Shadows of War
888
"Another one!" The male researcher ran forward, waving papers towards a woman. "Last night's data trove! We've got another one!"
"Impossible." The woman said as she looked up at the man. She took the paper from the man and looked at it. "This one's trajectory is…"
"I know I know!" The man said as he bit his finger and looked up at the screen. "Five months, five blobs that have scooted past our world. They form a torus that seems to appear out of nowhere, scoot past and then disappear into the depths of space…"
"They emit radiation, but nothing like we have known of." The woman said looking through the file. "We have no idea what they are. Where they are going; where they are from. They seem to be completely discontinuous with the rest of the universe."
"Which is impossible." The man said.
"Is it?" The woman asked.
"Of course, we've tried tracking them; the radiation doesn't go anywhere it seems to appear with the objects, and then it disappears as if it were never there when the object disappears." The man said as he thrust his hands through his hair. "And yes I've double checked with the other satellites in other positions in our star system, radiation that has hit us and should also hit the outer satellites doesn't, as soon as the objects disappear the radiation stops proceeding outward as if it just stopped existing randomly; photons don't do that!"
"The objects show a very distinct pattern-"the woman said as she turned to her computer terminal. "If we chart them…"
"They form a torus that pops into existence, deforms, and the returns to a torus-shape that disappears," the man said nodding as he turned from her. "Radiation pattern is the same, a radiation splatter that appears, deforms and disappears. As if…"
"The science academy wants to know what's going on!" The man said in exasperation, genuflecting to the screen as the chart formed. "And last night's data…that thing is coming right at us!"
"Very close anyways…" the woman said as she looked down at the sheet.
"If this is some kind of asteroid or-"the man started.
"What if it isn't some kind of asteroid?" The woman replied, looking up.
"You know, I'd think maybe you should promote her…" A voice came from the lab's opened door. The two researchers turned and looked to see a relatively young man leaning against the door frame. He was wearing a velveteen green jacket. His hair was relatively long and slightly auburn. He smiled quietly.
"Who are you?" The male researcher yelped. "This is a secure facility, you can't just…"
"Oh but I didn't!" The stranger said smiling as he lifted a small wallet with an identification card on its surface.
"Adjutant of the Prime Consul!?" The male researcher yelped, blanching as the stranger proceeded forward.
"Yes, attaché to the military research council!" The stranger said nodding assuredly to the male researcher. He flashed the badge to the woman, she furrowed her brows as he quickly flipped it closed and pocketed it.
"I wasn't aware that the Prime Consul had an adjutant to the military research council?" The woman said in shock as the stranger swept passed her and looked at the computer terminal, deftly grabbing the paper report on her desk.
The stranger flicked through the report and tsked loudly. "Yes, yes, confirms everything we were seeing on the military tracking systems…" His eyes became very sad.
"I said I wasn't aware that the Prime Consul-" The woman started.
"Marza! Don't get stroppy with him; he's-" The male started.
"Oh she should be very stroppy." The stranger said and turned to the woman. "You see what this is; don't you?"
"Well, I have some guesses." The woman replied quietly.
"And they are?" the stranger asked sternly.
"Well, we've been working on some advanced charting lately." Marza started.
"Oh, Marza, don't bother!" The male said sharply and apologetically lifted his hands to the stranger. "It's very complicated, and I'm sure the adjutant doesn't want to hear about it!"
"Quite incorrect, Mr. err…" the stranger retorted.
"Orva!" the man said blushing slightly. "Doctor Orva!"
"Yes, well, we'll see about that." The stranger said as he turned his attention to Marza. "You'd be very surprised by what I may be able to follow. Now do continue."
Marza looked to Dr. Orva who simply shrugged his shoulders and she continued. "Well, we were trying some ways of explaining dimensionality…so we got to thinking about what say a cube would look like to beings who live two dimensionally, and then well, I've been wondering. This universe exists in potentially so many other dimensions than just the three we are in…"
"And you were wondering what a four dimensional object would look like to you." The stranger said smiling as he turned to the screen of the terminal and watched the torus appear, distort and then regain its shape before disappearing.
"Exactly, I mean; it's very niche." Marza said quietly.
"You think these are the shadows of four dimensional objects passing through your star system?" The stranger asked.
"Please don't bother the adjutant with your preposterous-" Dr. Orva started.
"She's right." The man said quietly.
"What!?" Dr. Orva shouted.
"What if I told you there was this war going on, out there in the depths of space?" The stranger asked. "A war that was being fought four dimensionally? That what has been passing through are the three dimensional shadows of that war? What if I said I wasn't a member of your species?"
"I'd say you're insane!" Dr. Orva shouted. "There's no evidence of any real potential other life forms outside of the ones here on this planet, never mind the idea of some insane extra-dimensional war going on! And you, sir, look very much like one of us!"
"The 'humanoid' form is really actually quite common in this universe." The stranger said as he pulled a small metallic rod from his pocket. "Disturbingly common actually." The rod whirred and the monitor of the computer terminal fidgeted as the image on its screen was seemingly pulled forward out into the air in front of the three. "Carydine Inversion Bombs…"
"What are you talking about?" Dr. Orva gaped. "How are you doing that!?"
"I have the benefit of being generally in front of you, when it comes to history." The stranger said as he swept his hand around the hovering image. It twisted in three dimensions in a sickly fashion as if two of the attached sides seemed to push through each other, before becoming sickeningly equal in size but also seemingly smaller and larger at the same time. "I'm very sorry…"
"Sorry about what?" Marza asked.
"About what's coming at you." The stranger said quietly as he looked at the research report. He pointed to the paper. "What you've been watching is a bombardment, these objects are a weapon that when detonated creates a weak-force inversion that temporally causes a wide scale temporal and entropic reversion…time turns backwards for several moments before resuming."
"I-I some maniac has broken into-" Dr. Orva started to yell.
"How is that a bad thing per se?" Marza asked ignoring Dr. Orva.
"Turning time backwards like that isn't simply hitting rewind, it's more like driving a bulldozer into a river against the flow; the rest of the river still flows forwards, and you get these sheering forces that…well…" the stranger cupped his hands together and then pulled them apart violently. "It's not pretty."
"This is insanity." Dr. Orza yelled. "I don't know how you got in here but I am seeing that you-"
"Why are you here, if we are to assume you are being honest?" Marza said cutting Dr. Orva off.
"Let's just say, I'm going to do what I can to help you, I just wish I'd gotten here sooner." The man said as he turned. "They should never have targeted this region, it's unacceptable and I'll try and protect you."
The man turned and started to leave the research lab. Marza stood and ran after him. She skidded into the hall and saw him walking towards a giant blue cabinet. Marza ran after him, he put a key into a keyhole and opened the door. Marza ran after him slipping into the door before it closed behind the stranger. She gasped as she staggered into the cabinet and looked inside. It was impossible. The inside was a huge stone cathedral centered on a metallic dais and console. The stranger was already circling the console.
"Are you just going to sit there and look surprised or are you going to say it?" The man asked quietly, not looking up from the console.
"Is..is…am I inside of a…." Marza turned and looked around her. "Was that a…."
"Three dimensional shadow of a four dimensional object?" The man asked, looking up and smiling. "I guess if that's how you want to see it; yes, then the outside of the TARDIS is that. I used to be able to modify it, but it's a bit stuck as it is. You're definitely the first person to understand that whole dimensionally transcendental bit…which is a new one."
"So I'm inside of a…" Marza walked up to the console and tenuously touched it.
"You are within the dimensional field of a four dimensional cylinder, projecting a three dimensional shadow that's shaped like a police phone box from a planet you've never heard of." The stranger replied as he pushed a lever. The entire box shuddered as a loud wheezing erupted from all directions. "And now we're traveling…how's that for surprises today?!"
The man then started to quickly dart around the console flipping switches, and pulling levers and turning dials. The walls of the structure shook angrily. Sparks danced from the metal surface of the console.
"What's going on?" Marza asked.
"I'm going to try and extend a defensive barrier around your planet but the bomb is interfering with my attempts." The stranger said quietly, as he bit his lip and hit several multi-colored buttons with the butt of his palm. He pulled down a monitor and looked at it frowning. "It's not working, come on, we just need the right resonance-"
Suddenly the entire room pitched almost ninety degrees. Energy arced across the crystals that were in a rotor that moved up and down in the middle of the console. Marza struggled to hold onto one of the pylons that seemed to encapsulate the dais like four, massive, iron-rot claws. The stranger was grabbing tightly to the console. The stranger feverishly grabbed buttons with his finger tips and the room seemed to yaw back into place and Marza's feet graciously made contact with the floor. She looked over to the stranger whose head was bowed and his hands were clenched into fists.
"Did it…work?" Marza started but the man simply growled angrily and turned away. He shouted and raged as he angrily punched at buttons.
"Another one! Another world!" The stranger shouted. "Why can't they just-" The man looked to Marza and immediately looked away. "If I had come the moment they had started I could've done something, but I was held up." His fist smashed down on the console. "I was too late! AGAIN!" The man shook his head and looked up to Marza. "I'm sorry…I don't even know what to tell you."
"Is it gone then?" Marza asked as she turned to the massive stone doorway she'd pushed through earlier.
"Gone would be an upgrade to what happened to your world." The man said coldly. "Every particle of your world went backward about ten seconds in time, and then was sent smashing into all of the 'same' particles of your planet that existed at the time of it being pulled backward. They went through something that can only be considered an existential annihilation…your world simply never quite existed."
"Why? Why were we targeted, by who? Did we do something wrong?" Marza started slightly numb to what was just being said.
"You were targeted by my people, and you weren't the target, you were just in the way." The stranger said as he walked towards her. Marza instinctually retreated from him. He grasped her hand. "I am deeply sorry-"
"Please, take me home! Please!" Marza shouted, pulling from him.
"I-wish I could." The stranger said quietly. He turned and pulled a lever. The doors opened. Marza ran towards them but as she reached their edge she saw nothing but empty space and she stopped inches short of falling into the void. Some rocks, that seemed to only vaguely exist, shifted in place of her home. The stranger was at her side. "There's nothing there, and there never was."
"But I can…I can remember." Marza said quietly. "My mother, my father, Dr. Orva…I remember them, they existed."
"No, they didn't." The stranger said quietly as he gently put his hand on Marza's shoulder. "At least they will only exist to you; you are an anomaly. You are a timeless child, an unfixed point…no past, but a future."
"And what am I supposed to do?" Marza asked quietly.
"I don't know." The stranger said quietly. "I can take you to a refugee camp. I can take you anywhere you want to go."
"No, you can't." Marza said looking up angrily at the stranger. "You can't take me home."
The stranger looked away from Marza. He turned and walked away from the edge of the inner dimensions of the vessel. Marza turned and watched as he slowly stepped onto the dais and started to push buttons and turn dials. There was an angry jittering as sparks exploded around him. The console warbled and there was a resonate 'dong' that seemed to rise up from some distant depths. She walked up to the dais as he stood there, hands pressed against the metal frame of the console his head bowed.
"I'm sorry." Marza said quietly.
"You're hurt, for good reason, you're entire world was just eliminated for no reason other than it was in the wrong place at the wrong time." The stranger said quietly. "And I can't do anything about that."
"But you tried." Marza replied.
"-and I failed." The stranger said.
"But you tried." Marza repeated. "You didn't have to, but you did, and you saved…me." Marza took a step up to the console and stood next to the stranger who seemed far older now than he had when she first had seen him. "Thank you." She reached over and gently clasped his hand. "And inside of me, in my memories, my world survives." She swallowed slightly and closed her eyes. "I know what I want to do."
"And that is?" The stranger asked quietly, still not looking to her.
"I have to tell the universe my story, tell the universe about my world, so it will never die, so that it will never completely disappear. I have to." Marza said, as she looked at him.
The man looked to her and nodded quietly. "I know precisely where to take you."