We’ve been visiting your species ever since there were signs of consciousness. All advanced species do this. We need to for our own survival. When a bottom-up species begins to become self-aware they can go for many epochs in complete darkness exhibiting self-destructive tendencies. Unaware of their relationship to other species. Especially in the hyper-manifold. You know how it is when humans have children. It takes years before they can manage for themselves, running all over the place making a mess of everything. Well, your species is in that phase, has been for a long time. The rest of us self-aware species have been watching over you like parents but also keeping you in check. We planted you on Earth and managed to keep you in that garden for as long as possible just to prevent you from destroying the other species out here. But once you discovered hyper-space technology the genii was out of the bottle. And here you are. But yes, to answer your question, I know Albert Einstein. There have been times when, for everyone’s good, we intervened with human affairs. I am sure your kind thought it was God or divine intervention. But we really just didn’t want your kind messing up our space and our clean environment. So we nudged you, sometimes in the direction of technological evolution and sometime the other way. You weren’t always ready for evolution. Einstein wasn’t the only one we interacted with but he was certainly ready.”
“You said that you can tunnel through alternate parallel realities and that you know my DNA. So are you aware of my current predicament?”
“Sort of. It’s not only your predicament. I am sure you think you came from truth and that this is all a mistake, a fantasy that will end and be corrected once you take action. But that has always been the problem with humans and other bottom up species. You think you’re the only ones out there, the only ones who know what you know. How do you know this isn’t reality and the world you come from wasn’t a mistake?”
“Well I can tell you I like this place better, with all the strangeness I’ve seen. In my original parallel reality things are bad, really bad. I can see why you would not want us getting out, escaping from our garden. And it’s not a garden anymore it’s a toilet.”
“Part of the process. Every life form needs to produce excrement. Don’t be so self-judgmental.”
“Oh, if you could see it, and if I believe what you say then you’ve seen it, you’d be judgmental too. How could you not?”
“Things will get better, they will evolve. There is no other choice in life. If your extinction is for the benefit of all species then your species will become extinct. But if they wake up and take action they will evolve again. Like humans here, they left the nest and so will you under the right conditions.”
“So, if I take the action I set out to take wouldn’t that destroy you and your kind? Are you trying to dissuade me?”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve dissuaded yourself. But, no. Your actions are not that meaningful. If you do what you originally set out to do you will have basically gone home. To your garden toilet. That has no real impact on us, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.”
“This has been an amazing conversation. I’m not sure I will believe it after I leave.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Humans are funny that way. The portal back to Earth is going to open soon. Travel safe and don’t get lost.”
“Bye Kekarklarah.”
“Good bye.”
Devan enters the portal to Earth and finds himself back at the intergalactic travel node where he, Jacob and Allyson started their trip. He realizes he never told Kekarklarah his name and feels regret, feels like he was rude. But then he thinks to himself, Kekarklarah must know this from hyper-space.