Admiral Zhim, as per his daily routine, was checking the various wormholes that had been opened for his wealthy clients. The same dark energy drink was cupped in his hands. As he was stressful enough in his early life, he had become quite accustomed with the beverage. He belonged to a race which was humanoid in form but was amphibian. Being an amphibian, he needed to take a daily bath in his massage pool as did his family members to help maintain their bodies.
It had been about a month since they had lost the IMG, an organisation he had hoped would achieve more success and fame than any he had created before. He remembered how his loyal secretary Sanduo, fed him on the daily basis with how the group was operating and the various developments on the way.
He prodded the holographic screen infront of him, viewing the IMG folder. The transmissions Sanduo had delivered were still in his mainframe. The incident had been traumatic to him. He couldn't work everyday without for once remembering about the mishap.
He reluctantly played some transmissions. It was somehow soothing for him to hear the ones he knew were no more. What was running on the screen now, was the recording of the encounter with the accused one.
His eyes widened as something came to his mind. He had never thought of it.
The rooms in the Interstellar Traveller had hidden cameras and microphones that sent him footages and recordings in secret, a fact that he had kept away from Sanduo. The data was recorded and transmitted to him simultaneously. The only lag was the time they required to arrive and then be received. A small percentage of the warp drive transmitted all communications of the ship to his office. But what Sanduo knew was that only the messages he recorded for official transfer to the Admiral, were transferred. Zhim should have felt guilty for this deed of his at some point, but he didn't.
What now had crossed his mind was related to this development. There was a possibility in it that he hadn't considered before.
"Show me recordings of Sharlotte when she is alone in her room." The command did not exclude robots. And he didn't want to.
He saw footages of her in her bed, lying and fiddling with her amethyst necklace. Pretty... I should gift one to my daughter sometime. She'd love it.
He decided he'd stay in his office a little longer than usual, and analyse the accused.
__________
Two hours had passed. He was feeling sleepy as he watched Sharlotte sleep. "Haa, I need a refill." He reached for the machine to pour him another cup.
As he sipped his seventh cup of the energy drink, he looked as he saw robots come in her room. He noticed this was the recording of the next day. The day after her rescue. The robots seemed to enjoy chatting with the newcomer and mechanical giggling sounds echoed in the room. Never was a fan of those.
Sharlotte started speaking again. The topic had now changed. She spoke of the journey to the Gods, the same ones Zhim had encountered with the defunct bots that were assigned to the IMG, two of which he saw in company with Sharlotte on his screen.
The conversation started off as casual, but slowly it materialized into a detailed model of her plan.
"She's disclosing it to them? Rehearsing it seems?" he commented to himself, murmuring, as he saw her act out before the robots who were emotionless yet their monitors displayed a thumbs up and 'Bravo'.
Suddenly his expression changed as his eyes bulged out, a sign of him getting serious. His sensory cilia goosebumped, he listened to the conversation intently.
It baffled him, it marvelled him, but most importantly it gave him hope.
"How did she know so much?" he questioned himself.
Sharlotte spoke of a journey through Afterlife which was another universe! Of having a greater purpose in death which was the capture of a being named Juvo, one he was well acquainted with. He listened to all of it. He hit rewind and copied down the information in his notepad.
Once the conversation ended, he watched as Sharlotte ordered them to delete the information she had just shared. Of course... You just needed to rehearse it through. What better audience to rehearse with than with the bots! After all you can't risk telling people such valuable information! They aren't trustworthy.
He got up. All of a sudden he had a ton of knowledge about what had happened to the IMG. He had to do something with it.
__________
That night he couldn't sleep. His wife lay comfortable by his side but he lay perturbed with the notepad in his hands. He knew he had to do the IMG justice. He could do something. He had the power.
Should he send help? Knowing Juvo, he knew the IMG couldn't handle him alone. But then again there was this law that had made Sharlotte the multiversal criminal. He couldn't risk his or his soldiers' lives on something fruitless- what good was it if it cost their lives?
He wriggled to the opposite side, keeping his back to his wife. There is something in living beings that can annihilate another 'verse causing a chain reaction that can eventually destroy the whole multiverse. He closed his eyes and pondered over the thought. A moment passed.
"Right!" he sat upright in a shot. It awakened his wife.
"Dear, are you having the nightmares again?" she squeaked.
"Just a realisation. Go back to sleep. I would tell you about it tomorrow," he said lovingly.
"Very well." She returned back to her previous position.
Zhim couldn't stop smiling. Now, somewhat relaxed and relieved, he tucked himself in his bed, as he closed his eyes and let his dreams take him over.
__________
The morning air greeted him as a warm suction aroused him from his bed. "Good morning, dear," his wife said lovingly, her lips now departed from his forehead. "Slept well I suppose?" There was a quirky grin somewhere in her eyes.
"Ho, uhm! Yeah! Of course, of course," his shy face and embarrassment forced her to laugh out loud.
Realising what had happened, he quickly tried to regain his normality and neutralise his face. "Where is Jenna? She left for school?"
"As always, yeah. You seem to never wake up at the right time to kiss her goodbye." She got off the bed, her tail wagging behind her as she left for the household chores.
He had taken the resolution so many times, yet he failed most often to watch his daughter get ready for school. Sighing, he dressed himself, picking up the neat apparels kept by his sofa by his loving wife. Sometimes he thought she was more perfect than him, and that only made him admire her more and less himself.
Once he departed for work in his automated capsule that followed a marked path on the road while hovering a few centimetres above ground, his mind returned to the idea he had had last night. The smile returned to his face and he watched his surroundings drift backwards as he neared to his workplace, the headquarters of the Galactic Patrol.
Within an hour, he arrived at his workplace. "You have arrived at your destination," the AI called out, as it did everyday. Zhim clicked the handle switch and the glass door receded underneath the roof. He then exited the vehicle. It went to the parking area without making any noise. Entering the building, he at once called for the chief engineer. All speakers in the building announced the name and to meet him in his office.
Sitting comfortably, he rolled his chair in impatience as he waited for the engineer to arrive. It was some ten minutes or so before she came.
"You know I don't like anyone to be late," he addressed the woman roughly.
"Sorry sir. Won't happen again." She bowed for apology. Then regaining her stature, she asked, "What is it you needed me for, sir?"
"You know, something terrific happened yesterday," Zhim began. "Take a seat."
She obeyed and looked at him, her blue eyes sparkling with interest.
"I hope as everyone, you remember the IMG, and... what happened to them?"
"It was a tragedy sir." She looked down.
"Well, I was going through their transmissions yesterday, as I usually do. But, I also did something that I do not normally do. I opened the involuntary recordings."
She knew about that part that Admiral Zhim had slipped out from the IMG. It was for various reasons, she had understood. "Okay, sir. What did you find?"
His smile returned. "A lot." He started with Sharlotte in her room, alone with the robots and how she was rehearsing her actions that she planned to act out in order of operations before the IMG. Her plan materialized as he spoke and the information that he shared seemingly dove the engineer to sheer depths of incredulity.
Her face had now become the pinnacle of awe as she stared at the admiral with wide eyes and dropped jaw.
"That's great! Incredible! It confirms so many of our theories!" Her jubilation burst out. But as she said the words, she saw no change in the expression of the Admiral. She understood there was something else that the admiral had in mind. "What are you getting at with all of this?" A mischievous smile played on her lips.
"The law is the key, Samara. We can help the IMG. We need not transcend life. There is another way."
She pondered over the clue as Zhim had intended, playing her over the riddle. She played with her hair, curling it. Then straightened it back. Her eyes moved to the screens on the walls, that broadcasted the products on sale in the galactic markets. She at once realised the answer the Admiral was waiting to hear.
"You want to send robots for the IMG's help! As many as you can!" How delightful she was!
"There you have it!" He grinned, "The problem is how do we send them." He opened his hands to Samara, eager to hear what she had to say.
"Hmm. How we construct wormholes is a simple puncture in the space-time fabric that makes two holes. We then supply energy to stretch it through a higher dimension, increasing its gravitational pull as the region becomes more curved, so to keep it in control, we increase its radius so the gravitational pull is mildly distributed. That is how we make wormholes to travel from one point of space to another in our universe. What you propose is to make connections across 'verses. One continuous wormhole, leading to Afterlife. It is possible, but we need the correct procedure. If we get the procedure of how to do it, the amount of negative mass to be used can be calculated and that will make a puncture pointed outside the space-time fabric- the opposite of a singularity. We have never done that before. Through that we can cause the fabric of Afterlife to open in on our wormhole, thus completing it." She finished.
Zhim considered it. It might be a possibility, but how could he figure out where Afterlife was? He had to give the mathematicians the correct figures so that they could figure something out. Figures and information as to how to connect their universe with Afterlife. And also, how do you locate a 'verse in a place where how many dimensions are in action you don't even know?
"Right. Procedure. No one can tell us about it, right? We can't contact them to know where they are and how we can..." He trailed away looking disappointed as he knew it wasn't possible. He looked back at Samara. "I will call you again later. You can leave now."
"Ok, sir." She left without another word to attend to her duties.
That day, aside from his work, he examined the other recordings of Sharlotte with the robots when she was alone. They could respond in surprisingly human ways so it seemed that she had chosen them instead of her reflection to rehearse. If I can get just enough out of her...
After a while, a recording caught his attention: "Our 'verse is right by the side of Afterlife. Every 'verse is right by the side of it! It has something to do with properties of higher dimensions. That's why everyone can transcend from life to death and come to Afterlife so easily. It encompasses all 'verses with living beings. Like, one could say we are inside of it. But that's just the illusion we perceive because of our lack of higher dimensional perspective."
"Can't somebody go there without dying?" B.O.8 chimed.
"There is a gateway to Afterlife, well more than one obviously but I know of one. It is on the crater Valhalla of Calisto, the moon of Jupiter. No luck seeing it as it is not visible to us being made of other-worldly stuff! Beings after dying near the vicinity of it, transcend this universe through it."
That won't help then... he thought. Still what she was telling was going in the right direction. The robots were enthusiastic as they asked questions to her.
"That isn't in my plan as we will die eventually, but one can go there without dying. Just creating a wormhole outside and not making the other puncture is the way. Like creating a hole and exiting it. Just passing beyond our universe on the outside. You'll end up in the multiversal region but would actually be in Afterlife. Like if you imagine our universe as a ball and you are a point on the surface of it, you just need to jump off into the higher dimension."
Zhim's face became pale. He had gotten an answer. He now knew how to save the IMG. "Samara, I need you to come to my office immediately!" He spoke in the microphone. It instantaneously blared throughout the building.
It was only a matter of time now. He realised, he now had the necessary knowledge to save them. The organization that he loved so much and had high hopes for, could indeed be now, brought back from the dead.
But obviously, Juvo had to be dealt with before that. He knew whom to call now. The advertisement had returned on the screen. He dialled the number shown below the advertisement.
It started ringing.
STRILON SPEAKING
For those of you who want to explore the higher dimensional concept in greater detail about how Afterlife encompasses the other universes yet still the other universes are not inside of it, I'd recommend watching this video👇
Weird spheres in higher dimensions- by Numberphile