NOTE:
The next two chapters (Chapters 8 and 9) are from The Four Faces Of Rath, so if you already read them there, you can read them here again or skip straight to chapter 10, which is an ALL-NEW TNTDD chapter. Of course, if you never read them in TFFOR, then they will be new chapters to you, and you will need to read them here to know what is happening. The reason I am including two chapters of TFFOR here is that they are as much a part of this story as they are part of that one, and they are important to understanding what is going on in this story.
The Night The Dreams Died, Chapter 8 (The Four Faces Of Rath, Chapter 56)
E.T. Call Home
Chapter 8
VIII
The young AVMTech at the Antar Space Field outside CoruzAntar knocked anxiously on the door of his supervisor's office.
"Enter! The door's open!"
"Sir! We are receiving a transmission from a ship that was lost seventy years ago. We have video and audio from the vessel."
The supervisor looked up, obviously interested. "Where is it? Do we know which vessel it is?"
"Yes, sir. A70932. It was lost 70 years ago on Eluymer, the planet Zan and Rath grew up on. It was one of the original ships sent there… part of the scouting mission sent to find a secure site for the pods and the granolith. After the primary ship crashed, two ships returned, and a fourth disappeared."
"Yes, I remember. It was always believed that it stayed on Eluymer, or 'Earth' as the Eluymerians call it, to try to rescue the crew of the crashed vessel and help to secure the… cargo. I guess we can say it now, the pods. It's no longer a secret… Kivar is only a bad memory now. No one from that ship ever returned, and they never contacted the home base again. After twenty years, it was all but taken for granted that the entire crew was lost due to some unknown tragedy."
"Yes, sir. Well, the E.T. came back on unexpectedly this morning. You will want to see the video and audio that have been intercepted from the ship since the telemetry began arriving again."
"Do you have it with you, Dak?"
"Yes, sir!" The young tech took a small crystal from his pocket and inserted it into a device on the supervisor's desk. A screen on the opposite wall came on. As they watched, the vessel's onboard camera, called an Emergency Telemetry Monitor, or E.T. for short, suddenly came to life; then, a second later, the door to the control room opened and someone walked in. It was a woman.
"Sir, I know this woman," the young tech said. "It's Varec's wife."
"The Eluymerian?" The supervisor seemed surprised. "Hmmm… yes, it does look like her… but this woman is younger than Varec's wife. And besides, I saw Varec and his wife only yesterday here in CoruzAntar. They were on their way to that Eluymerian 'Café,' the 'CrashDown,' to eat."
"It's a good restaurant, sir."
The supervisor nodded. "It's very popular with the younger people. I know older ones who like it, too, though. Dak, did you say that this signal just began coming in this morning?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hmmm."
As they watched, the young woman looked up suddenly and stared directly into the tiny camera, which was no bigger than a small sunflower seed. The E.T. was attached magnetically to a wire-thin but unbendable bar that ran across the ceiling of the craft. The young woman reached up and removed the tiny camera from the bar… then, after examining it, she appeared to attach it to herself in some manner.
"I believe she has attached it to a ring on her finger, sir," the young tech said. The supervisor nodded.
For a time, the young woman sat in the pilot's seat, thinking… and occasionally looking around at the console and systems monitors. Then she appeared to be about to leave, but as she stood up, she stopped again suddenly.
"Why did she stop," the supervisor asked.
"You'll see in just a moment, sir. Here it is now."
The young woman moved her hand, and the two men saw that six armed soldiers were pointing weapons at her. The supervisor gasped.
"Eluymerian soldiers! …in charge of our craft! Where is our crew? Who is this woman?"
The young tech shook his head. "Not certain, sir. She does look very much like Varec's wife to me, though, sir. It is possible, given the evidence seen here, that the Eluymerians also have our crew. If that is the case, I would not be overly optimistic about their survival after seventy years, sir."
The supervisor shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dak."
As Dak and his supervisor watched, the young woman made an oddly nonchalant remark; by all appearances, seeming to take the danger she was in much too lightly…
"I must have taken a wrong turn off of 285. Imagine that! I'll just be on my way if you gentlemen will move aside."
The supervisor looked at Dak questioningly. "What is 285, Dak?"
"I don't know, sir. By their reaction, I believe that she is being insincere with them… possibly offering an explanation for why she is there."
The supervisor nodded. "Yes, and she believes that they will allow her to leave, but it appears that this is a misconception on her part."
At that moment, another soldier, one who appeared to have a higher ranking, showed up and stood between the young woman and the six men with guns. "General Hawkins wants to see you… Now!"
The young woman replied in a facetious tone that both the supervisor and Dak understood readily, "Well, really guys, I don't think the General and I hit it off so well the last time we were together. That was kind of a relationship that just wasn't meant to be, you know what I mean? If you'll just tell the General that for me, I'm sure he'll understand, and…"
The young soldier with the higher rank stepped out of the way, and the weapons all went to ready.
"Okay, okay. I'm going! But I'm telling you, this is not my idea of a good time. The General needs to find a girl who's more into S&M. I'm more plain vanilla… Okay, maybe raspberry, really, I guess, but…"
"Move it!" the young soldier with the higher rank said in an annoyed tone. "And shut up."
The soldiers forced the young woman to walk a considerable distance down several long halls until they came to an office, which appeared to be their final destination. The one with the higher rank opened the door and they all went in, forcing the young woman to enter ahead of them. The soldiers kept their weapons pointed at the young woman as she went in. Inside, there was a man seated behind a desk. He appeared to be someone of importance as far as the soldiers were concerned. Even the young soldier with the higher rank showed deference to him.
"Mrs. DeLuca," the man behind the desk said, in a very annoyed tone, "You have done what no one else has ever managed to do in all the years I have been in the military. You have made me look like a complete fool."
The young woman shrugged. "It was nothing, sir, really."
The supervisor looked at Dak and smiled. "I think I like her, Dak. She has sh'mys. She appears not to like this man, and he has an air of pompousness to him that I find distasteful."
"Yes, sir," the young Tech said. "I agree, sir."
"Mrs. DeLuca, what am I going to do with you?" the pompous-looking man behind the desk asked.
"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"
"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."
The supervisor reached up and stopped the playback momentarily.
"Dak… Isn't DeLuca the name of Varec's wife?"
"I believe so, sir. She uses two names, like most Eluymerians. Her full unmarried name was Amy DeLuca."
"But how can this woman be Varec's wife if this transmission came from Eluymer today, and I saw Varec's wife here only yesterday?"
"Maybe she went to Eluymer with the sphere that Zan uses," the young tech said.
"Yes, that's possible, I guess," the supervisor agreed. "But still, this woman is years younger than Varec's wife, wouldn't you agree?"
"Um, yes, sir. It would appear so, sir. I can't explain it."
The supervisor replayed the last two lines of the transmission.
"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"
"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."
"Do you know who this Romeo and Juliet are that she is referring to, Dak… or the Henry the eighth that he is referring to? It could be important."
"Yes, sir," the tech said. "Actually, I saw something only a few days ago about them on the Eluymer channel… the virtual link that Varec established to the Eluymerian's cable system. Romeo and Juliet were two young lovers, barely teenagers, who were not allowed to be together. He killed himself because he believed that she had died, but she had not. When she saw that he had killed himself, she killed herself, too."
The supervisor seemed perplexed. "Do you think this young woman, DeLuca, intends to kill herself? These people are so strange. I do not always understand them."
"I believe… sir… that she is probably referring to her relationship with the pompous one in the chair. She means that he is her Romeo and she is his Juliet… romantically."
"You cannot mean that, Dak."
"Well… perhaps she was being facetious, sir. I believe she did say that being Romeo and Juliet with him was NOT her desire, not that it WAS her desire."
"I'm sure that is what she meant, Dak. It is obvious that she does not like the man. Who is this Henry the eighth that he compared himself to?"
"Henry the eighth was a king on Eluymer who had many of his wives executed. Their heads were cut off."
"So he is threatening her by comparing himself to this king?"
"Yes, I believe so, sir. I believe that is her impression, too, based on her reaction."
"Play the rest, Dak."
The young tech started the sequence again from where it had left off.
"You wouldn't do anything to me, General. Too many people know where I am," the young woman said.
The pompous man shook his head. "Your car was seen driving off the base about three hours ago. It went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. That was a drop of about 700 feet, I believe. I understand it was a very fiery crash. The sheriff of Copper City is on the site now, but no remains have been found. The fire was so intense, you know…"
"Dak, I believe this woman is in danger. Even I understood that to be a threat."
"Yes, sir."
"You can't just get rid of me, General…" the young woman said.
The pompous man smiled and nodded, indicating that he believed that he could. "Corporal, take Mrs. DeLuca away… and make sure that her departure is permanent."
"Permanent, sir?"
"Permanent, Corporal. You heard me."
The young woman held up her ring. "General, do you know what this is?"
"A ring? You think I'm worried about your husband? You don't have one, Mrs. DeLuca. Don't you think I know that? And if you did, it wouldn't matter."
The young woman detached the tiny E.T. and held it in her hand. "Not the ring, General, the camera."
"Let me see that!" the pompous officer said, the smile on his face quickly fading away.
The corporal took it from Amy's hand and handed it to the General. He turned it over several times. "Where did you get this?"
"From the TV station," the young woman said, obviously lying. "Everything going on here is being recorded by all three local networks… and by now probably by CNN and Fox, too."
"I don't believe you."
"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not."
The pompous man swallowed, and there was a long pause.
"Corporal!" the pompous man said at end.
"Yes, sir!"
"Didn't you hear me? Escort Mrs. DeLuca off the base, and make sure that she stays away from here permanently this time. You got that?"
"Just off the base, sir?"
"Of course, just off the base! What did you think I meant?"
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, and Mrs. DeLuca… I was trying to make a point with you about how dangerous it can be for a civilian to be running around out here unaccompanied. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."
"Of course not," the young woman said. "What about my car?"
"It was damaged, Mrs. DeLuca. It was unsafe to drive… and since it was on the base, it was our obligation to dispose of it in a safe manner. As I told you, it was being towed to a recycling plant, but it broke loose on the pass and went over the side. Fortunately, no one was in it, so there was no one hurt in the accident."
"That car was my only means of transportation."
The pompous man seemed to be making a forced effort to smile. "I'll see if we can find you a replacement, Mrs. DeLuca. The Army wasn't responsible for what happened to your car, you know. The damage to your car was your own fault. We had to dispose of it responsibly. But I'm sure Washington would not want to make a big deal out of this. I'll get you a new car."
"New?"
"New," the pompous man muttered. "Corporal!"
"Yes, sir!"
The General pointed at the door.
After the soldiers had taken the young woman away, the General continued to examine the tiny monitor.
"Lieutenant!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"Looks like a spy camera, sir."
"I know what it looks like, lieutenant. Have you ever seen one like this one?"
"Well… not this small, sir. But they're making them smaller every day."
"Hmmm, yes, but I'm usually kept abreast of developments that might be useful to me. Lieutenant, how did the DeLuca woman get into the craft?"
"The bottom hatch was left open, sir. The crew trying to get into the control room was planning to return later today to try again with a new type of torch."
"But the DeLuca woman got into the control room, lieutenant. I want to know how!"
"We don't know how, sir. After she came back out, the door closed again."
"And it didn't occur to any of you to put something there to jam it or station someone inside the control room while the door was open?"
"Uh, no sir. How would someone inside get back out after the door closed?"
"I don't know, lieutenant! I don't care! Maybe there's a door handle inside!"
"I don't think so, sir."
"Lieutenant, we've had this craft in our hangar for sixty years… give or take a few years… and no one, ever, has been able to find so much as a seam or a rivet anywhere on the craft. We can't dismantle it. No one has ever been able to get into the control room. No torch or blaster will melt or penetrate the metal… or whatever the hell it is the thing's made of. It has frustrated every effort we have made to open the control room or dismantle the ship for SIXTY DAMN YEARS! And that woman just goes in and, open-sesame! The door opens for her?"
"It seems that way, sir."
"Find out why! I want someone watching that woman twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I don't want her to go to the bathroom without someone knowing where she is. You got that?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. I'm surprised she didn't ask you idiots if there was a key and fly the thing away under your noses! Get out of here. Oh, and lieutenant…"
"Sir?"
"Find out who makes these tiny spycams. I need some. And find out why I wasn't advised of their development. I don't like having local TV networks using equipment that I didn't even know existed."
"Yes, sir!"
The General put the tiny monitor into a desk drawer and closed the drawer. With no light or sound reaching it any more, the little camera cut itself off. The supervisor and Dak both knew that it could come back on at any time, though, if the General should decide to take it out of his drawer again at some future time.
"Dak, I think Zan and Rath need to see this. I'm going to take it to them right now. Continue monitoring the transmissions in case the pompous Eluymerian general takes our monitoring device back out of his drawer."
"Yes, sir."
**********
At the palace, Max and Liz huddled in front of the VidScreen with Alex and Isabel, as the supervisor from the spaceport watched from behind them. Max turned the VidScreen off and removed the small crystal, then he handed it to the supervisor.
"You were right, Kesvyn. This is important."
"I thought you would want to know about it immediately, Zan. The fact that an Antarian craft… and possibly Antarian crewmen… are being held by Eluymerian soldiers… Then there is also the danger to the young woman, though it would seem that she was able to talk her way out of being executed… for now at least. Dak and I were thinking that this young woman looks very much like Varec's wife."
Max nodded. "It is Varec's wife, Kesvyn."
"But I saw her with Varec only yesterday, Zan. They were on their way to the CrashDown."
"The young woman in the transmission is Amy DeLuca," Max said. "But not the Amy we know here on Antar. I'm not entirely sure what is going on, Kesvyn. We may be receiving transmissions from the past…"
"Or from another dimension…" Alex offered.
Max nodded. "We don't have any experience with dimensional theory or travel. We've never proven that alternate dimensions even exist… or that they don't exist, of course. But we have had experience with traveling to the past."
"If this was from a past timeline," Alex said, "Amy would remember this happening to her… and she would have mentioned it, don't you think?"
Max nodded. "It would seem so, Alex. "What is the difference between a timeline and a dimension anyway?"
"A timeline is a branch or alteration of the existing past," Liz said. "It can change, depending on the factors that affect and shape it. But only one timeline can exist at a time. Once a part of a timeline is changed, the entire timeline is changed. It's like going back and killing your grandfather… You would never be born, and the entire timeline would be changed. On the other hand, theoretically, at least, there could be any number of dimensions all existing at the same time, and each dimension could have its own progression of events. Dimensions wouldn't have to be the same. In an alternate dimension, for instance, your dupes from New York might be living here on Antar now, and the Antarian scientists might not have ever created another set… so you might not exist. Or Kivar might still control Antar. There could be any number of possibilities. Max and Tess could be married…"
Max threw a pillow playfully at Liz. "Some things were meant to be, Liz, and some things never were. I don't see that happening in any dimension!"
"Wasn't Zan married to Ava in the past that Michael went back to," Liz asked. "You know, the older Zan and Ava? Michael said they were quite happy together."
"Yeah, they were," Max agreed. "But they were an extension of the past… In that timeline, we were never killed, so we never went to Earth and never met you and Maria… The older me and Rath and Ava were kind of like… us before there was us, you know… or us if there never was an us."
"That's true."
"Believe me, Liz," Max said. "There's only one girl for me in any dimension."
"That remains to be seen, Max. But I like it that you think so." Liz leaned over and kissed Max, which to Max's embarrassment, seemed to have the approval of everyone in the room, judging by the smiles and applause, especially from Alex.
"Just wait, Alex. I'll catch you and Isabel all wrapped up together sometime. Payback is coming."
Isabel looked at Alex and grinned.
"Uh, moving right along here," Alex said…
"Well, the question, as I see it," Max said… "is what are we going to do with this information? And there's something else that may possibly be involved here. I don't know if it's related, but Maya has had dreams… or perhaps visions… recently of something unexplainable going on. Maya saw Liz in a wheelchair, and she said that she thought her mother looked younger… like a teenager. She said that she saw someone shoot Liz from a tree, but then Jim Valenti chopped the tree down, and when she looked again, Liz was not shot. Then a couple of days later, Maya saw me in a coffin, and she said I looked younger, too."
"It could be related, Max," Liz agreed. "You and I were younger in Maya's visions, and Amy is younger in this transmission…"
"But the transmission was sent today," Kesvyn said.
"Yeah, Alex nodded, "but if we're picking up some kind of vibes from, like, an alternate dimension or something, maybe we're all still younger there… like Liz said… We wouldn't have to be the same."
"That could be," Max agreed. "But then the thought occurs to me that maybe it might be wrong for us to interfere at all in another dimension's… progression… or whatever. You know what I mean?"
"What?" Isabel said… "You mean if Liz was going to be killed, you wouldn't want to save her, Max?"
"No, I didn't say that, Iz. I'd want to… You know that. I just don't know if I should."
"But would you?" Isabel asked.
Max looked at Liz and sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'd have to defend Liz in any dimension. I just couldn't not protect her, you know?"
"But maybe I'm supposed to die in that other dimension, Max," Liz said. "Then you would be changing what was supposed to be."
"Well, that's assuming you subscribe to the theory that something is 'supposed' to go a certain way," Max said. "What if it's all random… just what we make it? If I saw you about to be harmed here, Liz, I'd protect you. What's the difference? If it's right for me to intervene in this dimension can it be wrong somewhere else? If I wasn't around and something was going to happen to you and someone from another dimension saved you, I'd be thankful! I wouldn't question what was supposed to be, because I don't believe in destiny."
"Like us being together?" Liz asked.
"Well, sure, that's… I believe in that," Max said. But that's a destiny that I made… that we made… together. It didn't just happen without our help. We had to put something into it."
"That's true," Liz said. "Future Max tried to change our destiny once."
"And he screwed it up for all of us," Alex reminded Liz… until Max and Michael fixed it."
"But he did it," Max said. "And we did it again… by changing it back. 'Meant to be' and 'Destiny' are real… but they're what we make them. If something works out well, we say that it was meant to be. If it works out badly, we say that it wasn't meant to be. It refers to the 'rightness' of something. But that doesn't make things happen. Only we can affect our destinies.
Max looked up to see Kyle standing there.
"Max, you've got visitors."
"Who is it, Kyle?"
"I think you'd better see for yourself."
Kyle turned and motioned to someone to come in. Michael and Maria walked through the door… and there were two other people with them.
Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, and the spaceport supervisor, Kesvyn, all stood up as the guests entered. Their mouths were open far enough that they could have been shouting, but no words seemed to come out.
"Alex Whitman and Liz… uh… Evans…" Kyle said with a wry grin, obviously loving their reactions… "I want you to meet Alex Whitman and Liz Parker."
tbc
Coming Next: Max and Liz's "guests," Alex and Liz, are overwhelmed by the palace and Antar and unsure what has happened to them. Max and the others realize that there no longer is a moral argument or question about helping them. The questions now become merely when and how… and what to do with… well, another Alex and Liz.