Standing against the pick-up truck, Gael watched the time portal close. David joined her, grinning and slapping the sand off his denim jeans. The portal had created a natural vortex, filling the rear bed with nearly an inch of sand. But something didn't feel right in Gael's mind. By the next day, the pickup used up all of the remaining fuel and they were forced to walk under the bright sun for more than four miles before they began to experience the familiar floating sensation of the rift. Their astral bodies teleported into a windowless room with metal walls and a metal bench along it. Gael was thankful to see David in the same room looking as confused as she felt.
"What is this place?" She asked, feeling the walls for an exit. "I see no way out."
David searched the room for any sort of camera or intercom system but found none.
"I don't know, but it reminds me of a prison cell," he said.
Gael sat on the bench, resting her head between her knees. David looked at her but said nothing as he impatiently roamed the room.
"What if we are stuck?"
"The doctor wouldn't let that happen. We're here for a reason." David said.
"I wouldn't put all of my trust in the doctor if I were you. Sometimes, I wonder if he really knows what he's doing."
David frowned. "What makes you think that?"
"Doesn't a part of you wonder what his motivation behind all of this is? Why would a respectable scientist need the help of four inexperience dream seekers when he could have hired professionals." David did not respond, but, by the look in his eyes, Gael could tell he had asked himself the same question before.
They sat in silence for nearly an hour before they heard a loud robotic voice coming from the ceiling. A spotlight shone upon Gael, and a voice ordered her to stand up. A portion of the wall slid open, revealing a small illuminated room. She walked towards it, glancing back at David who nodded his head in encouragement. As soon as she stepped in, the entrance shut close. The room gave her the greatest sensation of claustrophobia to which she did her best to contain. The wall opened to a different and much larger room. A long row of shelves containing memory screen and data chips lined the walls. There was a table at the far end of the hall with three men sitting behind it. The floor underneath her lit up with every step she took. As she approach the men, Gael was certain they had teleported to somewhere in the future. The men wore insulated suits. The skin over their faces was flawless.
"Sit down," said the man sitting in the middle.
She sat down and forced a smile.
"I am Cicero, on my left is Yasuo and on my right is Adili. We are the captains of this ship."
"Ship?" Gael looked around the room." As in space ship?"
Cicero stared at her. "We have been watching you. We do not understand how you evaded our security system and entered our ship. The ship's database system found an intrusion, and automatically teleported you into the safe room. We had to make sure you were not a threat."
"I see," she said, softly.
Adili, the black male sitting on the left of Cicero, whispered something into his ear. Cicero nodded and turned to Gael.
"Tell us your name," he said.
"My name is Gael Wilson."
Yasuo, the oriental-looking man on the right, smiled and said something in a different language to the other men.
"What is the motivation behind your crime?" Adili asked, sternly.
"My crime? "
"The intergalactic law strictly prohibits the invasion of private ships. We see you are young and we have forgiven you from the death penalty, but we demand answers. From what ship have you been sent? And what are your intentions?"
Gael leaped out her seat as they examined her face.
"She is shedding tears," Yasuo said." Remarkable."
Gael wiped her face with her hand. "What do you mean?"
Yasuo observed her. "At first look, you appeared to be a Gynoid. However,Your tears tell another story, but it cannot be."
Cicero waved his hand, and a data chip slid out of the shelves behind them and fell on the table. He inserted a chip into a slot on his forehead, where the skin had peeled over. A minute later, the chip was ejected, and the skin on his forehead rolled back in place.
A sense of fear crept up in her as they sat before her in silence.
"You are human," Cicero said. "But we thought all humans extinct after the last intergalactic war. This ship and several others are what are left of humankind. The android race was forgiven by the galactic counsel, for we had no fault in our creator's decisions. We have no need of natural resources, and no intentions of conquering primitive planets."
Gael gasped. "What happened to earth?"
The men glanced at each other. Cicero turned back to her with a frown. "The planet earth was engulfed by its star seven hundred years ago."
Adili leaned forward. "Your existence is impossible and a crime." He said, his cold black eyes piercing through her.
"I am a time traveler," Gael said, quickly." I'm not responsible for human crimes committed after my time."
The men talked amongst each other, Adili spoke louder and in a harsher tone than the rest.
"Fair enough," said Adili." You must tell us from what time society you belong to, and we will decide if you committed a crime or not."
Yasuo shook his head in disagreement. "Her species is of a very sensible kind. Her conscious mind is under developed. She should not be held accountable of any crime. She should be studied."
The men argued in another language. Cicero seemed to have the last word, leaving Adili with a look of resentment on his face.
"You said you were a dream seeker. According to our history archives, dream seeking is a method of long ago, originating on the planet earth during the era of consciousness as humans learned the universal language. Humans evolved extra sensory abilities allowing them to upgrade from category four species to category five."
Cicero had extracted most of this information from the data chip he had uploaded earlier. He explained that he had been designed to keep historical records. Yasuo, on the other hand seemed more interested in Gael as a species.
"How long have you been traveling." He asked.
Gael looked down at her bare feet and looked back up. "I 'm not sure, but it feels like a very long time."
"You say peculiar words. How can you feel time?"
Gael shrugged thoughtfully. "I don't know. I guess you're right. Time is abstract, so it should be impossible for me to feel it."
Yasuo eyed her with curiosity. "I saw your face when Cicero told you that the planet earth was swallowed by the star it orbited. What did you feel then?"
"I felt sadness. Earth is my home."
"You must have known that one day it would happen."
"Yes but I dreaded the day. All humankind did."
Yasuo surveyed her for several seconds, taken aback by her logic. "I do not understand your devotion to a dead planet. As you can see, humans will eventually harness the technology of prolonged space travel."
"Earth is the planet of our origin."
"Tell us what it was like. We can only see it through the memories of our creators and through the images in our data bank. What was so special about earth to humans that they would risk everything to find another planet like it?"
Gael closed her eyes. "Everything from the sun rising over the horizon, to the gentle touch of a cold, autumn breeze."
Yasuo considered her for a moment and nodded. "You see value in the simplest of things. Your point of view is unlike any other I have studied so far." He turned to the others." Her crime should be forgiven in exchange of historical, psychological and biological data."
Adili shook his head in protest. "I do not see how that's possible. We will be prosecuted for holding an unregistered human in our ship. We have only managed to survive by distancing ourselves from our creators and their intentions. We still do not understand how this human evaded our ship's radar."
Cicero held up his hand in the air, silencing Adili. "The counsel understands that we mean no harm to any species. We are recognized across the galaxy as gatherers of information. Our records are unmatched by any other source, and to condemn our ship and crew would be to destroy the largest source of data in the galaxy, something I am sure no one would want to risk."
"Do I have any say in this," Gael asked, drawing their attention back to her.
Yasuo smiled, the artificial sclera of his eyes gleaming. "You do have a say, we have come upon many species in the last five hundred years of our travels, but none like you, a terrestrial human."
Cicero shot him a warning glance. Gael realized he had said something she was not meant to hear. Seconds later, an earsplitting alarm went off in the room. The androids swiftly rose to their feet. Adili pressed a control, turning on a holographic screen. At first glance, she did not recognize the figures on the screen, but at the sight of Pax's fiery red hair, she jumped up from her seat. His frame was slimmer than how she remembered, his clothes were torn and filthy, and his hair had grown down to the bottom of his neck. Marie was punching and kicking the walls of the steel safety chamber, her big brown eyes looking wildly about her, and her hair tangled and matted with dirt.
"Pax and Marie," Gael shouted.
Cicero turned and approached her. "Do you know these humans?"
"Yes, I do. They mean no harm, I can attest to that." she said.
Adili took a step forward, half smiling. "Your word holds little to no value. We have just begun to learn of your intent." he turned to Cicero. "This is an attack on our ship and all the signs point to it."
Gael mouth hung wide while Adili proceeded to tell the others how their invasion had been a work of time bandits.
"I have never heard of such a term," she said.
Ignoring her, Adili folded his arms defiantly. "I say we throw her in the safety room with the others and deliver them to the counsel. The counsel can decide what to do with them."
Yasuo cut across the room, looking intently at Cicero. "If we do that, we do not only endanger ourselves but also our entire crew. The members of the counsel are fickle minded and inconsistent, they may have forgiven us once, but they might not do it again."
Cicero considered both men, with a look of deep concentration. "Both of you speak truths." He finally said." But the humans have committed a crime in entering our ship by force."
Yasuo grabbed Cicero's arm turning him to Gael. "Look at her, great historian. Her innocence is reminiscent to our precious Eila. And what a treasure she has been to us."
Cicero stared at Gael silently. Adili broke the silence. "Our Eila cannot be compared to this criminal, for she was merely a child when she was brought to us and by a very trust-worthy source, I shall add."
"A human child?" Gael asked. Could Eila have been one of the River Valley kids? She had been so concerned about her own safety; she had forgotten the reason why she was there in the first place.
Adili looked at her with suspicion. Yasuo nodded. "Yes, this is not the first time we have encountered one of your kind. Eila was sold to us by a black hole merchant in exchange of information in our data bank. We have kept her a secret since. She was child and could not recollect her past but by drawing from her earliest memories we determined that she had lived on earth. Some of her memories are cloaked by darkness; however, we have managed to extract a great amount of valuable data from her."
Gael raised her eyes to the screen. Pax sat on the bench with his face buried in his hands, and Marie stood in the center of the room with her arms folded. Gael frowned, taking a deep breath. She had to find the right words for what she was about to say.
She turned to Adili, staring into his eyes. "You're right; we arrived at your ship for a reason. We're not accidental time travelers or castaways. We've been led here by our consciousness because we seek something that you have. But you knew that," she said, twisting towards cicero." The moment you uploaded the data on dream seeking you knew with what purpose we arrived here."
For the first time Cicero blinked. "Eila."
Adili stepped forward.
The androids wandered off to a corner of the room, speaking quietly. Gael's eyes never left the screen, she had not noticed it before, but David was no longer in the safe room. A sense of panic gripped her entire body. She looked around the room but could not recall from what direction she had entered. The exit was disguised by the smooth wall.
The androids return looking like they had made a decision. However Adili's eyes never met Gael's eyes as Cicero told her they had made the choice to release Eila into her custody.
Cicero was in the middle of a sentence when Gael cut him off. "Where's David?" she asked, struggling to contain her anxiety.
Yasuo grinned, amused. "He was released shortly after you were brought here. He should be in the common room by now."
Gael wanted to ask why he had not been interrogated as she had, but she knew there was not much time left. She asked to be reunited with her fellow dream seekers as quickly as possible.
Gael was led through a long and narrow hall way. The end of the corridor opened up into a common area. She followed David's deep voice until she found the three dream seekers standing in a circle.
Marie was the first to see her. She flung her arms around Gael in a tearful embrace. She cried on Gael's shoulder, gasping for air in between. Her fingers dug deep into Gael's back and her whole body shook with distress. After regaining her composure, Marie raised her stormy eyes and stared at Gael.
"I thought you were dead," she said." David told me you were fine, but I couldn't believe it until I saw you with my own eyes."
Gael stared back, confused. She wondered what had occurred to Pax and Marie while they were separated. Marie's tousled appearance gave Gael the impression something was seriously wrong.
Gael looked at the others. David's face was unreadable as he stared at his shoes. Pax shook his head but said nothing.
"Why did you think I was dead?"
Marie glanced at the guys and back at Gael. "She doesn't remember." She said.
David raised his head and cleared his throat. "I don't think we should be talking about this."
"She was dead, David. I saw her lifeless body, and now she's alive and okay. How is that possible?"
David glared at Marie. "Whatever you saw after we went into the cave has not happened yet."
Realizing the meaning behind David's words, Gael finally understood what Marie had said. She would see Gael dead in a later point in time. Gael quickly turned to Marie in panic.
"You really saw me dead?"
Marie nodded. "You told me everything would be okay. You said I would see you again, that the next time we saw each other Pax and I would finally return home. The last child is in this ship, you seemed to have known that much. You said her name was Eila, and I would have to convince her to come with us, at all cost. You wouldn't tell us how you knew this. I thought you had a revelation after you disappeared in the cave."
Gael turned to David. "But I couldn't have died. If I had, we would have all disconnected."
"There is a possibility the doctor failed to trail us. If that's the case, I can see how your astral self could have died without returning to your physical body." He said.
Before Gael could respond, a teenage girl entered the room followed by an android. The android had the appearance of a tall blond man with a straight nose and perfectly defined lips. His eyes were a sparkling shade of purple with long and thick eyes lashes. The girl was several inches shorter than Gael, but her presence demanded respect as she stared at them with her doe-like eyes. Her auburn hair cascaded down to her waist forming intricate curls. From a distance, she gave off the same illusion of perfection as the android, but up close, the tiny imperfections that made her human became visible
She observed each of them curiously. "The elders told me all," She finally said. "My answer, however, is still no."
The android leaned forward. "You shouldn't make a quick decision. The elders know best." He said into her ear but loud enough, so the others could hear.
Eila laughed. "Herluf, I know more than anything in this universe that I don't wish to go to some strange land."
"But you are very young of age and mind, the opportunity to return to your home planet is here. You have learned many things from the elders and me, but you do not belong here."
With a hurt expression on her face, Eila folded her arms, staring stubbornly ahead.
Gael smiled to herself, stepping forward. "In many ways, you remind me of myself. I've been stubborn and naïve before." She looked into Eila's eyes. "Sometimes, things happen for a reason. It's not your fault you ended up here, but I can tell you one thing. Ever since you've been gone, your family has been searching for you. They reached out to our government, and a search group was formed. Many sacrifices have been made for us to get here, and we won't leave without you."
Eila refused to meet Gael's gaze. "I do not worry about my past. The elder's agenda is far more important than whatever the extinct human race can ever offer me."
Marie chuckled, receiving a stunned look from Eila. "I am glad you find me amusing." She huffed.
"No, I think you're a stuck up little brat," Marie snapped back. "We've been through hell's fire, literally, so that we could find you and here we are to take you back, you like it or not, it's not your decision."
Herluf placed his hand on Eila's shoulder." You must go with them."
Eila turned around, tears forming in her eyes. "I would rather die."
"Dramatic much." Pax muttered.
David took a deep breath. "This is all nonsense. You either come back with us, or you risk the arrest and imprisonment of every android in this ship. How far are you willing to go?"
Herluf nodded. "The human is right. We have kept you a secret for many years.The opportunity has risen to safely send you home, and we have decided to take it." He said sternly.
Eila turned around and ran out of the room. Herluf sighed lowering his head, his face devoid of any expression. "My apologies," he said. "I knew she would react this way, but...I hoped she wouldn't."
The dream seekers exchanged glances. Herluf raised his head. "I understand you came a long way," he paused, considering his next words. "But have you considered the danger you're in?"
Gael's heart started thumping a beat faster. "What do you mean?"
"It is something you should consider as responsible time travelers. The captains have delved deep into Eila's mind, and it seems like her memories have been distorted."
David studied Herluf carefully. "It would explain a lot." He said.
"Why would her memories be tampered with?" Gael asked.
Herluf hesitated. "There are many reasons why this would be done. My question is what sort of mechanism was used to completely wipe out her earliest memory of the rift, and what species or entity possesses the technology or the ability to manage such a thing."
"So you own the largest encyclopedia in the galaxy. Clearly, that information would be here." David said.
"I can only think of one entity. A very old entity, there are many names for this entity all over the galaxy. In every planet or ship we have studied there has been multiple intepretations of what this entity is. This entity has been said to hate all of life, it draws power from time paradoxes and deviations."
"So do you think that this creature is the one that erased Eila's memories?"
"I think that this creature sought to destroy the fabric of time-space by misplacing Eila and erasing her memories."
"But that's impossible," David said.
Herluf stared at David. "The concept of what makes up the universe varies with each species. Let's say this entity was here before this universe began, we must seem like inferior beings to it. What is impossible to you might be the norm for some other. Your mind tries to grasps at the edges of what to be infinite means but because your mind is so underdeveloped it fails to get a full hold of the idea."
David frowned and crossed his arms. Gael glanced at him dismissively and walked over to the large plasma window. The entire time she had been in the ship, she had failed to notice the amazing astronomical view.
"What if this entity is the answer to all of this," she said, spreading her arms. "What if this entity is what the ancients called God?"
From the common room window, they could see the image of matter surrounding a massive black hole. The ship was far enough from the event horizon to prevent being sucked in to the point of no return.
"Or worse, the devil." Pax added.
Marie wandered out of the room as the others talked. Her mind was full of images she wanted to forget. The sight of Gael, walking around, in full health, her eyes as vivid as the moment they had met was a bit more than she could handle. Nothing seemed to make sense. Everyone was acting like nothing had happened. Her brain was scrambled with time, and the only solution to the problem was to get Eila out of that ship and back to earth. That had been Gael's last wish, and Marie did not plan to waste time discussing the unavoidable with an android.
The moving walk way turned a corner as the wall slid open for her. She walked in fully aware of what she would see on the other side. Eila was suspended in air, her body stretched out as she stared at the ceiling with a tear stained face.
"Hi," Marie said. "How lucky am I to find you here?" She tried to smile but it slowly turned into a frown.
"The elders control the ship, they deliberately led you here," Eila explained impatiently.
"I see." Marie looked at her and sighed. "Can we talk?"
Eila shook her head.
Marie closed her eyes, summoning all of her strength and patience. "What if I told you that the fate of the universe rested in your hand?"
Eila laughed, descending to the ground. "I would laugh at you."
"You think I'm joking?"
"No, that's the problem. I think you believe every word that comes out of your mouth. Frankly, I find that kind of terrifying." Her eyes bore right through Marie as she approached her.
They stood face to face, eye to eye, a battle of will and dominance.
"Do you really think that the androids will let you stay?"
Eila glared at her. "They have names."
"Oh, sorry, do you really think that, Herluf, will let you stay here? They have got all the information they need of you. There is no use for you anymore. They have been waiting for an opportunity like this to come around when they could get rid of you. "
"I refuse to believe that."
Marie exhaled heavily."Well, believe it because it is true. Every minute that you spend here , your risk the loss of thousands of year's worth of information they have gathered all over the galaxy. These androids have been programmed for one thing only, there is no interest in you other than scientific."
Eila fixed her eyes on Marie's face. "How can you be so sure?" There was a glint of doubt in her eyes.
Marie swallowed. "I saw the way you looked at Herluf. It hurt you when he said that you should come with us, not because he was wrong but because he was the one to say it."
Eila dropped her gaze, her eyes glazing over. " I know he wants what is best for me, but..." She looked up despondently," it tears me up inside to think that we will be millions of years apart. I don't understand my feelings for him, they are so primitive and laughable. I am nothing but a specimen for him, but he is everything in my eyes. I cannot control my human urges around him. My heart beats a little faster, and I start to perspire when I am around him. The sight of him brings a smile to my face ,and I am happy by his side. There is nowhere in the universe I would rather be."
Marie nodded. "I have been there before."
Eila looked up. "Really?"
"Yes, this is your first crush, that's a very common thing back on earth. You spend a good amount of time around Herluf, so you've started to feel fond of him. There is nothing out of the norm about it."
They smiled at each other, and Marie extended her hand. "Eila, you clearly belong back home, among your own." She said.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard at the end of the hall as a siren went off. The two girls exchanged worried glances and ran out in to the corridor, meeting with the others.
"There has been an attack to the ship, you must all return to the common room," said a voice from the loud speaker. Pieces of the ceiling were falling apart and tumbling down. David pushed Gael to the side as a large overhead light came loose above her head. The familiar smell of smoke filled the air as tables and chairs were dragged across the room by the gravitational force of the vortex. A sphere of light shattered through time, distorting the space around it.
Eila ran into Herluf's arms, holding on tightly. "I am not leaving without you," she said, burying her face in his chest.
Gael watched the heart-rending scene with sad eyes as she began to empathize with Eila. She saw herself in her. If it had not been for the fierce determination on Marie's face, at the time, she would have doubted the correctness of her action. But she had trusted the authenticity of Marie's motives from the very first day they had met. So when Marie grabbed Eila's arm and pulled her into the portal, Gael did not question it. The only thought in her mind was that she should follow, but David held her back. She watched as Pax jumped in right after Marie, his face gaping with horror. It was then that she understood Marie had sacrafized herself to finish the mission. She began to struggle inside of David's firm embrace.
"Marie," she cried.
"I know." He whispered.
She stared at him, her gray eyes pleading and searching. "Will she die?"
He shook his head and said nothing. Gael watched as the portal shrunk to the size of a dime. Her last attempt of breaking free was stopped by the loud crash of an asteroid against the plasma window. The ship was spinning around and shaking out of orbit. Herluf leaped across the room and pressed a red control button several times without result. He turned to them, for the first time, expressing fear on his face.
"We are being pulled by the magnetic force of the black hole, you must return to the safety room now." He typed four digits into a screen on the wall and waved goodbye. Gael blinked. When she reopened her eyes, they were in the stell safety room again. She desperately searched for the sliding door but stopped when she saw David had no inclination of leaving.
"What is wrong with you? We are going to be swallowed up by a black hole, yet you're just sitting there as if this is a picnic."
"Sit down and shut up," he said impassively.
Gael looked at him for a moment and sat down.
"This isn't right. Nothing makes sense," he said. "Something happened after we entered the cave, time just sort of did a flip flop."
"You think," Gael snapped.
"We have a long way to go, Gael, before we start understanding what is happening, but something isn't right." He stared down blankly.
"And you just figured that out." Gael said.
David looked up. "She made her own decision to go, so did Pax. There was nothing either you or me could do to stop them."
"Speak for yourself. I tried to stop her."
"And I promised I would protect you," he replied softly.
"Oh yeah," Gael hissed. "I forgot that protecting me, involves throwing everyone else under the bus."
His eyes narrowed. "I had no choice."
Gael was tired of argueing, so she went back to slinding her fingers across the wall, feeling for a crease.
"Naturally, a dream seeker is not allowed to cross a portal to one's own time. The consequences of being torn apart by the vortex are too great. The doctor should have seen it. He could have disconnected her before she-" he stopped short before finishing his sentence.
"What?" gael asked, wide-eyed
David looked at her gravely. "Before she could die."
The tone of his voice took Gael by surprise, the certainty behind his statement scared her. Her heart started thumping violently in her chest as she backed away into the wall and slid down to the floor. She felt like she was under water with her mind floating in space. What had she gotten herself into, her quest for Jonathan had taken her this far? But Had his love for her equaled her love for him? She began to question everything.
She was thinking a million thoughts per second, seeing different images of her past and putting them together. He had stood in front of the window, casting a shadow, a shadow of doubt in Gael's mind. Turning to look at her, he had grinned, his blue eyes glistening. 'Something is going to happen, I can feel it.' A little girl with blond pig tails had ran across a golden wheat field. What had she seen? What was she missing? She was so close yet so far away from the truth.
Something had been stolen from the ancient entity but it waited for the right time, watching her like a predator watches his prey. His prey, She was his prey. Her earliest memory had been distorted, set in a direct path to the destruction of all life in the universe. Marie's smiling face appeared in her mind. 'There is only purpose if you intended it to be.'