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Hours later, Ben awoke. The first thing he noticed was that his body wasn’t aching.
In fact, he felt great.
He’d never slept better, never felt better. He sat up, turned and placed his feet on the floor. He looked down at his naked body, and it was like seeing it for the first time. Every one of his old scars was gone – and he’d had so many that he’d lost count. Before coming here, he had been fit, just like everyone in the Program, but now he was in even better shape. He flexed his right bicep and touched it with his left hand, noticing its size and firmness. I must have two-percent body fat, he thought with satisfaction.
He heard a knock at the door, and Olivia opened it just enough to poke her head in with her eyes closed.
“Put some clothes on,” she said. “You can admire your body later,” she added playfully. “There’s things in the closet you can put on. When you’re ready, we’ll go meet our boss.” With that, she closed the door and he heard her walk away.
He opened the closet to find a row of clothes hanging neatly. The choices, however, were limited. There were about ten identical outfits that appeared to be loose-fitting sleepwear. The other half of the closet was comprised of a dozen identical ensembles that looked like form-fitting uniforms.
This place needs some fashion designers.
Faced with this choice, he grabbed a uniform and slipped into it. The fabric was cool and flexible, and seemed to breathe well despite being nearly skin-tight. The arms and legs were a pale blue, while the torso was deep blue with a small insignia over the left breast. As he was dressing he noticed several identical pairs of shoes on the floor of the closet, and he put on a pair before leaving the room.
As he stepped out, he caught sight of Olivia at the end of the hall, speaking cordially with another woman. She saw him and beckoned him to join her.
“Ben, I’d like you to meet Ulaya. She was my Sponsor.”
“Um, pleased to meet you,” said Ben.
“And you,” said Ulaya. “Well, I must be going. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”
As Ulaya walked away, Ben asked, “How many of us are there?”
“Close to one hundred and fifty thousand,” said Olivia, linking her arm in his and leading him out into a courtyard.
“That many?” said Ben with surprise. “I thought we were elite.”
“Trust me, that is elite,” said Olivia. “It’s an enormous universe, Ben. We end up spread pretty thin when you consider the range of our work. I mean, for each one of us, there are many thousands of star systems, each with their own worlds, to serve.”
They passed through the courtyard and entered another building through a wide doorway.
“This is where we hold our daily meetings, receive assignments, and have unitime with Axo.”
“Okay, you lost me on that last part,” said Ben.
“Unitime is a type of individual meeting, where thoughts are shared through words and words are shared through thoughts. Axo is our boss. I’m about to introduce you to him.”
Ben noted a thin ring atop Olivia’s head. At first, he’d thought it was just ornamental, but he noticed other people wore them also. “What is that silver band on your head?” he asked.
“You remember your old tool belt?”
Ben nodded.
“This is kind of like that, only much better. It’s called an Uxay.”
The ring was bright and shiny, and appeared to be made of white gold. It was about the thickness of a wedding band, and rested loosely on the head like a hair band.
“How does it stay on during physical activity?” Ben asked.
“It’s held in place with an energy similar to magnetic force,” said Olivia. “It’s attracted to our Ixnah –- that’s kind of like a life-energy. Watch.”
She removed her Uxay and tossed it out in front of her. As it started to fall to the ground, it reversed course and floated back up to her hand, as if it had been attached like a yo-yo. She smiled and placed it back on her head. “See? You can’t lose your Uxay. You’ll be issued one your first day of training.”
“But what does it do?” asked Ben.
“Pretty much anything you want,” Olivia said. “Certainly more than any Earth device from 2089 could do.”
“It’s 2092 now,” Ben said.
“Regardless, this thing is really amazing. You know the old saying about how any sufficiently advanced technology seems like magic to the more primitive man? Well, the Uxay uses a science that makes Earth’s latest technology look like striking stones to start a fire or counting with an abacus.”
“Do you realize that we’re no longer using DNA-based quantum processing systems with cold fusion sub-quantum fractal integration, nanite-based energy flow, or meson/gluon memory parameters with multi-phased circuitry? We’re now fully utilizing quantum foam ciphers at every level. Things have come a long way, even in the three years since you were on Earth,” Ben said. “The Singularity occurred right after you died – I mean, after you came here. That changed everything. Technology took on a life of its own after that.”
“Ben, this science is so far beyond that stuff it is staggering. The Uxay relies on a type of energy that Earth’s scientists never even imagined, because it lay beyond their perception. It’s the same energy that created the worlds, the same energy that we feel when we look at each other in love. The Uxay takes that energy and uses it to manipulate time, space, and perception.”
“Perception?”
“The Uxay gives me the ability to read certain thoughts – ones that are directed toward me. It also gives me the ability to project a disguise into the mind of another, providing they are open enough to the suggestion,” said Olivia.
“So, how do I know that you’re really Olivia?” said Ben warily.
“Ben, you know it’s me. And here’s some proof: on our last forbidden date, the next-to-last time I saw you, we were alone at the ocean, at the base of the cliffs near Dover. You told me that you were willing to quit the Program if I would, too. You said we could run away to one of the Martian colonies and the Establishment would never be able to track us. You said you wanted to marry me.”
Ben stood in silence while he remembered that day, laying in the sand, hatching impossible schemes in an effort to save their love from having to wait several years for its fulfillment. He had felt silly afterward, realizing his plan to flee his job would have been futile, not to mention dishonorable. Nobody ever quit the Program. He’d pledged ten years of his life, and ten years was what the Establishment would get. Not even true love could change that.
“Alright,” he said finally, “I guess there’s no way anyone else could know that. What else can the Uxay do?”
“I can use it to transport from one location to another, with no distance limit. I can use it to manipulate time, I can use it to reshape matter from the elemental level, oh – the possibilities are endless.”
Ben was truly impressed. Despite the Singularity, no technology on Earth was even close to being able to control the fundamental aspects of reality in such a manner.
Olivia led Ben to a set of massive doors, and when she placed her hand on the wall next to them, they swung open slowly. The intricately carved doors appeared so ancient to Ben that he half-expected them to open with an ominous creak – instead, they glided silently, the antique look clearly a technological illusion.
The interior of this building was breathtaking. Enormous stone columns rose skyward to a vaulted glass ceiling, dozens of stories high. Gentle, blue skies dotted with puffy, white clouds lay beyond the glass ceiling. The spacious room, about the size of a large sporting stadium, was bathed in natural light from the sun above, but areas that might have fallen into shadow were also lit by glowing strands of microfibrous light, which sprung upward from the polished floor like luminescent palm trees. Fountains quietly trickled water into lush, green, sculpted gardens around the perimeter of
the hall, while hundreds of people strolled to and fro at a leisurely pace across the expansive marble floor, muttering to one another in hushed tones.
As they walked onward, and Ben gazed around at the wonder of this beautiful testament to Anxeliss ingenuity, art, and landscaping abilities, the strains of a melody could be faintly heard. As the sound seemed to draw closer, Ben looked up to see a quartet of musicians approaching on a hovering disc about three meters in diameter – some sort of moving stage. The musical welcoming-committee reached the couple and fell in pace alongside them, hovering at about eye level as they proceeded toward the opposite end of the great hall. The instruments they played produced a sound unlike anything Ben had ever heard – and he couldn’t help but smile as the sweet symphony caressed his ears and sunk deep into his soul.
“This is Xajahli, a part of the Orchestra Anxeliss. Quartets from the orchestra regularly appear here to greet new arrivals,” Olivia said to Ben.
“Are they hired musicians, then?” Ben asked.
“No. We don’t work the job full time here, Ben. Many of us use our ample free time to develop our talents, pursuing music, the arts, even universal history, sports, and writing.”
“Well, the music is incredible,” Ben said. “You know, at one point when I was passing through the wormhole, I thought that maybe I’d died and gone to hell. Now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“I’m glad you like it, Ben,” Olivia said with a warm smile.
The couple traversed the hall and arrived at what appeared to be a large office with glass walls that had a slight blue tint to them. Inside, Ben could see comfortable-looking furnishings that were made from a substance he couldn’t identify. The chairs surrounded a broad desk that looked like it was made from centuries-old wood. Behind the desk sat a white-haired man in a gold robe with a white sash.
That must be Axo.
Olivia touched an invisible panel in the glass wall of the office. The glass glowed faintly in the shape of a square and then faded, and the wall silently separated. A door-shaped area of the glass, previously invisible, moved outward about one centimeter, and then slid to the right, without so much as a swoosh.
Very impressive, Ben thought approvingly.
Olivia ushered Ben into the office with a gracious arm gesture accompanied by a very slight bow. “Please, go right in and sit down,” she said with a smile.
Ben stepped in and took a seat. Olivia sat beside him and intertwined her fingers in his. The man behind the desk smiled at Ben, and for a fraction of a second, Ben thought he saw fangs. He blinked and looked again, and saw only a kindly-looking old man.
“Welcome, Ben,” said the man, his voice deep and rich. “Thank you for taking such good care of him, Zharaa.”
Ben’s eyes widened. “Zharaa? So you are an imposter!” He withdrew his hand from hers and started to rise from his chair.
“Have a seat, Ben,” said the man, with a calm voice that seemed to pierce him to his core. “Zharaa is Olivia. Olivia is Zharaa. When you become an Anxeliss, you undergo some changes. One of those is your name. By the end of your training, you will no longer be known as Ben.”
Ben slowly settled back into his seat, and Zharaa gently took his hand again, caressing it.
“I am Axo,” said the man behind the desk. “I preside over the Anxeliss.”
“I’m sorry for my alarm just now,” said Ben. “This is all so much to take in, even for someone with my training and experience.”
“It’s alright, Ben,” said Axo. “It’s your training that is keeping you on your toes, keeping you questioning your reality. Frankly, you’re taking it better than most. With time, this will all make sense, and you will feel at ease here.”
“When do I begin my new training?”
Axo smiled. “Your eagerness to get started is encouraging. Zharaa, you were right about him. He is a wonderful recruit.”
“So, when?” Ben asked.
“If you are feeling comfortable with your transition, you may begin immediately. As your Sponsor, Zharaa will mentor you in the basics of Anxeliss life. You will have additional trainers – those who will teach you the way of the Uxay, the nature and expectations of the job, the history of our people, and some specialized martial skills. You will also learn science and the arts. If you wish, you may join a leisure community – those are guilds of hobbyists, everything from the orchestra to sporting teams. In time, you will not only fit in happily here, you will become an integral part of our thriving culture, and live to serve the good of the universe.”
“Sounds grand,” Ben said. He noticed a flicker of indignation behind Axo’s eyes, and quickly amended, “I mean that literally, not sarcastically.”
Axo smiled once again. “Zharaa, I like this man. You have done well in this sponsorship. Please stay close to him through his training period. You will be given no assignments during that time, except you will of course accompany him on his first training mission. Thank you.”
Zharaa seemed to understand from experience that she was being dismissed. “Thank you, Axo,” she said, bowing deferentially. She then took Ben by the arm and led him from the office.
“A pleasure to meet you, Sir,” he said as he left.