From Among the Stars
Author's Note: This story takes place in an unstated year in the future, when most of the Earth has been divided into three main governments.
Part I: Arrival
Chapter 1
"Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
-Dylan Thomas
There had always been rumours that other universes existed, other worlds. Whether these were inhabited by beings almost human or otherwise, none could tell. Many books had been written on the subject, but these were all conjecture. Man had never ceased to believe the possibility that intelligent life could exist elsewhere in the universe.
Elizabeth put down the article with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. The daylight was fading. She turned on the lamp on her desk and listened as the music played softly. Suddenly there was a sudden rap on the door. She looked up. "Yes?"
The door opened. "Dr. Bennet?" The temp slouched into the office. Her hair was cut and coloured in the latest style, and she clearly had no interest in the company's dress code.
"Yes? What is it?" Elizabeth said tiredly.
The temp rolled her eyes. "The Director sent me up to remind you to check your mail," she said sulkily, as if she resented being sent on such errands. "He's sent you two messages already today and he says you haven't responded."
Elizabeth sighed again. "Very well." She scrolled down the screen with her finger to remove the article and then to see her mail.
"What is that?" asked the temp.
"The what?" Elizabeth asked, distracted.
"This music."
"The Beatles," she replied, still looking at her mail.
"What beetles?" the girl asked, backing out of the room and looking disgustedly at the ground.
"Not beetles. The Beatles. It was a music group. 20th Century."
"Oh," said the temp. "It's really unusual."
"Was there anything else?" asked Elizabeth.
"Oh, yeah – this package came for you." She held out a small square box wrapped in brown paper.
"Thanks."
The temp slouched out, leaving the door open. Elizabeth finished looking at her mail, then put her hand-held computer and the little box into her bag, turned the light off in her office and shut the door, locking it behind her.
She proceeded down the stairs and across the busy Oxford Street to the old Bodleian Library. The student behind the desk was sitting at the computer, typing, and did not look up when Elizabeth came up to the desk. She had piercings on her ears and face and was chewing gum loudly.
"Excuse me," said Elizabeth finally, and the girl looked up, annoyed.
"I'm looking for Little Dorrit."
"Who?" said the girl.
"It's a book," said Elizabeth, trying to be patient.
"Have you checked on our server? All our texts are on there," said the girl, looking back at the computer screen. Elizabeth could see she was writing on a chat board.
"Yes, I know," said Elizabeth, "but I don't want the online text. I want the actual book."
The girl sighed, and minimized her chat page, opening up the library database instead. "What was it? Little Dobbit?"
"Little Dorrit. D-o-r-r-i-t," she spelled.
"By who?"
"Whom. Dickens."
"Who?"
"Charles Dickens," said Elizabeth, starting to lose her temper.
"Never heard of him. Is he some kind of scientist?"
"No - 19th Century novelist," said Elizabeth. "Victorian."
"Um... I don't see it. We do have one by Duckins."
"Dickens."
"Yes. A Christmas Carol. Oh, but it's old. It's in our rare book collection. Oh, and we have several movie versions of it."
"I just want Little Dorrit."
"Well, we have it on our secure server," said the girl. "You can find all the Dittens books there." She turned back to her chat board and blew a large bubble. Elizabeth turned away in disgust.
She was about to leave when she heard an argument coming from down the hall. She followed the sound and found a tall man in his early thirties arguing with a librarian. He had curly black hair and glasses over pale blue eyes.
"This is absolutely ridiculous. I was here yesterday and they said it hadn't come in."
"Please, sir, lower your voice or I will have to ask you to leave."
"By George, I'll stay until I get what I ordered. I got a message yesterday saying it had come in. I came down here to get it, and they said they didn't have it. Now you're telling me they sent it back?"
"That is what our records show," said the librarian stiffly, "but I will go look, one more time." He turned away and into the back shelves.
"Will," said Elizabeth.
The black-haired man turned. "Ah, Liz, there you are. I was just about to message you."
"I heard your voice all the way down the hall and thought I'd see what was up," said Elizabeth, trying to conceal a grin. Will was always fervid and passionate like this, especially when it came to his books
He and Elizabeth had met while they were both doing their post-graduate work at Oxford. Even though Elizabeth was in Linguistics and Will in Anatomy, she had found that he loved literature almost as much as she did.
"Yeah," Will replied. "These idiots can never seem to get my order right. First they tell me they have it, then I come in and they don't. Then I come in again today and suddenly they've sent it back."
"Yes, I heard," said Elizabeth dryly.
"Did you read the article I sent you?" he asked.
"Most of it," she said.
"What did you think?"
She gave him a look that made him laugh.
"What? Too mainstream for you?"
She shook her head, smiling. "You know what I think about your extra-terrestrial obsession."
He laughed again. "Obsession? It's perfectly plausible, you know that."
"Will, that life could have evolved on this planet alone is such a small chance, you think it could have happened on others?"
"Anything's possible," said Will.
"Right. So are parallel universes and time machines," she replied.
The librarian returned, looking chastened. "It looks like we had it in the back there all along," he said. He held out the microcard to Ned. "That will be due in a week."
"Thanks, old chap," said Will, taking it from him. He and Elizabeth turned to go.
"Are you up for dinner?" he asked. "I was going to eat out."
"Sure," she said tiredly. "You know, I was asking for Dickens back there and the student had never even heard of him?"
Will shook his head. "Sad," he said. "What were you looking for?"
"Little Dorrit. I haven't read it in a while, I wanted to read it again."
"Well, don't ask those fools at the library. They don't know anything. All they teach them these days in school is Leaves of Grass and James Joyce."
"They were still teaching Jane Eyre when I was in high school," said Elizabeth.
"Hmm… they'd already dropped that here," replied Will. "Maybe the U.F.S. is different."
"It was still the U.S. then."
"Was it really that long ago?" Will smirked and she poked him in the ribs.
They stopped at a little shop by the road and bought some Cornish pasties, still piping hot and wrapped in paper.
"Let's go to my flat to eat," she said. It was getting dark and the traffic and fumes were overpowering. She lived right near the College, in a small apartment on the third floor of a very old building. There were only three rooms – a kitchen/living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The large television screen was embedded into the wall. There was a couch with many fluffy forest green pillows on it, two chairs with a small table, and a desk. There was a small bookshelf against the wall with maybe a dozen books in it. The most notable aspect of the apartment, however, when entering, were the pictures and photographs of nature pasted up all over the walls. There were landscapes, animals (some of which were now extinct, like lions and polar bears) and scenes of native life from China, Africa, South America, Europe and Australia. They were only pictures that had been printed off the computer, but she was always looking for new ones, if she could find them.
"I have some wine somewhere," said Elizabeth, going to look in the kitchen cupboard. "Go ahead and sit down."
She came back a minute later with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "So – what did you get from the library?" she asked as they began to eat.
Will took from his pocket a small microcard. "It's an old movie I've wanted to see."
"What is it called?"
"The Day the Earth Stood Still. 1951," he said. "You should watch it with me."
"It's not another alien movie, is it?" she asked suspiciously.
Will raised his eyebrows. "You're always jumping to conclusions, aren't you?"
"Is it?"
"Well…"
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, but this one's better than most, I promise you. Not like the last one. In this, an alien, looking just like us, comes down to warn us that our destructive ways may lead to our own destruction, but that the other planets will not let Earth's corruption spread across the galaxies."
"Hmm…" said Elizabeth. "Even if there were aliens, what's the likelihood that they would look like us, or even be humanoid at all?"
"Not likely," Will conceded.
"Oh, by the way, I want to return your article." She wiped her hands on a napkin and looked around in her bag. "Here it is," she pulled it out.
"No worries – you can keep it," said Will. "I have it on my computer."
But Elizabeth had seen the small package in her bag they she had received from the temp at her office and got it out.
"What's that?" Will said, looking at it.
"I don't know," she went over to sit on the couch to open it. "That horrible temp, Keisha, brought it to my office." She unwrapped the paper and opened the cardboard box. Inside was another box, made of wood in the shape of a cross.
"What is that?" Will asked. Elizabeth opened the top and there was a printed note folded inside and a microcard. "I didn't know you were religious."
"I'm not," said Elizabeth. "It's from my brother."
"Didn't know you had a brother."
"He lives in Texas. He's a pastor. My parents were missionaries when I was a kid."
"Where?"
"Africa – Zimbabwe." She unwrapped the note – it was typed out, as all letters and messages were.
Dear Elizabeth,
How are you doing? We're really missing you out here. The kids keep asking after you. Erin and I just celebrated the birth of another daughter – her name is Marie Grace. We wish you could have been here.
I found this the other day and thought you would like it. It's a 20th Century piece by Richard Wagner called "Götterdammerung." Not sure what it means, but the music is beautiful.
We are praying for you everyday. We'd love to have you come visit any time.
Love, John
And underneath that it read:
"Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance… All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? … But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."
She put the paper down and looked at the microcard. "What is it?" asked Will.
"It's music," she said, looking at the paper again. "Richard Wagner – Götterdammerung."
"What language is that? German?"
"Yes, German," said Elizabeth curiously. "It means 'twilight of the gods,' referring to the end of the world and the last battle, or a great worldwide upheaval or disaster."
"Like the Pandemic."
"Yes – like the Pandemic," she added, with a sad sigh. Both her parents had died from that virus which had spread rapidly across the globe. She had only been a child in Zimbabwe when the plague infected the village, and her mother and father had both contracted the disease while caring for poor villagers and had died. Will did not know this. Indeed, for being a friend he knew very little of her life, for Elizabeth did not make friends easily, and never shared her past with anyone.
"What's this quote at the bottom of the page?" asked Will, looking at the letter.
"It's from Isaiah, chapter 40."
"Well, for not being religious, you sure know a lot about the Bible."
"I told you – my parents were missionaries," she said, annoyed. She disliked talking about her Christian upbringing. She thought other scientists looked down on her for it. Will seemed to sense her irritation so he changed the subject.
"Sure you don't want to watch the movie with me?"
"No. Thanks, Will."
"All right, then. I'll see you later."
"Bye."
After he had left, Elizabeth slid the microcard into the slot in the wall beside the television and the music began to play. Then she sat at her desk with one of her precious pens in hand, and began to write. But soon she became absorbed with listening to the music, and the words that jumped out at her through the thundering chords.
She must have fallen asleep, because when she woke the music had ceased, but the phone was ringing. Her head had fallen onto her desk, and her pen had bled onto the paper. She carefully sealed it again and rose to press the red button on her phone.
"Yes?" she said groggily.
Will was on the other line, looking wide awake and almost manic. "Liz? Are you awake?"
"Will," she rubbed her eyes in exasperation. "It's the middle of the night."
"Turn on the telly – now," he said excitedly.
"Will, I'm not going to watch your alien movie –"
"No, no, it's not that. It's the news."
"Will, it's –" she looked at her watch – "3 a.m. Go to bed. I'll look in the morning."
"No, I'm telling you, you have to look now."
"Fine," she said, annoyed, and set the phone down to turn on the TV. The news seemed to be on every station. It was a picture of what looked to be the heavens – the deep black of space and stars, and amid them, another bright spot, like a luminescent sphere, was moving quickly toward the Earth.
Author's Note: I spent over two years writing this story, and have just finally finished editing it through. I will post a new chapter each day. I hope you enjoy! I would love to hear your comments.