Chapter 2
In the Lost City, Enik cursed as his plan failed. What the Marshalls did not know was that the black Sleestak was not really their friend. Only a day earlier, Enik had sent them on the road to their demise.
The prior day, when the moons were in alignment and the pylon with no key opened, Enik was investigating the structure when he saw an odd sight. As the door opened, Rich and Bill Marshall stuck their heads out as if they were going to exit. He heard Rich tell his son that the foliage looked wrong so they stayed inside the pylon as it closed again.
What was extremely odd about what had just occurred was that Enik knew for a fact that the family was at a nearby pond enjoying a swim. How could they be in two places at once? Further adding to the mystery was that these male humans were wearing different clothes. In the time he had known the humans, Rich always wore a red shirt and Bill always wore a white one. As far as he knew, the humans only had one shirt each. Enik needed answers so he retreated to the Library of Skulls in the Lost City to get them.
He entered the Library and walked through the smokey area. In front of him were three white skulls, shaped like the heads of the Altrusians who created them, with glowing red eyes. The skulls were a massive database filled with the knowledge of Enik's people, with each skull covering a different topic. Though much of the data was corrupted by the millennia that had passed since the Altrusian civilization destroyed themselves and de-evolved into the barbaric Sleestak, they still contained data that Enik did not know which proved to be useful to him. They were a link to his own time and place, before he became trapped in the Land of the Lost, which was his world, but in the far future.
Enik made his approach and spoke. "Oh wise skulls, today I witnessed what seemed to be impossible. Two humans, known as the Marshalls, were simultaneously in a pylon and also elsewhere in this valley at the same time. Explain this phenomenon."
As the eyes of the nearest skull glowed, Enik got his answer, as it began to speak.
"Altrusian out of time, what you witnessed was not of this universe. What you saw is of another universe. One that is similar, but not the same."
Enik was intrigued. "Another universe? Please explain. I would be most grateful if you would tell me what you know of this other universe as it relates to the humans."
The skull continued. "Very well. It will be explained in great detail, perhaps restating some knowledge that you know, while teaching you much that you do not.
This other universe exists on another plane of reality—another dimension. Very few beings in each reality even know that the other one exists, and the only passage from one universe to another is via a dimensional doorway. While most time doorways only allow passage through space and time, with the right technology, travel between universes is possible.
There was another version of the Altrusian race in that universe, but they were much different than the Altrusians you know. Even their appearance is different, as they were beige in color. Behold."
As Enik pondered this revelation, the mist in the Library of Skulls grew thick, and he began to see images not unlike what the humans called a movie.
The skull continued to speak. "In the other universe, the Altrusians believed in advanced knowledge, not conquest. While the black Altrusians of this universe subjugated culture after culture, the beige Altrusians dedicated their lives to science, logic, isolationism, and purging themselves of emotions. However, despite their more peaceful nature, they ended up with a similar fate. Years of suppressing their emotions led to a catastrophic event, destroying their civilization and leading the species to de-evolve into the giant green creatures you see today, which the humans call the Sleestak. After the cataclysm, the histories of both universes took similar paths, right down to a beige version of you becoming trapped in his world's future."
As the skull continued to talk of the differences between the black and beige Altrusians, Enik grew angry at the thought of this impostor Altrusian race. Everything he was hearing was appalling. His people sounded far superior. The black Altrusians were an empire dedicated to manipulating the time doorways in order to conquer other worlds and other civilizations. Science was only useful when it could help further that purpose. Exploration and peace were weaknesses that Enik was glad that his people did not share with their beige counterparts.
In the black universe, the Altrusians were an arrogant and sarcastic species, which viewed all other civilizations as inferior. They used their intelligence and technology for conquest, and often toyed with their enemies before destroying them. Enik forced himself to listen to the skull again.
"And as you learned from your initial meeting with the humans known as the Marshalls, your people were destroyed in a massive rebellion. The Sleestak have roamed the Lost City for centuries, and consider all humans to be their enemies. When humans enter the Lost City, the Sleestak attack on contact, with the hope of sacrificing humans to their god, who lives in the pit in the center of this city.
In both universes, Altrusians constructed pylons that control all the functions of this valley from the weather to the time doorways. Each pylon has a specific function.
Most Altrusian technology revolves around fourth dimensional nodes that the humans refer to as crystals. Crystals vary in size, shape and color, but most are somewhere between 2 to 3 inches long, and they are a natural resource in the Land of the Lost. They are also the only material that can survive in both universes."
Enik interrupted. "So what happens if something from the other universe enters this one?"
"Within seconds, they would be destroyed. No living being can exist in the other universe without alteration."
Enik was fascinated by everything the skulls revealed. He already planned to return home to save his empire, but now he was inspired to conquer a whole other universe. Altering molecules to survive there was within the realm of Altrusian science. But that led to another question. He asked, "Did my people ever know of this other universe, and if so, why didn't we conquer it?"
The skull answered. "The beige Altrusians were able to block hostile species' from traveling to their world with a device called a Mageti. A Mageti is used locate and activate time doorways. However, aggressive emotions will cause it to self-destruct, rendering it useless. The beige Altrusians were able to shield their world from species with hostile intentions. The black Altrusians were unable to overcome this obstacle and instead chose to focus on the worlds of their own universe."
Enik decided to deal with this problem at a later date. He resolved to return to his world at a time after they discovered this other universe, which clearly occurred after his era, but before his civilization was destroyed. For now, he needed to focus his attention on the Marshalls.
"Tell me about the humans, specifically the Marshalls of both universes. How are they different?"
The skull's eyes once again flashed a crimson shade of red as it began its response. "The Marshalls of the other universe are almost identical to the Marshalls you know but with few exceptions. While the young girl is known as Holly Marshall in both realities, in the other universe, her father is called Rick and her brother is known as Will. Behold."
The skull once again activated the mist and Enik saw the Marshall counterparts on their raft, replaying the events that led them to the parallel Land of the Lost. The humans looked the same, but they were wearing different clothes. Instead of the red shirt Rich always wore, Rick Marshall was clothed in tan. Will Marshall was wearing blue instead of the white that Bill wore, and this alternate Holly was wearing a red checkered shirt instead of the familiar yellow that Enik was used to seeing. Enik watched the doorway as the skull continued its lecture. It displayed the accident a second time, with both sets of Marshalls, side by side, like a split screen projection.
"As you can see, in both universes, the Marshall family fell through a time doorway as the result of an earthquake sending them down a 1000-foot waterfall and into a portal that led them to another world. In both universes, the family named this valley the Land of the Lost. Aside from the first names of the males, the two families are identical in virtually every important way, with one major difference. Rick Marshall is a widower. Rich Marshall's mate still lives. She was just not on the raft on that fateful day. Despite their accidents, both families remained in their own respective dimensions, but trapped in a world far different from their own, with one goal in mind—returning home."
Enik was intrigued by the differences. Perhaps that information would prove useful in the future. But for now, he continued to listen.
"Both Lands of the Lost had similar dangers to the humans. The Land was filled with dinosaurs, to which the Marshalls had given names. For example, when they first arrived in the Land of the Lost, they were chased by a tyrannosaurus-rex into a cave, which became their home. They named the dinosaur Grumpy and they named the cave High Bluff.
The Land also had intelligent life. The Marshalls befriended an ape-like creature named Chaka, a member of a species called the Pakuni. There were two other Pakuni, older than Chaka, named Ta and Sa. Ta was the leader of the small tribe and not always a friend to the Marshalls, but in general, the two groups co-existed in peace."
If Enik were human, he would have rolled his eyes at the last part. He scoffed at the idea of referring to the Pakuni as "intelligent life." They were even more primitive than the humans. He knew of the Marshalls and of their relationship to the Pakuni. But despite the repetitive nature of the story, Enik did not interrupt.
The Skulls continued. "But not all intelligent species' in the Land of the Lost were friendly to the humans. Not too far from their cave, the Marshalls found an area which they named The Lost City. The Lost City, in which you are now standing, is a structure containing remnants of the Altrusian civilization."
Enik wished the skulls would stop explaining things he already knew, but he reminded himself that they were merely advanced computers, and that they were just answering his questions as they were programmed to do. The skull resumed its story, continuing to show the humans of each universe and their adventures side by side. "In both universes, the Marshalls constantly tried to locate time doorways and to use the crystal matrix tables to figure out the proper combination to their world. The problem was that with over 200 crystals on a table, the combinations seemed infinite. The only matrix table that is both known to control time doorways and is accessible to the family is in your chamber. That is why the Marshalls enter The Lost City and would brave disturbing the Sleestak every so often.
Though in general, most Sleestak cannot communicate with the humans in their native language, there were a few exceptions. One is S'Latch, a Sleestak born with the intelligence of an Altrusian. He and Rick Marshall were once trapped in the Sleestak pit, and they learned to trust each other while working together to escape certain death. Rich had a similar adventure with S'Latch's counterpart in this universe. Although S'Latch could not operate the time doorways as of their meeting, both Rick and Rich consider him a friend.
In both universes, the Sleestak leader, who is no friend of the Marshalls, also has the ability to speak English. However, unlike S'Latch, he did not possess the knowledge and wisdom of his ancestors. He is more primitive, and spends much of his time in the Library of Skulls, trying to learn many of the old secrets of the ancient Altrusians.
Finally, there was you, Enik, who like the Marshalls, was stranded in the Land due to an accident involving a time doorway. Unlike the Marshalls, you only traveled through time, not space. You originally thought that the Land of the Lost was a part of your past, and you were shocked when the humans showed you that the Land was really your world's future.
In the other universe, Enik's goal is to return home, to warn his people of their dismal fate. After his initial encounter with the humans, your double decided that teaching his people the importance of compassion was the key to saving them. On several occasions, he demonstrated that compassion by working with the Marshalls as an ally."
Enik listened intently as the Skulls continued to describe this other universe. For ease, they told him that they would refer to this alternate reality as the Beige Universe, and that they would refer to his world as the Black Universe. As Enik watched the first meeting between his counterpart and the Marshalls of the Beige Universe, he grew angry at the weakness of these other Altrusians. He thought back to his own first encounter with Rich, Bill, and Holly.
Despite his travels, the Black Universe's Enik had never encountered humans previously. They intrigued him. The Marshalls had shown him the Lost City, which he once ruled as a monarch. Enik could not believe that his empire could fall. He vowed to return to his past to undo the disaster that befell his people. However, he was angered that these humans would dare use the time doorways, even accidentally. Worse, the family had trespassed on his city.
In the weeks that followed his introduction to the family, Enik quickly grew tired of the Marshalls' pestering attempts at using his knowledge to return to their pathetic home. Yet, realizing that the humans were from a somewhat intelligent species, he did not want to simply destroy them. He planned to gain their trust, learn about humanity, destroy the Marshalls, return home, and then lead an invasion of Earth to make it part of the Altrusian Empire. Yet now, based on today's knowledge, he could perhaps conquer Earth in two universes. But first, he would have to learn more.
Before even entertaining the task of conquering the Beige Universe, he wanted to complete his plan to destroy the Marshalls of the Black Universe, followed by a return home. He began his long con from day one and scoffed at how gullible these humans were. He asked the skull to replay other encounters between the Beige Universe's humans and his counterpart, and as the skull complied, he noted both the similarities and the differences between these interactions. His beige counterpart did not have any of the black Sleestak's cunning or ambition. When beige Enik helped the family, he actually seemed to be motivated by a sense of duty and by his Altrusian code.
But in the superior Black Universe, Enik had far less virtuous motivations. When Rich, Bill, and Holly encountered Enik, they had no idea of his history. They were happy to find someone from an intelligent species, especially one that might be able to help them get home. Over time, the black Sleestak did indeed gain the Marshalls' trust. On several occasions, Enik had even helped the Marshalls. He rescued Bill and Holly from the Sleestak pit, barely escaping the sacrifice ritual himself. He showed the Marshalls the way to repair a weather pylon, which had broken down and was causing disasters all over the Land of the Lost. With each act of kindness, the Marshalls believed in Enik's sincerity. He even served as a confidant of sorts for Rich, who often talked to Enik about his wife. Yet despite his outward facade, Enik secretly planned his act of betrayal, often using those chats with Rich about Mrs. Marshall to continue to gain his confidence while subtly planting the seeds for Rich to take more risks to get back to his world, which of course would necessarily involve trusting Enik. The black Sleestak had a flare for the dramatic, and timing was everything. He figured that when the time was right, he would end the Marshalls' pitiful existence in a way that would demonstrate his superiority.
He watched as the skulls showed him that in both universes, Enik was involved in saving the eldest Marshall's life. In a virtually identical accident, Rick and Rich were experimenting with crystals, trying to figure out which color combinations perform which function. While placing a red, yellow and blue crystal together, both men received a massive electric shock, which drained all their energy. In both universes, Holly managed to get her father back to the cave, while Will and Bill respectively went to the Lost City to find their Enik.
In each case, at first, Enik was too self-absorbed to help. But in both instances, the teen Marshall was able to get him to change his mind. In the Beige Universe, Enik's Altrusian code of honor was challenged when, in the time doorway cave, Enik managed to open a portal to Earth. Not willing to leave his father and sister despite Enik's encouragement, Will refused to enter the doorway and to go home. Embarrassed by Will's ability to sacrifice for his family, the Altrusian was determined not to let a human's willpower be stronger than his own. As a result, he stopped his time doorway experiment, followed Will back to the cave, and used Altrusian technology to help Rick.
After watching what his counterpart did, the black Sleestak flashed back to how the events unfolded with Bill. When confronted by the teenager, Enik, like his double did with Will, refused to help. However, in this case, he was merely pretending to be too self-absorbed in his work in the time doorway chamber to aid the family. In reality, he was trying to test human reactions to stressful situations. He was always going to save Rich's life, but he wanted to see just how far Bill would go to help his father. Knowing how humans react would be helpful information for his future plans. Plus, Enik figured that allowing Rich to die at that point in time would rob him in part of his final victory.
As part of his test of Bill's character, Enik showed the teenager an Altrusian weapon—a crystal that could enable its holder to attack others telepathically.
"Bill Marshall. You will leave my chamber and go about your business, or I will have to use force to make you comply."
Frustrated, Bill made a quick lunge at Enik to seize the weapon. Enik anticipated Bill's move, but he purposefully let the teen take control of the crystal. However, what Bill did not know was that the black Sleestak had rendered the weapon harmless. It was only there so Enik could further see what Bill would do. Thus, this incident would provide valuable information.
Bill held the crystal and glared at Enik with sheer intensity. "Help my father or so help me, I'll!"
"So, is that what humans do? They would use any means to get their way, even threats of physical harm?"
Despite his rage, Bill was not violent and he knew that his threats were idle. To Enik's astonishment, the human put the crystal down and simply asked for compassion. Enik decided that his experiment was over and said, "Fear not Bill Marshall. I was merely following an Altrusian code to test if you were worthy of receiving my help. Though you were unaware, I was in no danger, and had you attempted to use my weapon, I would not have been harmed. However, you would have failed my test and your father would still be dying. You have shown some compassion and restraint, and in doing so you have earned the right to receive my help." Enik took pride in his ability to deceive the human so easily.
Bill was not sure what to think, but he was desperate. He was just happy that Enik decided to help. The black Sleestak was pleased that Bill bought into his deception, and after saving Rich's life, he believed that he almost had the family's trust completely.
Once recovered, and upon hearing about his son's experiences in Enik's cave, under normal circumstances, Rich's instincts might have made him wonder about the Altrusian. But somewhere on Earth, his wife was alone, suffering through the devastating loss of her family. The thought of his wife's anguish rivaled his guilt over inadvertently trapping his children in such a dangerous place. For those reasons, Rich, Bill, and Holly tended to obsess over getting home even more than their counterparts in the Beige Universe. Thus, they were willing to take chances that the Beige Universe's Marshalls were not – including blindly trusting Enik. As a telepath, the black Sleestak was able to secretly read Rich's mind and to follow his thoughts.
The Altrusian allowed the skulls to finish speaking and then he exited the Library for the moment. He had gained a lot of knowledge and began to process it. Suddenly he thought of an amusing idea. Wouldn't it be great to send the Marshalls home, but to the wrong universe? They would be thrilled to be going back to their world, but then they would die a gruesome death, just as they thought everything would be all right. Finally, Enik had a way to rid himself of the humans that he felt was worthy of his intelligence. To execute his plan, he told the Marshalls about the Moongiver Pylon, and the Marshalls prepared to go home when the pylon opened the next day.
But a day later, to his dismay, the plot failed. Instead of basking in the glory of a plan well executed, Enik was forced to come up with an explanation as he was visited by a very disturbed Rich, Bill and Holly.