Chapter 19 “The New Divide”
Stan walked around the Outpost in a daze. Bodies lay everywhere as survivors stumbled around like ghosts. The dead were strewn about with looks of terror etched on some of their faces. Stan tried to ask several people what had happened, but no one made any sense. Finally he found someone that told him the entire place had been engulfed in a strange white fire that would instantly kill some while leaving others unharmed. Stan didn’t know what to make of it. He figured the Krell Outpost must have been attacked. Perhaps Joe and Katan had failed.
As he headed to the control room a stranger came running up to him. “Stan, Stan, I’m so glad I found you.” The person was panting heavily.
“Excuse me, do I know you?” Stan looked bewildered at this stranger.
“Stan, it’s me, Joe. Look it’s a long story, but I had to transfer into this body to get away.” Joe was leaning over with his hand on his knees trying to catch his breath. The body he transferred into was out of shape and worn out. His eyes were sunken into his sickly face, the person must have been a heavy reen user.
Stan stared at him for a moment wanting to believe him. “I need some proof, tell me something only Joe would know.” Stan knew to be cautions.
Joe began describing all what had happened to the both of them up until that point. Contacting Earth, the Outposts and the Krell system. Joe continued about Earth and the original attack that precipitated all these events. He told Stan how he was banished from the homeworlds and that it was he who helped him. Stan stood silently beginning to believe him, but Joe could still see some doubt on his face.
“OK, OK. Back on Earth we were transfered into the bodies of two orphans and put in boarding school. We were at a senior graduation party and you got really drunk. You took a six-pack of beer and shook up the cans and sprayed them everywhere in one of the upstairs bedrooms, which turned out to be the parents’ bedroom. We were both laughing and I actually sprayed a few cans as well. Some people saw you carrying those beers and accused you of making the mess and the person that threw that party got in big trouble. I covered for you and swore up and down it wasn’t you. No one suspected you after that. You told me that you owe me one, so now I am asking you to believe me.” Joe held out his arms.
Stan laughed upon hearing that story and gave him a hug. “Joe? I completely forgot about that. How in the hell did you get in that body?”
“Well, like I said, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way to the control room.”
Stan listened in silence as Joe told him the entire story about the Moard, the Lightons, the sphere and the fact that many people were actually creators. Stan had a hard time digesting it all. He didn’t know what to make of it.
“Wait, hold on, you mean you’re a creator? What about me?”
Joe paused for a moment not knowing how to tell him this, then he looked into his eyes, “Yes, you’re a creator as well.” Joe sighed as he saw the confusion and terror in Stan’s face.
Stan took a step back almost falling down, he leaned against a wall as the room began to spin. He felt so light headed that he thought he might pass out. He composed himself and looked over at Joe. “Tell me what you remember about us being creators.” Stan whispered, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“We’ve traveled from universe to universe, there’s no real beginning or end, we’ve just always existed. Out of all the universes this one is filled with the most unique beings. The humanoid creatures that exist here are like no other life forms we’ve ever encountered. More importantly we found that we could actually exist in them. We can become them and experience this universe from their perspective. We became addicted and wouldn’t leave. We took the single lobed humans and made double lobed humans. This intensified the emotions and the experience. Like all addictions giving up isn’t easy. We became lost in the experience.” Joe paused as if reflecting on the past. “And, well, some of the other creators came looking for us. They wanted to rescue us. To be honest, I don’t know what to think.” Joe sighed.
“Where’s Katan?” Stan asked.
“Oh man, I almost forgot about him, I guess he’s still in the sphere. I don’t know, maybe he wanted to stay. I don’t know what happened to Bill, I hope he’s still OK.” Joe leaned against the wall. The two men stood outside the control room, both not knowing what to do.
“Why did you leave the sphere?”
“I’m not sure. I know that a lot of people have suffered because of us and I guess I just wanted to stop the suffering. This existence isn’t suffering though, even with all its faults, this is really the only time that I’ve experienced joy, happiness, pleasure. Maybe once you become human there is no going back.” Joe slid down the wall into a seated position. “Maybe we should go after the sphere and try to talk to them. Let the ones that want to go, go, and the rest of us will start over.”
“What if they don’t listen?”
“While in the sphere there were many people coming in against their will, causing quite a disturbance. That’s how I got away. Maybe there are many who feel as I do. There’s only one way to find out, we need to find the sphere.” Joe rose to his feet and they both walked into the control room.
Their fears were confirmed. The sphere had gone to the homeworlds. Joe and Stan looked at each other, both knew they had to go after it. Desperately, they tried to contact the homeworlds in a vain attempt to warn them, but failed. They raced to Stan’s ship and jumped to the homeworlds system.
“Strange, I’m not picking up anything on the scanners.” Joe peered into the information globe as they approached the homeworlds.
“There, look.” Stan looked up and pointed at one of the monitors. They saw the sphere above one of the homeworlds. They could see a light emanating from the sphere, and it covered the entire planet like a web. Wisps of light peeled off from the planet and were sucked into the sphere. Stan and Joe recognized it as the life’s energy of people being drained from their bodies.
“We have no choice, we need to get into the sphere.” Joe explained.
“No way, I’m not going.” Stan shook his head.
“What’s wrong with you? We made this mess, we need to fix it.” Joe looked up from the globe and glared at Stan.
“I’m afraid.” Stan backed up until he hit a wall, leaning against it he bowed his head.
“Afraid of what?” Joe felt like Stan was giving up.
“Afraid I won’t want to come back.” Stan looked up at Joe.
Joe silently nodded and understood how he felt. “I’ll use an escape pod and fly into that light beam, which should suck me into the sphere.” Joe hopped it would work, either way he had to try. He turned and headed out of the room. He stopped when he reached the door and looked back at Stan. The two men just looked at each other, no words were exchanged. Both knew what had to be done.
Stan docked onto the ship holding the sphere. He would see what he could do once inside.
Joe could see the beam of white plasma through the porthole on the pod, wisps of energy peeled away creating the appearance of a flame thrower directed at the planet. It got bigger as he approached, this was the point of no return. All the planning and preparation came down to this moment, the seconds seemed like hours. Deep down inside, he knew this was the right thing to do, not just for himself, but for everyone.
The pod entered the beam with a jolt, and inside the pod seemed to burst into white flame. Joe screamed as the energy ran through every cell in his body. He was ripped away and entered the stream heading toward the sphere. He could see it ahead as he traversed the beam, like another dimension of existence. He knew that this is how the creators lived in this universe. Like being in a flowing river, almost exactly like the linies description of the universe. Perhaps that religion had been founded on past visions of people from their subconscious. He couldn’t believe it. In a sense the linies were right.
He burst violently into the sphere. Thing were different and he could feel the turbul
ence. Many beings were confused, most wanted to return to being human. The chaos this created overwhelmed the rescuers. They couldn’t contain the newcomers, and some started returning to the surface. It couldn’t be stopped. Joe headed toward the center and found the form, the main being that had come, wanting to rescue his fellow kind.
“Just leave. Let us exist in peace.” Joe pleaded as the sphere began vibrate.
“We are here to help you.” The form howled.
“We don’t want your help, please leave.” Joe begged as he was thrown about in the turbulence.
“No, we came here to help. They are sick, diseased, confused.” The form yelled as the others peeled away from the center.
“Become human and see for yourself, maybe then you’ll understand.” Joe approached the form.
“I will not lower myself to that level. I will return them to their original form for their own good.” The form was at the center of the sphere as the rest swirled around the outer rim like a school of fish avoiding a shark.
“Listen to me. I am one of you and you are wrong about humans.” Joe’s emotions were beginning to stir. “I won’t let you. I will stop you.” He screamed as his anger grew. He began to spin, building up energy and all of the forms in the sphere fixated on him, not understanding what they were seeing.
A scream exploded as Joe plunged into the form, they spun around and around attacking each other. Inside the sphere, pandemonium reigned. The other forms were frozen in shock, never had such violence been experienced by these creatures. As the two fought they looked like they had morphed into one creature and then became two again. Crashing about in a destructive tornado of fury they became one big blur as flashes of lightning came flying out. Katan came forward and tried to stop it, but he hesitated. They were spinning in such a vicious uncontrollable ball, causing destruction everywhere it impacted.
The sphere began to experience brutal tremors as energy rippled throughout its entirety. The dimension on which it existed could not take the strain of the energy being released. Katan had to stop it so he leaped into the ball causing another explosion of light and all three beings flew out in different directions. During the fight the new arrivals began to go back down to the surface, and as many were coming up as were going down, the process had broken into complete chaos.
“Stop, Stop! You will destroy us all!” pleaded Katan.
“Leave! Leave and never return! Let us live our lives by our own choosing!” Joe yelled as he approached the form.
“No. You are sick. You are infected with human emotions and we are here to help you. Please let us help you.” The form had become weak.
“No please don’t do this, we are accomplishing nothing but hastening our end.” Katan begged both of them.
“A wise man once said on Earth long ago, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!” Joe raced toward the form, the impact like an explosion and the sphere vibrated so intensely it almost blew apart.
Katan and the others had no choice but to race down toward the surface for safety.
Stan could feel something was wrong. The ship was trembling and shaking so badly it was starting to fall apart. As he headed toward the center he noticed the ship was completely empty, the Moard had abandoned ship before it entered the homeworlds system. He made it to the area of the ship that held the sphere and opened the doors. Bill came flying out and ran into Stan so hard they both fell down.
“We have to get out of here, it’s falling apart!” Bill yelled. Stan could see the sphere, starting to disintegrate, as if lava from a volcano were pouring from the ceiling, releasing energy as it splashed on the floor. The two turned and headed toward Stan’s ship. As they pulled away they could see life forms heading toward the planet’s surface. Stan could only hope that Joe and Katan had made it out.
It looked like a different place now. It even felt different. Not just the bodies strewn about, but the innocence had also died. The people that had been in the sphere, then thrown back down again, had all their memories restored. Like a rape victim that had blocked that painful memory of the attack, was suddenly forced to relive it. People reacted to it in many different ways, some chose to numb their heads even more with drugs to somehow bury their shame, others who were awake now wanted something more out of this existence.
The Earth party returned to their home planet and began their journey into this brave new world. Katan returned to the council in a different body and continued his position. Nothing would be the same however. They all wanted to somehow change, but, into what they didn’t know, other than they just wanted to change from the way they were.
“Do you think he’s out there?” Katan walked up to Stan.
Stan was transfixed at all the people milling about. “He’s out there. He’ll show up some day.” He looked over at Katan.
“I hear you’re returning to Earth.” Katan looked down, scratching the ground with his shoe.
“Yeah, finish what we started. If Joe did sacrifice himself, I don’t want it to be in vain.” Stan tried to hold back his emotions as his eyes watered up.
“People will come and go, but humanity will survive.” A tear ran down Katan’s cheek.
Stan eventually returned to Earth. As he left the homeworlds he flew past the ship that held the dead sphere, and knew someday they would return. Stan thought about Earth and how they had survived catastrophic events, how many times they were pushed to the edge, but how they always came back stronger than before. He hoped that for all that had happened, humanity would grow and thrive.
Katan stared up at the night sky hypnotized by all the stars. This victory seemed so hallow, if he could even call it that. As if they were climbing an impossible mountain, only to get to the top and realize there was a taller one behind it.
No matter what kind of life form there is, all seek the same thing; to explore, survive and live another day. The Lightons explored universes, humans explored worlds. But humans could grow and change.
Perhaps that’s what separated us from them. We explore the mysterious inner world of our own mind, some might even call it a soul.
As Katan pondered these thought a shooting star streaked across the sky. Perhaps that was a sign from Joe that he would return.
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Coming Soon: Freeformed Hybrids Part 2
About the Author
Joe Vizanko lives in California’s Silicon Valley working in the aerospace industry as an engineer. A fan of any science fiction and this is his first (of many) novels.
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[email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joe.vizanko
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joevizanko
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