Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
CUTTERS!
by TS Caladan
I drove the air-drone to the next closest station on the grid and then took a Diggeroo to one of the depth-meters. Not only was the temperature a -10, but the crust thickness at this location was only 200 feet. We had some time, but the ocean will eventually rise to the surface.
Then what?
I looked out upon the white and grey, calm coolness of the familiar icescape. The subtle wind blew by with grace and little fury. It was almost still. It was beautiful, in a colorless and strange way. I wondered: How could eons have passed without any type of change and then suddenly…everything will change? I said out loud, “The question is, are we going to survive?”
It was then that the unexpected happened. After the thought of icy stagnation over much time, changes had occurred. Rumbling sounds were heard beneath the ice like an ice-quake, but this was not a typical ice-quake. At first it was hardly felt. Eventually, the vibrations were so strong that I nearly slipped and fell. SOUNDS were heard and sounds were never naturally heard on the icescape outside of a rare quake [shift] and legendary…
“Cutter!” My eyes couldn’t conceive what was in front of them. Only a hundred feet away, the ice moved and exploded! I was actually struck by some of the ice-spray. Huge sheets of frost were tossed upward like children’s blocks. The sound of the creature as it bore its way to the surface was deafening. There it was! Big, black and spiky with what seemed like an odd, yellow aura or light around it. Spikes knifed through the ice as it forced itself again and again right into massive snow crust. The creature ripped apart thick plates of ice like they were soft syntho-meals. It made a seam that left a long scar or big break along the surface of Pax.
The cutter was gone. The black monster dove down to depths where it swam in frigid water.
Why didn’t I record this? It would have taken time to set the camera and the thing was gone in no time…
And then something caught my eye in the eternally grey sky. No drone ever went that high. But now, there was something at an incredible altitude. When I jumped to grab the camera, the mystery overhead disappeared. Did I imagine it? What was it? Was it connected to the cutter? The unknown was not included in my report to Council.
The cutter-beast was no hallucination. I worried for my whole family. Will we drown amid a school of monsters due to the warming? Was this the grand Cycle of Nature on Pax? Will we lost, blind and ignorant colonists discover the solutions in time?
I 3D recorded the fresh surface damage for Council’s inspection. I took every reading possible before I left the site. The new, artificial crevasse was more than 2000 feet in length. My descriptions of a creature that caused the sliced topography will hardly be believed. Why haven’t our sonar been able to detect the slightest trace of a submerged monster? We’ve measured everything else, why can’t we physically detect the presence of the eels? Will more “monsters of myth” appear in the great thaw?
The Diggeroo was at a different angle, but seemed in fine shape. The radio worked. Power levels were high. I should get back and give them an unscheduled report that will “blow their minds,” as they’ve said in the cines. I left as soon as I could.
My son, Moon, and his girlfriend, Jutiper, were joined in the mall by Free and his girlfriend, Yoga. They sat and ordered different colored meads in a brightly lit section near a large, round window. The outside scene was perpetually the same grey ‘still life’ that only moved when a drone flew by or a ground-craft rolled by.
Time was “S” and the cycle was nearly over. It was late. The late letter did not stop the teens from an extended get-together.
“So what did you think of James Bond? Which one did you like the best?” Moon asked his friends with excitement in his tone.
Free and Yoga agreed and answered almost at the same time. “Thunderball, the last one.”
Jutiper responded, “Loved the underwater scenes, the fight at the end, ha.”
“Ya, the crafts were great, but the Disco Volante was a model, you know?” Free expressed. “Too bad the picture wasn’t clearer. And too bad the computer only made four Bond films. There should have been more.”
Moon added, “Sure, sure. I liked Goldfinger the best. Pussy Galore…” (They laughed). “And when he was sucked out of the plane, ha, ha! Whoever programmed the computer was a GENIUS. Thank you, whoever salvaged the Archives?”
“Ya! Don’t know what we’d do in the off-time without it,” Free confessed.
Summer’s son continued, “…You expect me to talk, Goldfinger? No, Mr. Bond…I expect you to die! HA!”
“Ha, ha.”
“Ha!”
Moon saw the old waiter with the drinks and he appeared upset. “Sh! I think we’re going to get thrown out, ah. Ha. Ha.”
“Are you kids Amphed up? You should be tired,” the waiter said as he set down the meads, calmly. “A little late for all the jocularity?”
“Kids? Jocu-what?” Free asked with indignation and then laughed.
“How about you take these with you and go and I won’t report you four to the Council? Then we’ll see who has the last laugh, all right?”
The two couples grabbed the meads and slowly marched toward one of the mall’s exits. They laughed more and caught a few solemn and tired colonists’ attention.
“Did you read what his name was on the little button? His name was Marvin Gardens . Ha.” Free told them and laughed. Two others also laughed.
Moon said without a smile, “Hey, seriously…”
“What, Moon?” Yoga asked.
“What?” Jutiper asked also.
“Remember when I told you to stop taking the daily vitamins?”
Juti said, “I’ve quit completely.”
“Good.” Moon looked at them as they walked. “What about you two?”
Free spoke for both, “Ya. We’ve sort of stopped, just occasionally.”
“Well, DON’T. Don’t take the stuff. I mean it.”
Yoga sincerely asked, “Why?”
Moon answered, “It’s making us passive and obedient and unfeeling. We need to heat things up.”
It was the 999th Council meeting and an emergency meeting, which made the event of extreme importance. Formalities and rituals and repeated fanfare and ceremonies had to be performed in the dome and then…
A bell rang and the meeting came to order.
Tiger presided over the meeting while it was Cloud who was held in the highest respect as the eldest Council member. The top ranked scientists and tech officers were anxious to hear and view my report.
I walked up to the round ‘center stage.’ Hundreds of the best colonists were seated all around me. The stage area was crowded with the latest technology and next to the mainframe of the computer. The stage had the prime power pole, typical for such a viewing-arena. It constantly hummed with energy.
I made sure my power-packs were fully charged and the ‘holos’ were ready to go. I thought the visual image of the scene would be an effective presentation to the Council. Why didn’t I start filming sooner?
The flash-drive was inserted and the film was displayed. Behind me on the rotated screen (both sides) showed ‘grid-area 78dh’ where the new gash in the ice was made. The image was of a slit 2449.7 feet in length with an average width of 60 feet. The audience observed the view in motion as I filmed the length of the cutter trail.
The size of the sheet blocks that were tossed for miles was unbelievable.
The audience also received a view down into the crack of the ice. Colonists gasped in fear when they saw parts of the surface crust at no more than a thickness of 50 feet.
Rose and Moon and their friends were seated in the back rows along with the curious public. Only those seated directly around center stage spoke, commented or questioned while always Cloud and Tiger kept the order. Monitor screens and speakers made it possible for colonists to view the Council meeting from many miles away at other stations. Everyone heard details of the news that they had only discovered in small bits.
I told my family very little. I rushed here. I called the meeting…
“Paxans! I am Summer. Many of you know me well. You have heard my scientific reports often at this very spot on temperatures and ice thickness. We now have an eyewitness of a cutter! Yes, good people, I was on my rounds when I happened to be at the spot it broke through and by the time I had my camera going, it sunk below the ice and the gash stopped…” The pictures looped on the large screens and the crowd saw the film that started for a second time.
“Many of us do not believe you, Summer,” interjected Tiger. Tiger was known for characteristics of “devil’s advocate” and a high level of skepticism. He was the perfect opposite of Cloud who dispensed justice and wisdom with the utmost care and delicacy.
Cloud defended me and said, “Let him finish his report.” He looked directly at me. “Say all you have to say, Summer. A commentary and then we will speak.” The Council did as Cloud suggested.
Tiger abided.
“…I am not one for wild, tall tales and fictional fantasies like many of you have seen in the Archived cines…”
The audience reacted with a few laughs and murmurs since many had viewed the underground entertainment in their off-time.
“…You know what sea monsters are and iceless oceans and what dinosaurs are. What I saw crashed through the ice like a bomb and was black, had scales and I swear it had an electric, yellow glow around it: moving, like a borealis in the sky, if you have heard of such a thing? I did not see all of it. I ran for my life and was hit by ice particles. But I clearly saw a monster, an ocean dweller, something huge, alive with fins or spikes and not a machine. Questions?”
Money was the first to pose a question. He asked, “I am more cynical than Tiger. Summer, how do you explain a behemoth of a creature that has enough mass and force to crack the ice crust, yet, no sonar has ever returned a ‘click’ from any living thing or independent, large mass in our ocean? We’ve scanned the underworld of Tier in its entirety with the best of our instruments in detail and found nothing but water, basically. We only have legends, old stories and your word for this, what…sighting?”
I’ve had trouble with Money before. I answered with more emotion than I should have: “What made the surface marks, the many marks over miles that have appeared for more than a rotation now?”
Tiger stated, “There are other possibilities, Summer. Other than your stories of sea serpents.”
“Please, your honor. I would like to hear one other than what my eyes beheld.”
Tiger suggested with confidence, “What of an enemy, one that has not surfaced until now? No matter what your eyes beheld, you could have seen camouflage and a machine that cut through ice, but masked its true appearance. It is conceivable a craft with ‘fins’ cloaked or hid its existence and this would explain why sonar has picked up nothing. Yes, something real and physical and threatening created the surface marks.”
More murmurs circulated.
I thought to myself: Did the sage have a point? Was I tricked in what I saw?
Cloud asked, “For what purpose, Tiger?”
“What?”
The entire Council paid attention to any interchange between the two sages, especially if there was a difference in opinion.
Cloud continued, “Why make a mark and let us know if this was a menace? If an enemy, it acts like the worst of spies…”
I laughed and so did many in the audience. My detractors did not.
“Enemy, huh. We would not know what to do with weapons.” The oldest sage further reinforced his position. “A rotation’s worth of marks. Cutters sure are committing a slow war.”
Tiger was embarrassed by Cloud’s public words and more laughter from the crowd but ‘held his tongue.’
Another high Council member named Sun asked interesting questions that went unanswered, “Has anyone pieced the marks together from above to see if they made sense? Or seen an unknown in the sky?”
I took command when there was a quiet moment and turned the topic away from magic, mysteries and giant, electric eels. “Paxans, as I look at a wrist monitor now, I receive accurate geo-readings from markers I placed back this ‘N.’ Let’s forget what I saw for the moment and its significance. What of the planetoid’s rising temperatures? What of diminishing crust? What do we do for ‘escape plans’ or ‘survival plans’ for the colony? We may not have much time left.”
Tiger got to his feet.
I was self-conscious, the only one not in a seat. Now Tiger, in an unprecedented move, joined me on stage.
Cloud let it happen.
“You dare claim our world is at an end?” was his first volley at me. Tiger stated it in a controlled and unemotional way.
I’ve played numerous computer games and wanted to fight back, but in a controlled and restricted manner. It was extremely difficult to curb my rage at stubborn people who wouldn’t listen to reason at a time of impending crisis. My volley back to Tiger and the Council and the public was, “Here are the facts. Our drones are not sky-abodes; we cannot live in the air in crafts. We only know, I mean, the computer only knows the designs programmed into it. Paxans cannot invent new apparatus, devices, as you know. We only recreate the various tech designs already in the computer…”
Tiger interrupted, “I refuse to believe the Council will fail to resolve the problem in time.”
“Exactly, your honor. But we have to see that there truly is a major threat here.”
Tiger added, “Suppose you are correct, Summer. And as your name suggests, our surface warms and is no more. We could build platforms that stay afloat. Certainly our scientists will find an answer in time with habitats that float.”
I said as I looked at indicators on my wrist, “The problem is exponential. I see larger numbers as we speak. The temperature is rising fast. Surface could be gone soon; there might not be time! We have not the technology to build spaceships or even achieve orbit with an ark ship. Or floating platforms. All that takes time!”
To the few that knew, it was obvious that I was off my vitamins.
People in the crowd looked at Cloud seated at his respected post. It was quiet for the moment. The only sounds were the hum of the prime power pole onstage.
Our leader spoke. He said, “It is resolved. I hereby declare Marshall Law and a suspension of all work schedules and usual routines…”
There were strong emotions from the crowd, especially from the ones who abstained from vitamins. Such a decree had never been ordered before. No one dreamed that such a command would ever be given.
Work stoppage? Everything must stop!
Cloud continued and spoke the law. “All efforts and energy will be turned to improvise methods of building domes or habitats that float. Alternative answers will be explored, even submersibles. With the computer’s help, possibly we’ll have salvation in time? Let’s get to work. The meeting is adjourned.”
The official bell rang that called the end of the Council.
People were shocked. The colonists went into ‘hyper.’ We had to discover an answer in time, if there was one? Most people dispersed a bit more frantically than they ever had before. Colonists on vitamins filed out slower, similar to automatons.
I looked at my monitor. “Oh no, this is happening way too fast.” I ran to my wife and son and found that they quickly approached me.
Rose declared with love and pride, “You were amazing up there, my bond.”
We hugged and kissed.
Moon smiled but deep concern was also on his usually cheerful face.
The excitement for the cycle was not over. A mega-icequake struck the Council dome and surrounding habitats! Everything violently shook. Loud crash sounds were heard. It was at least 94 quavors in intensity and quickly stopped.
“What was that?” Rose asked in terror as all three of us held onto each other tighter. We heard strange noises from outside. Was the end here?
Everyone panicked and ran in different directions. Most moved in front of the large dome-window, which remained closed for the Council session. In no time, everyone was in front of the window.
One of the managers operated the mechanized portal and it opened with a “whirrrrrrrrl” sound.
Almost in perfect position was the Beast that caused the quake only a moment ago. The black monster or water-snake or electric eel posed and stood very tall. The cutter did not slice a long crack. Instead it shot straight up and blasted a craterlike hole in the crust. The eyeless monster twisted and turned and twisted again.
Broken ice blocks were strewn everywhere. There were minimal damages on structures.
And, my God, there was WEATHER. Lightning flashed! Electrical storms moved in what was a stagnant, grey sky. The sky never contained such a phenomenon before. Thunder was heard. Shocking!
Screams were heard. Everyone was in sheer panic mode. The ‘impossible’ sights and sounds only increased our tremendous fears. The old colony cracked at the seams.
The Beast lifted even higher out of the round, jagged abyss and roared an unbelievably powerful screech unlike anything we had ever heard before! The surroundings shook once more with the echoes. The thing stretched out of the ice even further and came toward the large Council portal. The monster roared again, only this time it directly faced us. Then it dropped down to the surface, hard, with a very loud ‘thud!” The eel opened its tremendously large maw and kept it open...
Ingland, with his scope, yelled, “There’s someone walking out its mouth!”
More gasps and cries were heard among our people.
A figure truly stepped out of the monster’s mouth. Then the great Beast settled into a docile position on the ice and remained still. The figure wore white. The man walked nearer and nearer and even waved to us from a distance. As he came closer, we saw that he had strange clothes: not the usual cold-climate gear. The white figure was not clearly seen in the icy environment.
Moon almost made a semi-joke: “Now might be a good time for a weapon.”
As the man approached the tube to enter the Council dome, a few colonists saw his face through the window with their monoscopes. The ones that got a good look at the alien (in human form) visitor to our world turned toward…me? Each had bizarre expressions.
What?
Paxans followed the man in white. Those that left the dome had returned. Colonists, young to old, were on all sides of the ‘intruder.’ Fears seemed to drain from the people as they viewed the man in white who walked with a yellow glow.
This was no enemy, invader or conqueror. This was a friend who smiled and walked in bold strides as he entered the Council dome. A thin, yellow aura of bright light surrounded him. It was the same electric light that surrounded the Beast. And his face! His face was very familiar as more and more colonists pointed and pointed at me. HE HAD MY FACE. How was it possible? What did it mean?
“Father?” Moon questioned.
Rose held my hand and watched as my double, out of a purified and magical dream, passed by us. He smiled bigger and winked at her.
Then he stared right into my eyes and sternly ordered only me with his mind: {Don’t touch me.}
Amazing.
The man who rode or lived inside a giant electric eel was within a state of genuine happiness and bliss. He walked up onto center stage.
A while ago, it was me onstage. Now, there was some bizarre angel-version of me in the exact same spot. God, I hope the news was good. Why did I sense, despite the smiles and the good feelings in the cold air, the news was not good?
Paxans returned to their seats. Once more, the public took the back rows and Council members sat in seats near the front of the stage. The fear level drastically lowered in the dome with the appearance of a peaceful, white ‘Summer’ and his sleeping cutter.
“Let me guess…” said Tiger. The sage wanted to make the first move and he did. “…You are NOT what you appear. You have assumed a pleasing shape. In fact, you have assumed the form of one of our own in order to win our confidence. You appear to come from hell. Does your dragon breathe fire? Are you a demon, an anti-man?”
{No. That’s not it.}
The man-thing inside a yellow aura with my face did not move his lips, yet we all clearly heard his words without the special speaker-apparatus.
Cloud greeted the stranger-doppelganger in the way he thought was proper and respectful. He said, “Welcome. We very much welcome anyone who can soothe such a mighty Beast. We are honored, sir. Please say, or express to us what you have come here to express. We will listen.”
I was fascinated. We all were.
First, the visitor smiled. {Good colonists of Pax…and you are good, kind, special and innocent people. I am a Ravashonne. We are beings of yellow light. What you call a ‘cutter’ is not a monster, but a part of me and a part of you. We call them ‘Krycarra’ and they are sacred. They are pure energy on another level and take the shape of so-called ‘Beasts’ in this dimension, in this place.}
His remarkable ‘words’ astounded the crowd. We felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of all 16,000+ of us. We did not have to devise new methods of floatation for habitation or plan the mass migration off our warmed world or desperately work to achieve an answer to Doomsday. Or did we? Was the alien the savior in our dire time of need or not? Did he come here on a rescue mission? Was he really a harbinger of doom?
{Once there were trillions of ocean-moons like what you call Pax and what we call Europa…}
Europa? I remembered what Europa was from the Archived cines. The computer created stories primarily about a planet called ‘Earth.’ Europa was a satellite of one of the planets in the solar system with Earth. But why would a real version of me have referred to a fantasy world? Unless…some of the cines were reality. Pax was Europa? We’re actually Europans?
{…Once there were trillions of Krycarra that thrived throughout the oceans of each water-world. Now the species only exists here on Europa and are down in number to 16,845, the same number of Ravashonnes.}
Cloud correctly and quickly replied, “And the same number of Paxans.”
The Ravashonne smiled with joy. He acknowledged the sage and allowed him to ask any question.
Cloud asked a couple of serious questions for all of us. “Who are you, who are we and what will happen to us with the warming of ice?”
{I am Summer. I am him in the future. What he will be, I am now. I am not a different person or alien. I am him and more. Your Summer knows what happened to your ancestors, the first four hundred Paxans that were sent here. Maybe he could explain it to you?}
Rose whispered, “Sum?”
“What?” He meant the reoccurring dream. I didn’t know what to do.
Cloud gestured for me to step up to the stage.
I hesitated and then I did. There was a trace of applause, mainly from Rose and Moon. I approached HIM. He was so much better-looking than I was. He was perfect, polished, brilliant and without a blemish. And that glow. What was a Ravashonne?
Again, the ‘Future-Me’ psychically whispered (only to me) with force: {Do not touch me. We cannot make contact.}
I obeyed. “The dream?”
He pointed for me to use the speaker-apparatus so everyone in the dome and throughout the grid-stations heard. {In detail.}
“Paxans. I know this from a dream I’ve seen again and again. Here goes: 400 workers were contracted to land on this frozen ball and survey it for minerals, power sources, colonization and various other explorations. When nothing was found here, the overworked colony discovered they were not getting paid. You know what money is? (Some looked at Money). When they threatened to attack cargo ships on other projects, the surveyors were completely cutoff and abandoned here. The, ah, only thing else I remember is, for some reason, the company felt it necessary to wipe the memories of the workers. Nanites in food supplies were all it took to erase years and years of experiences and our full history of what came before. We’re their nanite-free children 500 rotations later.”
The Ravashonne took command and stated telepathically: {Spiritual creatures do not register on your sonar. There is a duplicate Ravashonne for each one of you. My people are you in the future. Strangely, for every increase of your population on the surface of Europa, we have equally mirrored your growth. But the miracle of miracles is…can you guess?} My face on the Rav was excited…
Tiger, of all Europans, answered with, “Yes, yes, yes. You also produced another of your precious Kryca-Eels or whatever you call them? There seems to be a small problem here in this eel-breeding process of yours, Rav. That is…we will soon be underwater. Extinct. Everything. All structures gone. Hell’s coming to burn us. Our society, you should know, is not built to survive ON the water. Now what is it exactly you plan to do to save us since we are so vitally essential to your eel project?”
I glanced at the device on my wrist and again checked the ice and temperature levels. It can’t be. The ice crust everywhere was only 20 feet thick!
Ominous, loud ‘crack’ sounds of thunder were heard from outside of the Council dome. There was more rumble from dark clouds.
{Good people. You have all vastly misunderstood the circumstances. I am not here to save you. This is not a rescue at the eleventh hour? Your lives as humans must end!}
The storm, thunder and lightning raged intensely. Those who gazed out of the big portal saw the reason:
The cutter creature, that was not a monster, AWOKE and spat fire! It seemed to draw the electrical storm closer. Its yellow aurora magnified and ‘cracked the sky.’ There were heavy, black, storm clouds. A furious maelstrom swirled with dramatic motions not seen earlier. This was doom.
The frightened audience’s attention was drawn to new events outside. There were more cutters in the far distance. More than a dozen were seen through monoscopes. Titanic eels easily sliced through the thin ice plates and electro-magnetically attracted lightning from high above.
The crowd had witnessed enough and turned to the Rav. The Ravashonne was not there. He completely disappeared. He did not walk out; he was just gone.
“My God.”
Rose, Moon and I made it to one of the Snow-Kat mini-buses and motored toward our dome in the middle of what seemed like HELL had come to our silent and static and cold and boring home in space. I floored the craft to its limit over irregular terrain.
It was warm.
A Krycarra exploded through the crust only 50 feet away from the vehicle! This caused more ice boulders in our path on top of the already broken, cracked and brittle road ahead. There was barely a road. Large plates in front of us had broken apart and exploded on all sides...
At one point, the Snow-Kat got completely stuck and came to a halt while a cutter approached fast. Without words, all three of us immediately jumped out and pushed the mini-bus off of an ice chunk, which had stopped the movement of the treads. Just in time, we got the treads on a type of surface that moved the vehicle. We missed being struck by the force of the spiky black eel by what seemed like only a few feet! The Beast did not turn and attack, but continued on a straight line. It cracked the surface again and again, along with other Beasts in the distance.
“Maybe we’ll make it?” my son yelled from inside his unneeded protective gear and over the noise of the furious treads.
The words sounded like: hope. Who knows? Maybe we will make it?
“I remember a movie. They were on a volcanic world, a bit like Io, with flames everywhere and lava eruptions going off!” I don’t know why I said that.
We removed our gear at the same time without a word spoken. The temperature drastically rose in a tick.
It was hot.
The sky appeared to have cracked apart.
There seemed like hundreds of violent EM maelstroms in the distance: whirlpools of magnetic electricity, which meant hundreds of cutters made it to the surface. They seemed to have played, swam and frolicked in warm waters without a care while we smaller beings died in their wake.
I looked into my bond’s eyes. She was scared. Yet it was as if her eyes spoke: it’s all right as long as we’re together. We had tears in our eyes. We went home to die, if we could get there?
Ice melted fast. There were no more paths or massive ice boulders. We were on one enormous plate. Everything melted with more hot sea serpents in the water.
I turned the vehicle and missed an open ice gorge or a warm lake. There were two very small Krycarra in the clear pond, each with the yellow/electric outline. Were they babies and counterparts to two of our human babies?
The end was near. Whole sections of icescape on the horizon were gone. Soon there would not be any solid surface. The inner ocean under the crust that we named Tier had risen.
The Snow-Kat was upon an ice plate island on top of a vast, warm ocean. Lucky for us, it was the plate with our dome. We made it home, thank God.
Candles were lit. Needless to say, the wireless power was out at the source. The 322 tower-stations of the grid network were useless. The computer was useless…
All we had were a little time left and each other. We were ‘safe,’ for the moment. We felt the gentle flow as our smaller and smaller ice plate carried our dome upon warm waves. We cried because the end was near. But before final ‘curtain call,’ another strange thing happened...
We had an unexpected visitor to our home. ‘Future-Me,’ the Rav, decided to pay the Summers a visit. He just appeared.
We were, of course, shocked and didn’t know what to think. Did this change anything? It meant that we did not need candles anymore. He illuminated our entire home.
The first thing he demanded was that I stay far away from him and pointed for me to remain on the other side of the dome.
“I got that, sir. Why?”
{If you were a physicist, you’d know why and it has to do with time and paradox.}
Rose made a plea and cried from the floor, “You are beautiful, sir. Why can you not save our people?”
He (I?) looked deep into her wet eyes and thought: {I am.} He turned to my boy as if he was his child and smiled again. {Hello, son. It is great to see you.} The yellow glow increased a few percentages around him. He placed each hand on their shoulders as he shined above them.
Both, wife and son, sat on the floor, speechless.
The dome home then dramatically shifted and twirled on the ocean. It was obvious that the ice had disintegrated in the tropical temperatures and only the dome floated. The habitat was free and moved any way that the waters moved it.
“Why’re you here if not to save us?” automatically came out of my mouth.
{You are part of a Great Transition that you are not aware of at this time, but it will be clear to all three of you and your people very soon.}
Moon asked an innocent question. “You mean, when we die?”
I imposed an answer and I was totally wrong in that answer: “We ALL are going to die, son.”
The Ravashonne’s last thought was the very first thought that we Paxans heard from him in the Council. {No. That’s not it.}
The rough seas broke the dome into pieces and the waters flooded in, violently.
When my eyes opened, I was not Summer anymore. I was a man-thing surrounded by yellow energy inside my Krycarra. I rode a great flying serpent! I saw through the inner workings of electric Kundalini from within me, from within the feeling that rode up every spine of every single human being. I rode it, flew it and made the single helix soar anywhere: to any universe. In fact, it obeyed my commands now and always. The great eel was not a monster, not a Beast. It was conscious feeling, brilliant warmth, power, magnetism, electrical energy and love.
My God. I am a Ravashonne.
Where were the two I adore? They too had ascended and transcended and had become Ravashonnes of their own, upon their own Krycarras in flight.
Time and space were at our fingertips. We felt LOVE and flew with love and knowledge and power. We were energy~
Where was Future-Me now that I stood in his ‘shoes’ and in his place? I was a caretaker guardian. Where was Rav?
He was my cosmic steed. I had become the Ravashonne and he had become my electro-magnetic, spirit-serpent. He was the creature around me, the one I rode. I named him “Balthazar.”
Any question I asked myself returned the immediate and accurate answer…
In front of me in space was Jupiter, red spot and all! The enhanced view of the cosmos was ‘breathtaking’ from a body that was not human. I looked down and closely inspected the golden light all around me and Balthazar. My soul. So powerful. Marvelous.
Through my Krycarra, I observed the splendid majesty of the Jupiter system and its 49 moons. I sped by volcanic Io. I swam and twisted, luxuriously, passed Callisto and holographic Ganymede. I reached the moon Europa and comprehended the eels as they played everywhere in warm oceans of pleasure. Then they jumped for ultimate joy high over the waters…
And flew off into space!
After much time passed, another Deep Freeze befell Europa and the Great Cycle repeated…
New people will become the Europans; Europans will become the higher form of Ravashonnes; the Ravs will become the eyeless, electric Krycarra. What will the Krycarra ascend and transcend into?
They will become something else…
How to order novels by TS Caladan
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by TS Caladan
We called them “cutters” but we had no clue what they actually were. No one alive had seen one. Long slits in the ice appeared fairly recently that stretched for miles as if a vehicle or huge creature had sliced through the surface from below. In our investigations and routine rounds, we counted 23 wide gashes that were not there only a year ago.
Our entire universe was designated as “Pax.” Ice had never melted on the surface of our world. The surface temperature only varied between 20 below zero and 80 below. Pax was a 100% water-world with no land, rocks, crystals or any kind of minerals. After 500 ‘rotations’ (years) and six generations of isolated research, the colonists knew that:
· The frozen planetoid was 1900 miles in diameter.
· The earliest records showed that surface ice was originally 17 miles in thickness and the world had an H20 center.
· Five hundred rotations later, surface thickness had dwindled to a quarter mile and even less in some areas.
We were in big trouble. All of our scientific instruments told us that our planetoid slowly melted or warmed, internally. Would Pax become all-ocean with no solid surface?
We were in big trouble. All of our scientific instruments told us that our planetoid slowly melted or warmed, internally. Would Pax become all-ocean with no solid surface?
Nothing had changed here in a long time. Was it the end of the world?
We, colonists, were cut off from our own history and the rest of the universe, whatever that was? No one suspected that the original 400 explorers had their minds wiped. And we, their living descendants, knew nothing of anything before six generations ago or a 500-rotation period. Our yesterdays were gone.
Why was it that we almost didn’t care to know what came before? Or how we got here or any other large mystery in life? We simply did our jobs, our routines, without question as it had been done by our parents and by their parents before them.
Why was it that we almost didn’t care to know what came before? Or how we got here or any other large mystery in life? We simply did our jobs, our routines, without question as it had been done by our parents and by their parents before them.
We didn’t ask: Was there other life? Where did we come from? Who placed us here and why were we continuously, passionately, nearly desperately obsessed with Pax? We measured and recorded everything about our world to the smallest detail.
Presently, the population on the ocean-planetoid was 16,845 humans scattered among surface grid-cities or domed habitations and 322 stations that wirelessly connected an electrical power network over the entire frozen surface.
There were no hills or mountains or days or nights (as were in our dreams and our underground ‘movies’). Our blank world was consistently cold and white and grey. But our dreams soared and sang with vibrant colors, warmth, joy, emotions and impossible worlds filled with impossible things. Dreams were very different than reality. Sometimes I thought that Pax society was just as colorless and empty as our frigid icescape. Sometimes I believed that we were not too different than the lifeless machines we used.
What were our imaginings? Were fantasies and dreams real?
Why did I pick my name? (I learned what it meant). Like all Paxans, no one knew anything in the beginning. As children, we were permitted to think of the first ‘new word’ that came to mind, and that was our name. Parents used numbers for child-designations until time came when we were old enough to choose a name for ourselves.
Colonists ingested tram, weggs, syntho-meals, nak-paks or proteen, carb and veg pills. Adults drank mead and there was mecha-milk for babies.
Every home compartment had a vitamin dispenser: an ancient contraption you’d put your finger into usually at “C” time and it gave you the right amount of vitamins.
Why was I different? In fact, my whole family was a bit “off.” We seemed to be the only ones in our area that did not take the daily vitamins regularly. I did not moderately scold Rose and Moon like I’ve heard happened in other family units. I joined them. We hardly used the dispenser and it was perfectly fine with me. Could abstention be the reason our family was known for displays of emotion? We felt better.
Emotions were frowned upon; they led to conflicts. Conflicts were frowned upon; they led to disputes and arbitrations from the sages. Tiger and Cloud were our leaders and settled arguments without violence or even severe punishments. More work was heaped upon your schedule if you were found to be a ‘contrary’ and committed a crime. For the most part, thousands of us got along well and lived in peace for as long as we remembered.
“Pax” meant peace.
Death came certainly from accidents and old age, but there were no murders, crimes, diseases or wars as viewed in fantasy vids and cines in the ‘underground’ Archives.
Yes, our family had access to forbidden Archives and kept it a big secret like other groups did. But there wasn’t much time for these “escapes from reality” with full work schedules. One cine a cycle was about the maximum. It was like a drug. Many colonists had never viewed a cine. Controversial news of such indulgences spread in secret like Amph usage among the youth, primarily. Maybe people should get a dose of fantastic films because of our boring, grey world and our dull, dull lives? And especially if precious Pax ever came to an end?
The time was ‘N’ and my shift was almost over. I named myself “Summer.” And I am one worried human being. My wife Rose and young son (about a man now) were all I cared about. I recorded a 5 degree temperature rise in the last 10 ticks, which was too rapid of an increase. The temperature read minus 10 below zero, a virtual heat wave and warmest the surface had ever been in hundreds of rotations.
I drove the air-drone to the next closest station on the grid and then took a Diggeroo to one of the depth-meters. Not only was the temperature a -10, but the crust thickness at this location was only 200 feet. We had some time, but the ocean will eventually rise to the surface.
Then what?
I looked out upon the white and grey, calm coolness of the familiar icescape. The subtle wind blew by with grace and little fury. It was almost still. It was beautiful, in a colorless and strange way. I wondered: How could eons have passed without any type of change and then suddenly…everything will change? I said out loud, “The question is, are we going to survive?”
It was then that the unexpected happened. After the thought of icy stagnation over much time, changes had occurred. Rumbling sounds were heard beneath the ice like an ice-quake, but this was not a typical ice-quake. At first it was hardly felt. Eventually, the vibrations were so strong that I nearly slipped and fell. SOUNDS were heard and sounds were never naturally heard on the icescape outside of a rare quake [shift] and legendary…
“Cutter!” My eyes couldn’t conceive what was in front of them. Only a hundred feet away, the ice moved and exploded! I was actually struck by some of the ice-spray. Huge sheets of frost were tossed upward like children’s blocks. The sound of the creature as it bore its way to the surface was deafening. There it was! Big, black and spiky with what seemed like an odd, yellow aura or light around it. Spikes knifed through the ice as it forced itself again and again right into massive snow crust. The creature ripped apart thick plates of ice like they were soft syntho-meals. It made a seam that left a long scar or big break along the surface of Pax.
The cutter was gone. The black monster dove down to depths where it swam in frigid water.
Why didn’t I record this? It would have taken time to set the camera and the thing was gone in no time…
And then something caught my eye in the eternally grey sky. No drone ever went that high. But now, there was something at an incredible altitude. When I jumped to grab the camera, the mystery overhead disappeared. Did I imagine it? What was it? Was it connected to the cutter? The unknown was not included in my report to Council.
The cutter-beast was no hallucination. I worried for my whole family. Will we drown amid a school of monsters due to the warming? Was this the grand Cycle of Nature on Pax? Will we lost, blind and ignorant colonists discover the solutions in time?
I 3D recorded the fresh surface damage for Council’s inspection. I took every reading possible before I left the site. The new, artificial crevasse was more than 2000 feet in length. My descriptions of a creature that caused the sliced topography will hardly be believed. Why haven’t our sonar been able to detect the slightest trace of a submerged monster? We’ve measured everything else, why can’t we physically detect the presence of the eels? Will more “monsters of myth” appear in the great thaw?
The Diggeroo was at a different angle, but seemed in fine shape. The radio worked. Power levels were high. I should get back and give them an unscheduled report that will “blow their minds,” as they’ve said in the cines. I left as soon as I could.
My son, Moon, and his girlfriend, Jutiper, were joined in the mall by Free and his girlfriend, Yoga. They sat and ordered different colored meads in a brightly lit section near a large, round window. The outside scene was perpetually the same grey ‘still life’ that only moved when a drone flew by or a ground-craft rolled by.
Time was “S” and the cycle was nearly over. It was late. The late letter did not stop the teens from an extended get-together.
“So what did you think of James Bond? Which one did you like the best?” Moon asked his friends with excitement in his tone.
Free and Yoga agreed and answered almost at the same time. “Thunderball, the last one.”
Jutiper responded, “Loved the underwater scenes, the fight at the end, ha.”
“Ya, the crafts were great, but the Disco Volante was a model, you know?” Free expressed. “Too bad the picture wasn’t clearer. And too bad the computer only made four Bond films. There should have been more.”
Moon added, “Sure, sure. I liked Goldfinger the best. Pussy Galore…” (They laughed). “And when he was sucked out of the plane, ha, ha! Whoever programmed the computer was a GENIUS. Thank you, whoever salvaged the Archives?”
“Ya! Don’t know what we’d do in the off-time without it,” Free confessed.
Summer’s son continued, “…You expect me to talk, Goldfinger? No, Mr. Bond…I expect you to die! HA!”
“Ha, ha.”
“Ha!”
Moon saw the old waiter with the drinks and he appeared upset. “Sh! I think we’re going to get thrown out, ah. Ha. Ha.”
“Are you kids Amphed up? You should be tired,” the waiter said as he set down the meads, calmly. “A little late for all the jocularity?”
“Kids? Jocu-what?” Free asked with indignation and then laughed.
“How about you take these with you and go and I won’t report you four to the Council? Then we’ll see who has the last laugh, all right?”
The two couples grabbed the meads and slowly marched toward one of the mall’s exits. They laughed more and caught a few solemn and tired colonists’ attention.
“Did you read what his name was on the little button? His name was Marvin Gardens . Ha.” Free told them and laughed. Two others also laughed.
Moon said without a smile, “Hey, seriously…”
“What, Moon?” Yoga asked.
“What?” Jutiper asked also.
“Remember when I told you to stop taking the daily vitamins?”
Juti said, “I’ve quit completely.”
“Good.” Moon looked at them as they walked. “What about you two?”
Free spoke for both, “Ya. We’ve sort of stopped, just occasionally.”
“Well, DON’T. Don’t take the stuff. I mean it.”
Yoga sincerely asked, “Why?”
Moon answered, “It’s making us passive and obedient and unfeeling. We need to heat things up.”
It was the 999th Council meeting and an emergency meeting, which made the event of extreme importance. Formalities and rituals and repeated fanfare and ceremonies had to be performed in the dome and then…
A bell rang and the meeting came to order.
Tiger presided over the meeting while it was Cloud who was held in the highest respect as the eldest Council member. The top ranked scientists and tech officers were anxious to hear and view my report.
I walked up to the round ‘center stage.’ Hundreds of the best colonists were seated all around me. The stage area was crowded with the latest technology and next to the mainframe of the computer. The stage had the prime power pole, typical for such a viewing-arena. It constantly hummed with energy.
I made sure my power-packs were fully charged and the ‘holos’ were ready to go. I thought the visual image of the scene would be an effective presentation to the Council. Why didn’t I start filming sooner?
The flash-drive was inserted and the film was displayed. Behind me on the rotated screen (both sides) showed ‘grid-area 78dh’ where the new gash in the ice was made. The image was of a slit 2449.7 feet in length with an average width of 60 feet. The audience observed the view in motion as I filmed the length of the cutter trail.
The size of the sheet blocks that were tossed for miles was unbelievable.
The audience also received a view down into the crack of the ice. Colonists gasped in fear when they saw parts of the surface crust at no more than a thickness of 50 feet.
Rose and Moon and their friends were seated in the back rows along with the curious public. Only those seated directly around center stage spoke, commented or questioned while always Cloud and Tiger kept the order. Monitor screens and speakers made it possible for colonists to view the Council meeting from many miles away at other stations. Everyone heard details of the news that they had only discovered in small bits.
I told my family very little. I rushed here. I called the meeting…
“Paxans! I am Summer. Many of you know me well. You have heard my scientific reports often at this very spot on temperatures and ice thickness. We now have an eyewitness of a cutter! Yes, good people, I was on my rounds when I happened to be at the spot it broke through and by the time I had my camera going, it sunk below the ice and the gash stopped…” The pictures looped on the large screens and the crowd saw the film that started for a second time.
“Many of us do not believe you, Summer,” interjected Tiger. Tiger was known for characteristics of “devil’s advocate” and a high level of skepticism. He was the perfect opposite of Cloud who dispensed justice and wisdom with the utmost care and delicacy.
Cloud defended me and said, “Let him finish his report.” He looked directly at me. “Say all you have to say, Summer. A commentary and then we will speak.” The Council did as Cloud suggested.
Tiger abided.
“…I am not one for wild, tall tales and fictional fantasies like many of you have seen in the Archived cines…”
The audience reacted with a few laughs and murmurs since many had viewed the underground entertainment in their off-time.
“…You know what sea monsters are and iceless oceans and what dinosaurs are. What I saw crashed through the ice like a bomb and was black, had scales and I swear it had an electric, yellow glow around it: moving, like a borealis in the sky, if you have heard of such a thing? I did not see all of it. I ran for my life and was hit by ice particles. But I clearly saw a monster, an ocean dweller, something huge, alive with fins or spikes and not a machine. Questions?”
Money was the first to pose a question. He asked, “I am more cynical than Tiger. Summer, how do you explain a behemoth of a creature that has enough mass and force to crack the ice crust, yet, no sonar has ever returned a ‘click’ from any living thing or independent, large mass in our ocean? We’ve scanned the underworld of Tier in its entirety with the best of our instruments in detail and found nothing but water, basically. We only have legends, old stories and your word for this, what…sighting?”
I’ve had trouble with Money before. I answered with more emotion than I should have: “What made the surface marks, the many marks over miles that have appeared for more than a rotation now?”
Tiger stated, “There are other possibilities, Summer. Other than your stories of sea serpents.”
“Please, your honor. I would like to hear one other than what my eyes beheld.”
Tiger suggested with confidence, “What of an enemy, one that has not surfaced until now? No matter what your eyes beheld, you could have seen camouflage and a machine that cut through ice, but masked its true appearance. It is conceivable a craft with ‘fins’ cloaked or hid its existence and this would explain why sonar has picked up nothing. Yes, something real and physical and threatening created the surface marks.”
More murmurs circulated.
I thought to myself: Did the sage have a point? Was I tricked in what I saw?
Cloud asked, “For what purpose, Tiger?”
“What?”
The entire Council paid attention to any interchange between the two sages, especially if there was a difference in opinion.
Cloud continued, “Why make a mark and let us know if this was a menace? If an enemy, it acts like the worst of spies…”
I laughed and so did many in the audience. My detractors did not.
“Enemy, huh. We would not know what to do with weapons.” The oldest sage further reinforced his position. “A rotation’s worth of marks. Cutters sure are committing a slow war.”
Tiger was embarrassed by Cloud’s public words and more laughter from the crowd but ‘held his tongue.’
Another high Council member named Sun asked interesting questions that went unanswered, “Has anyone pieced the marks together from above to see if they made sense? Or seen an unknown in the sky?”
I took command when there was a quiet moment and turned the topic away from magic, mysteries and giant, electric eels. “Paxans, as I look at a wrist monitor now, I receive accurate geo-readings from markers I placed back this ‘N.’ Let’s forget what I saw for the moment and its significance. What of the planetoid’s rising temperatures? What of diminishing crust? What do we do for ‘escape plans’ or ‘survival plans’ for the colony? We may not have much time left.”
Tiger got to his feet.
I was self-conscious, the only one not in a seat. Now Tiger, in an unprecedented move, joined me on stage.
Cloud let it happen.
“You dare claim our world is at an end?” was his first volley at me. Tiger stated it in a controlled and unemotional way.
I’ve played numerous computer games and wanted to fight back, but in a controlled and restricted manner. It was extremely difficult to curb my rage at stubborn people who wouldn’t listen to reason at a time of impending crisis. My volley back to Tiger and the Council and the public was, “Here are the facts. Our drones are not sky-abodes; we cannot live in the air in crafts. We only know, I mean, the computer only knows the designs programmed into it. Paxans cannot invent new apparatus, devices, as you know. We only recreate the various tech designs already in the computer…”
Tiger interrupted, “I refuse to believe the Council will fail to resolve the problem in time.”
“Exactly, your honor. But we have to see that there truly is a major threat here.”
Tiger added, “Suppose you are correct, Summer. And as your name suggests, our surface warms and is no more. We could build platforms that stay afloat. Certainly our scientists will find an answer in time with habitats that float.”
I said as I looked at indicators on my wrist, “The problem is exponential. I see larger numbers as we speak. The temperature is rising fast. Surface could be gone soon; there might not be time! We have not the technology to build spaceships or even achieve orbit with an ark ship. Or floating platforms. All that takes time!”
To the few that knew, it was obvious that I was off my vitamins.
People in the crowd looked at Cloud seated at his respected post. It was quiet for the moment. The only sounds were the hum of the prime power pole onstage.
Our leader spoke. He said, “It is resolved. I hereby declare Marshall Law and a suspension of all work schedules and usual routines…”
There were strong emotions from the crowd, especially from the ones who abstained from vitamins. Such a decree had never been ordered before. No one dreamed that such a command would ever be given.
Work stoppage? Everything must stop!
Cloud continued and spoke the law. “All efforts and energy will be turned to improvise methods of building domes or habitats that float. Alternative answers will be explored, even submersibles. With the computer’s help, possibly we’ll have salvation in time? Let’s get to work. The meeting is adjourned.”
The official bell rang that called the end of the Council.
People were shocked. The colonists went into ‘hyper.’ We had to discover an answer in time, if there was one? Most people dispersed a bit more frantically than they ever had before. Colonists on vitamins filed out slower, similar to automatons.
I looked at my monitor. “Oh no, this is happening way too fast.” I ran to my wife and son and found that they quickly approached me.
Rose declared with love and pride, “You were amazing up there, my bond.”
We hugged and kissed.
Moon smiled but deep concern was also on his usually cheerful face.
The excitement for the cycle was not over. A mega-icequake struck the Council dome and surrounding habitats! Everything violently shook. Loud crash sounds were heard. It was at least 94 quavors in intensity and quickly stopped.
“What was that?” Rose asked in terror as all three of us held onto each other tighter. We heard strange noises from outside. Was the end here?
Everyone panicked and ran in different directions. Most moved in front of the large dome-window, which remained closed for the Council session. In no time, everyone was in front of the window.
One of the managers operated the mechanized portal and it opened with a “whirrrrrrrrl” sound.
Almost in perfect position was the Beast that caused the quake only a moment ago. The black monster or water-snake or electric eel posed and stood very tall. The cutter did not slice a long crack. Instead it shot straight up and blasted a craterlike hole in the crust. The eyeless monster twisted and turned and twisted again.
Broken ice blocks were strewn everywhere. There were minimal damages on structures.
And, my God, there was WEATHER. Lightning flashed! Electrical storms moved in what was a stagnant, grey sky. The sky never contained such a phenomenon before. Thunder was heard. Shocking!
Screams were heard. Everyone was in sheer panic mode. The ‘impossible’ sights and sounds only increased our tremendous fears. The old colony cracked at the seams.
The Beast lifted even higher out of the round, jagged abyss and roared an unbelievably powerful screech unlike anything we had ever heard before! The surroundings shook once more with the echoes. The thing stretched out of the ice even further and came toward the large Council portal. The monster roared again, only this time it directly faced us. Then it dropped down to the surface, hard, with a very loud ‘thud!” The eel opened its tremendously large maw and kept it open...
Ingland, with his scope, yelled, “There’s someone walking out its mouth!”
More gasps and cries were heard among our people.
A figure truly stepped out of the monster’s mouth. Then the great Beast settled into a docile position on the ice and remained still. The figure wore white. The man walked nearer and nearer and even waved to us from a distance. As he came closer, we saw that he had strange clothes: not the usual cold-climate gear. The white figure was not clearly seen in the icy environment.
Moon almost made a semi-joke: “Now might be a good time for a weapon.”
As the man approached the tube to enter the Council dome, a few colonists saw his face through the window with their monoscopes. The ones that got a good look at the alien (in human form) visitor to our world turned toward…me? Each had bizarre expressions.
What?
Paxans followed the man in white. Those that left the dome had returned. Colonists, young to old, were on all sides of the ‘intruder.’ Fears seemed to drain from the people as they viewed the man in white who walked with a yellow glow.
This was no enemy, invader or conqueror. This was a friend who smiled and walked in bold strides as he entered the Council dome. A thin, yellow aura of bright light surrounded him. It was the same electric light that surrounded the Beast. And his face! His face was very familiar as more and more colonists pointed and pointed at me. HE HAD MY FACE. How was it possible? What did it mean?
“Father?” Moon questioned.
Rose held my hand and watched as my double, out of a purified and magical dream, passed by us. He smiled bigger and winked at her.
Then he stared right into my eyes and sternly ordered only me with his mind: {Don’t touch me.}
Amazing.
The man who rode or lived inside a giant electric eel was within a state of genuine happiness and bliss. He walked up onto center stage.
A while ago, it was me onstage. Now, there was some bizarre angel-version of me in the exact same spot. God, I hope the news was good. Why did I sense, despite the smiles and the good feelings in the cold air, the news was not good?
Paxans returned to their seats. Once more, the public took the back rows and Council members sat in seats near the front of the stage. The fear level drastically lowered in the dome with the appearance of a peaceful, white ‘Summer’ and his sleeping cutter.
“Let me guess…” said Tiger. The sage wanted to make the first move and he did. “…You are NOT what you appear. You have assumed a pleasing shape. In fact, you have assumed the form of one of our own in order to win our confidence. You appear to come from hell. Does your dragon breathe fire? Are you a demon, an anti-man?”
{No. That’s not it.}
The man-thing inside a yellow aura with my face did not move his lips, yet we all clearly heard his words without the special speaker-apparatus.
Cloud greeted the stranger-doppelganger in the way he thought was proper and respectful. He said, “Welcome. We very much welcome anyone who can soothe such a mighty Beast. We are honored, sir. Please say, or express to us what you have come here to express. We will listen.”
I was fascinated. We all were.
First, the visitor smiled. {Good colonists of Pax…and you are good, kind, special and innocent people. I am a Ravashonne. We are beings of yellow light. What you call a ‘cutter’ is not a monster, but a part of me and a part of you. We call them ‘Krycarra’ and they are sacred. They are pure energy on another level and take the shape of so-called ‘Beasts’ in this dimension, in this place.}
His remarkable ‘words’ astounded the crowd. We felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of all 16,000+ of us. We did not have to devise new methods of floatation for habitation or plan the mass migration off our warmed world or desperately work to achieve an answer to Doomsday. Or did we? Was the alien the savior in our dire time of need or not? Did he come here on a rescue mission? Was he really a harbinger of doom?
{Once there were trillions of ocean-moons like what you call Pax and what we call Europa…}
Europa? I remembered what Europa was from the Archived cines. The computer created stories primarily about a planet called ‘Earth.’ Europa was a satellite of one of the planets in the solar system with Earth. But why would a real version of me have referred to a fantasy world? Unless…some of the cines were reality. Pax was Europa? We’re actually Europans?
{…Once there were trillions of Krycarra that thrived throughout the oceans of each water-world. Now the species only exists here on Europa and are down in number to 16,845, the same number of Ravashonnes.}
Cloud correctly and quickly replied, “And the same number of Paxans.”
The Ravashonne smiled with joy. He acknowledged the sage and allowed him to ask any question.
Cloud asked a couple of serious questions for all of us. “Who are you, who are we and what will happen to us with the warming of ice?”
{I am Summer. I am him in the future. What he will be, I am now. I am not a different person or alien. I am him and more. Your Summer knows what happened to your ancestors, the first four hundred Paxans that were sent here. Maybe he could explain it to you?}
Rose whispered, “Sum?”
“What?” He meant the reoccurring dream. I didn’t know what to do.
Cloud gestured for me to step up to the stage.
I hesitated and then I did. There was a trace of applause, mainly from Rose and Moon. I approached HIM. He was so much better-looking than I was. He was perfect, polished, brilliant and without a blemish. And that glow. What was a Ravashonne?
Again, the ‘Future-Me’ psychically whispered (only to me) with force: {Do not touch me. We cannot make contact.}
I obeyed. “The dream?”
He pointed for me to use the speaker-apparatus so everyone in the dome and throughout the grid-stations heard. {In detail.}
“Paxans. I know this from a dream I’ve seen again and again. Here goes: 400 workers were contracted to land on this frozen ball and survey it for minerals, power sources, colonization and various other explorations. When nothing was found here, the overworked colony discovered they were not getting paid. You know what money is? (Some looked at Money). When they threatened to attack cargo ships on other projects, the surveyors were completely cutoff and abandoned here. The, ah, only thing else I remember is, for some reason, the company felt it necessary to wipe the memories of the workers. Nanites in food supplies were all it took to erase years and years of experiences and our full history of what came before. We’re their nanite-free children 500 rotations later.”
The Ravashonne took command and stated telepathically: {Spiritual creatures do not register on your sonar. There is a duplicate Ravashonne for each one of you. My people are you in the future. Strangely, for every increase of your population on the surface of Europa, we have equally mirrored your growth. But the miracle of miracles is…can you guess?} My face on the Rav was excited…
Tiger, of all Europans, answered with, “Yes, yes, yes. You also produced another of your precious Kryca-Eels or whatever you call them? There seems to be a small problem here in this eel-breeding process of yours, Rav. That is…we will soon be underwater. Extinct. Everything. All structures gone. Hell’s coming to burn us. Our society, you should know, is not built to survive ON the water. Now what is it exactly you plan to do to save us since we are so vitally essential to your eel project?”
I glanced at the device on my wrist and again checked the ice and temperature levels. It can’t be. The ice crust everywhere was only 20 feet thick!
Ominous, loud ‘crack’ sounds of thunder were heard from outside of the Council dome. There was more rumble from dark clouds.
{Good people. You have all vastly misunderstood the circumstances. I am not here to save you. This is not a rescue at the eleventh hour? Your lives as humans must end!}
The storm, thunder and lightning raged intensely. Those who gazed out of the big portal saw the reason:
The cutter creature, that was not a monster, AWOKE and spat fire! It seemed to draw the electrical storm closer. Its yellow aurora magnified and ‘cracked the sky.’ There were heavy, black, storm clouds. A furious maelstrom swirled with dramatic motions not seen earlier. This was doom.
The frightened audience’s attention was drawn to new events outside. There were more cutters in the far distance. More than a dozen were seen through monoscopes. Titanic eels easily sliced through the thin ice plates and electro-magnetically attracted lightning from high above.
The crowd had witnessed enough and turned to the Rav. The Ravashonne was not there. He completely disappeared. He did not walk out; he was just gone.
“My God.”
Rose, Moon and I made it to one of the Snow-Kat mini-buses and motored toward our dome in the middle of what seemed like HELL had come to our silent and static and cold and boring home in space. I floored the craft to its limit over irregular terrain.
It was warm.
A Krycarra exploded through the crust only 50 feet away from the vehicle! This caused more ice boulders in our path on top of the already broken, cracked and brittle road ahead. There was barely a road. Large plates in front of us had broken apart and exploded on all sides...
At one point, the Snow-Kat got completely stuck and came to a halt while a cutter approached fast. Without words, all three of us immediately jumped out and pushed the mini-bus off of an ice chunk, which had stopped the movement of the treads. Just in time, we got the treads on a type of surface that moved the vehicle. We missed being struck by the force of the spiky black eel by what seemed like only a few feet! The Beast did not turn and attack, but continued on a straight line. It cracked the surface again and again, along with other Beasts in the distance.
“Maybe we’ll make it?” my son yelled from inside his unneeded protective gear and over the noise of the furious treads.
The words sounded like: hope. Who knows? Maybe we will make it?
“I remember a movie. They were on a volcanic world, a bit like Io, with flames everywhere and lava eruptions going off!” I don’t know why I said that.
We removed our gear at the same time without a word spoken. The temperature drastically rose in a tick.
It was hot.
The sky appeared to have cracked apart.
There seemed like hundreds of violent EM maelstroms in the distance: whirlpools of magnetic electricity, which meant hundreds of cutters made it to the surface. They seemed to have played, swam and frolicked in warm waters without a care while we smaller beings died in their wake.
I looked into my bond’s eyes. She was scared. Yet it was as if her eyes spoke: it’s all right as long as we’re together. We had tears in our eyes. We went home to die, if we could get there?
Ice melted fast. There were no more paths or massive ice boulders. We were on one enormous plate. Everything melted with more hot sea serpents in the water.
I turned the vehicle and missed an open ice gorge or a warm lake. There were two very small Krycarra in the clear pond, each with the yellow/electric outline. Were they babies and counterparts to two of our human babies?
The end was near. Whole sections of icescape on the horizon were gone. Soon there would not be any solid surface. The inner ocean under the crust that we named Tier had risen.
The Snow-Kat was upon an ice plate island on top of a vast, warm ocean. Lucky for us, it was the plate with our dome. We made it home, thank God.
Candles were lit. Needless to say, the wireless power was out at the source. The 322 tower-stations of the grid network were useless. The computer was useless…
All we had were a little time left and each other. We were ‘safe,’ for the moment. We felt the gentle flow as our smaller and smaller ice plate carried our dome upon warm waves. We cried because the end was near. But before final ‘curtain call,’ another strange thing happened...
We had an unexpected visitor to our home. ‘Future-Me,’ the Rav, decided to pay the Summers a visit. He just appeared.
We were, of course, shocked and didn’t know what to think. Did this change anything? It meant that we did not need candles anymore. He illuminated our entire home.
The first thing he demanded was that I stay far away from him and pointed for me to remain on the other side of the dome.
“I got that, sir. Why?”
{If you were a physicist, you’d know why and it has to do with time and paradox.}
Rose made a plea and cried from the floor, “You are beautiful, sir. Why can you not save our people?”
He (I?) looked deep into her wet eyes and thought: {I am.} He turned to my boy as if he was his child and smiled again. {Hello, son. It is great to see you.} The yellow glow increased a few percentages around him. He placed each hand on their shoulders as he shined above them.
Both, wife and son, sat on the floor, speechless.
The dome home then dramatically shifted and twirled on the ocean. It was obvious that the ice had disintegrated in the tropical temperatures and only the dome floated. The habitat was free and moved any way that the waters moved it.
“Why’re you here if not to save us?” automatically came out of my mouth.
{You are part of a Great Transition that you are not aware of at this time, but it will be clear to all three of you and your people very soon.}
Moon asked an innocent question. “You mean, when we die?”
I imposed an answer and I was totally wrong in that answer: “We ALL are going to die, son.”
The Ravashonne’s last thought was the very first thought that we Paxans heard from him in the Council. {No. That’s not it.}
The rough seas broke the dome into pieces and the waters flooded in, violently.
When my eyes opened, I was not Summer anymore. I was a man-thing surrounded by yellow energy inside my Krycarra. I rode a great flying serpent! I saw through the inner workings of electric Kundalini from within me, from within the feeling that rode up every spine of every single human being. I rode it, flew it and made the single helix soar anywhere: to any universe. In fact, it obeyed my commands now and always. The great eel was not a monster, not a Beast. It was conscious feeling, brilliant warmth, power, magnetism, electrical energy and love.
My God. I am a Ravashonne.
Where were the two I adore? They too had ascended and transcended and had become Ravashonnes of their own, upon their own Krycarras in flight.
Time and space were at our fingertips. We felt LOVE and flew with love and knowledge and power. We were energy~
Where was Future-Me now that I stood in his ‘shoes’ and in his place? I was a caretaker guardian. Where was Rav?
He was my cosmic steed. I had become the Ravashonne and he had become my electro-magnetic, spirit-serpent. He was the creature around me, the one I rode. I named him “Balthazar.”
Any question I asked myself returned the immediate and accurate answer…
In front of me in space was Jupiter, red spot and all! The enhanced view of the cosmos was ‘breathtaking’ from a body that was not human. I looked down and closely inspected the golden light all around me and Balthazar. My soul. So powerful. Marvelous.
Through my Krycarra, I observed the splendid majesty of the Jupiter system and its 49 moons. I sped by volcanic Io. I swam and twisted, luxuriously, passed Callisto and holographic Ganymede. I reached the moon Europa and comprehended the eels as they played everywhere in warm oceans of pleasure. Then they jumped for ultimate joy high over the waters…
And flew off into space!
After much time passed, another Deep Freeze befell Europa and the Great Cycle repeated…
New people will become the Europans; Europans will become the higher form of Ravashonnes; the Ravs will become the eyeless, electric Krycarra. What will the Krycarra ascend and transcend into?
They will become something else…
How to order novels by TS Caladan
- http://www.twbpress.com/authortraycaladan.html
- Promo-page from publisher: TWB Press in Colorado
- http://www.twbpress.com/sonofzog.html
- TWB Press in Colorado
or go to publisher’s site: TWBPRESS.COM
TWB Press, publishing, electronic, e-books, ebooks, short stories, novels, science fiction, supernatural, horror, thrillers, fiction
TS Caladan's 3-Book "Traylogy" can be purchased thru TWB Press.
9" x 6" books with cover art are less than $18.00. EBooks are $3.99.
