04
Dr. Snowden sat back in his usual chair in the Torvatta’s command area. The only place he had spent more time was in the planar cartography lab. Syrilus’s changes to the Torvatta were evident.
The left and right front screens had disappeared, and in its place was one screen that started at the midpoint of the ship and went all the way to the front. It was transparent, with various data windows, suggesting that there wasn’t any structure behind it.
Looking around, he noted it was like the command center area jutted out from the rest of the Torvatta, leaving the front half open. The command center floor was not transparent like the rest of the front half, but it now had grid lines in it. He ran his hand over his mouth. “This is amazing.”
Evaran, in his command chair, said, “I showed her my experiences so far in this plane. She saw our conversation on this, and it appears it has been done. V, run a diagnostics analysis.”
“Acknowledged,” said V.
Emily gasped as the screen lit up with various pieces of data.
Dr. Snowden focused on one section that appeared to be a Torvatta status window. It had an external view along with a wireframe view and various labels and indicators around it. Another area had a large layout of the Torvatta, with colors, labels, and various metrics scattered throughout. He shook his head. “Breathtaking. There’s no need to go to the roof with this setup.”
“There is if you want the full three-sixty degrees, but this at least gives us a better view,” said Evaran. “There are quite a few other changes. I think you will like this one. Prepare yourself.”
Dr. Snowden scooted to the edge of his seat and gripped the arms.
Evaran pressed a button on his chair console.
The Torvatta interior changed to a wireframe view.
Dr. Snowden gulped as he surveyed the change. There were no walls or floor, just lines. Looking back, he noticed that the six dimensional doors seemed to be floating while glowing. It reminded him of a 3-D wireframe model. “What … what is all this?”
“Syrilus has given me the schematics for the Torvatta. It would seem the interior is now a functioning holo room. I can alter it as needed,” said Evaran.
“Like the roof?” asked Emily.
“Yes,” said Evaran. He gestured at Emily. “When you are in the holo room, you can access an options menu. Try that here.”
Emily circled her finger in the air. An options menu appeared next to her. She drew her head back. “Umm … okay … Guess we can do that in here now?”
Evaran nodded. “The dimensional areas are still the same, although one has changed. As you had to learn your PSDs, it looks like I will need to learn the Torvatta again.” He pressed a button, and the Torvatta interior returned back to its normal state.
“We’ll learn it with you,” said Dr. Snowden. “So … which dimensional area changed?”
“The maintenance one.”
Dr. Snowden rubbed his chin. “I’ve never been in there. What was the change?”
“I am … not fully sure yet. From what the Torvatta is reporting, it seems it has been added to. The schematics have the details on it, and I will need to research them. There were areas that had an unknown purpose, but now I will learn what they do or were meant to do.”
“Syrilus was quite generous,” said Dr. Snowden. He dipped his head. “Speaking of which … you okay after seeing her?”
Evaran nodded. “Syrilus and I are cosmic beings. We experience emotion different from what you would understand. This plane form translates it as best as it can, even though it is limited. I miss her, and wish I could spend more time with her, but that time has passed for now. All I can do is look forward.”
Emily smiled. “We’re with you there. She seemed like she would’ve been fun to travel with. I mean … if she was still around.”
“I understand. Her transition to a plane is cyclical. She will be as you saw her at some point in the future, although she will not remember me,” said Evaran. He clenched his jaw for a moment, then swept his eyes across everyone. “She chose to speak to you all. Do not dismiss that as something she would normally do. Something about you three has piqued her interest.”
“She said it was because we traveled with you,” said Emily.
Evaran shook his head. “At a high level, yes. There is more to it than that, I suspect.”
V faced Evaran. “She mentioned my origin.”
Evaran wrinkled his eyebrows. “What did she say?”
“She said I was beautiful, and was going to say more about my origin but then stopped. The last plane form has more information on it,” said V.
“Interesting,” said Evaran. “It is then something I wish to tell myself.”
Dr. Snowden cleared his throat. “Yeah, apparently all the answers not already answered will be given by your last plane form.”
Evaran studied his chair console. “A wise precaution. Plane forms are limited in terms of knowledge due to when they entered the plane. As I am the first plane form, I would not know what the last plane form knew. Two plane forms meeting can bypass that if they share knowledge. That assumes that the plane forms are actually plane forms and not something else impersonating them.”
Dr. Snowden snorted. “Corrupted plane forms.”
“Yes. I have never encountered that before, but anything is possible,” said Evaran. He tapped at his chair console. “We will head to the coordinates given to us by Syrilus. I see that they are taking us to a parallel universe.”
“And correct me if I’m wrong … ,” said Dr. Snowden, wagging a finger, “but that would be … a universal cell with similar conditions to our universe.”
Evaran eyed Dr. Snowden for a moment. “You are correct. However, although they may share similar signatures, they may be different internally. We shall find out. V, take us there.”
“Acknowledged,” said V, spinning back around and interacting with the console.
Dr. Snowden watched the white environment fade out and the familiar sight of space ease in. He walked over to the side and tapped the screen with his finger. “Remarkable. It feels like I could just walk outside. Where are we? I mean, relative to Earth and our time period?”
“Analysis. We are approximately one point eight hundred fifty-two million light-years away from where Earth would be and four hundred three million years in the past. It is eleven oh five in the morning Earth time.”
Dr. Snowden chuckled. “Oh, well, at least the time of day is exact.”
V tilted his head while Emily shook hers.
The screen showed a high-level map of galaxies. It had a red dot in the Milky Way galaxy and a green dot in the galaxy they were in.
“Woah,” said Emily. She pointed at an orange swirly icon on the map. “What’s that?”
V interacted with the console. “It is a rift.”
“What type?” asked Evaran.
“Space-time. There is an object at the exit.”
Evaran rubbed his chin. “I want to check that out after this. The planet in question is nearby. As a precaution, put the Torvatta into stealth mode.”
“Acknowledged. Torvatta stealth mode engaged.”
The Torvatta angled itself, and a planet highlighted with a green outline appeared.
Dr. Snowden studied the labels. “It’s an ice world with what appears to be some type of rocky ring around it. What in the world would your last plane form be doing there?”
Evaran pointed at a red dot blinking on the planet. “We will head there and find out. V, take us in.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden took a step back as the Torvatta flew through the ring. The rocky portions of the ring whizzed by as he tried to study them.
Once through the ring, the Torvatta entered the atmosphere of the ice planet. It broke cloud cover and began a rapid descent.
Dr. Snowden felt like he could just extend his hand and feel the wind whipping by. With a quick turn of his head toward Evaran, he said, “It’s gonna take a bit to get used to this new look, but I like it.”
Evaran nodded.
“Me too,” said Emily.
Dr. Snowden pointed at the screen area near her. “Check that out. It has everything within a ten-light-year radius.” He hustled over and studied it.
“This is your dream setup,” she said with a small grin.
He smiled. “Well … just look at this. There’s not much detail farther out, it seems, but within a few light-years is a lot of detail.” He cocked his head, then touched the screen. When he pulled his hand back, a copy of the screen followed his hand. “Woah … okay, now that is slick.”
Emily stood up and walked around the free-floating window. “That is pretty cool. We can have our own version to play with or pull up.”
Evaran nodded. “This will be a good opportunity to learn the Torvatta together.”
“I’m on board with that,” said Dr. Snowden. He tried to focus on the landscape, but the heavy snow obscured his vision. The Torvatta had outlined where the ground was, so at least he could see that.
After twenty minutes, they reached the coordinates.
Dr. Snowden noted that they had flown into a forested valley settled in a mountainous region.
“Analysis. Facility detected.”
“Configuration?” asked Evaran.
“Time Warden.”
Evaran clenched his jaw, and after a moment, he said, “That means the object we saw before outside the rift was a Time Warden rift anchor station. It is keeping the rift open by having an anchor outside each end. This is not good.”
Dr. Snowden surveyed outside. “So … what do we do?”
“First things first. V, perform standard scans. Let us see what we are dealing with.”
“Acknowledged.”
The Torvatta angled down as it moved ahead.
Dr. Snowden could see the faint outline of four large black pillars, arranged in a square, that curved toward each other into a point above the facility, but did not converge. Shielding between the pillars kept out the snow and insulated an inner area. It reminded him of an elongated dome. Inside was a multilayered mound that had a composition of metal. Various entranceways dotted the rim. Outside the pillars were some smaller facilities that were covered with snow and ice. He gulped. “Looks pretty secure …”
“The Time Wardens are paranoid in general,” said Evaran. “V, show them.”
“Acknowledged.”
Emily remembered Evaran had talked about the Time Wardens. From what she knew, they were not to be trusted. She studied the Time Warden that appeared as a holographic image in front of Evaran. Although bugs no longer bothered her, the metallic, horizontal, teardrop-shaped body that sprouted numerous segmented metallic tentacles made her skin crawl. It reminded her of a scaled-up robot version of a daddy longlegs.
The body had light-blue indented rings segmenting it horizontally, and numerous circular glowing yellow eyes extended out like short cylinders of various sizes. The tentacles probably had several purposes. Some held the body up, while others swirled around. Various attachments at the end of the tentacles suggested that it could form them as needed, similar to how her PSD worked.
Dr. Snowden drew his lips flat. “I’m glad I don’t have trypophobia, because those eyes would trigger it.”
“Yeah,” said Emily. She furrowed her eyebrows. “So they’re machines?”
Evaran shook his head. “What you are seeing is their suit. Although there may be variations of it, this is the most common one I have come across.”
“So what do they look like underneath it?” she asked.
He tapped at his ARI, causing the holographic image to change to a blob of glowing yellow goo. “The Time Wardens are a species that exists in the timeline void. This is their natural form. They feed off the energy that a timeline creates. As they cannot exist in their natural form inside the timeline, or the small space around it, they use suits that are lined with timeline energy.”
She wrinkled her eyebrows again. “How could they create suits out in the timeline void?”
Evaran nodded. “In our universe, they intercepted a rift that went between two timelines. As matter passed through, they interacted with it, molded it, and were then able to enter the timeline. They adopted the technology of the various civilizations they encountered.”
“It sounds like they’re pretty intelligent,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran drew his lips flat. “Unfortunately, they are. They possess hideous intelligence and the ability to travel in rifts and keep them open using rift anchors. In each timeline, there is usually one entry point known as a timeplex that allows entry into it. It is a bit different than the anchor stations.”
“Hmm,” said Dr. Snowden, rubbing his chin. “Why are they called Time Wardens then? Goo in a can would be more appropriate.”
“Analysis. Smart goo in a can.”
Dr. Snowden pointed at V. “There you go.”
Emily chuckled.
“My question still stands, though,” said Dr. Snowden.
“And it is a good one,” said Evaran. “The Time Wardens capture anything that comes through the rifts where they have an anchor station. Then they imprison it and slowly feed off the rift energy that all living organisms take on when going through the rift. They call themselves Time Wardens, but it is more of a rough translation on my part. It fits their mentality and what they do. If my plane form has been imprisoned, then they would be feeding for a very long time.”
“They should be called Time Spiders,” said Dr. Snowden.
“I initially called them something similar to that, but they corrected me,” said Evaran.
“Oh. So … they’re eating your form?” asked Emily. She imagined the Time Wardens at a dinner table, slicing off parts of Evaran with their tentacles.
Evaran drew his lips flat. “Not in the sense of physically eating. They siphon using their technology. The problem is, if they are doing it to my plane form, then they are also feeding off energy from the Cosmic Medium. I cannot allow that.”
Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows. “Then we need to get your last plane form off the dinner table.”
Evaran nodded. “Of course. I believe we have some time, and I will need to go through the scan data. Take a break, and I will be back.”
Dr. Snowden watched Evaran head off to the research lab. “Situation went from positive to negative pretty quickly.”
“Yeah,” said Emily. “Evaran mentioned the Time Wardens before. He said we should avoid them.”
“That’s not happening,” he said.
She stood and gestured toward the conference room. “Care to join me for a snack?”
He stood and smiled. “Have you ever known me to turn down a chance to have a snack with the heroic Emily Snowden?”
She shook her head and swatted his arm as she headed to the conference room.
Dr. Snowden had taken a nap after enjoying a snack break with Emily. V had woken him up after several hours, and everyone had assembled in the conference room. Evaran sat at the head of the table, with Emily to his immediate left and Dr. Snowden to Emily’s left. V hovered over a chair to Evaran’s right.
Evaran interacted with his ARI, causing a holographic projection of an object to shoot up from the table. “This is a planar beam generator. It is a new pattern in the Torvatta database. It is powered by the dimension that sustains the Torvatta. It shoots out planar energy in any configuration. The downside is that it is a rather large device and requires a hookup to a specific internal port.”
“Sounds like Syrilus didn’t want you to make it a weapon,” said Emily.
“I concur,” said Evaran. “We can still move it due to its hovering ability. Placing it on the ramp will allow us to fire it at the Time Wardens’ base shields.”
“So … we’re gonna fly around and shoot with it?”
Evaran shook his head. “Not quite. We are going to land in stealth mode, then open a small hole using a halo pattern that expands. V will fly in and scout the area. The scans did not reveal much about the interior, other than the top levels of what was visible on the surface. I suspect this base goes underground a bit. Once V has discovered where my last plane form is, I will do an assessment of the situation and figure out the next step.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran stood. “V, take us to the coordinates I have put into the system.”
“Acknowledged.”
Evaran faced Dr. Snowden and Emily, who had stood. “Follow me.”
After a minute, they were in a side room in the research lab.
Dr. Snowden noted that the room had a circular pad with three pillars evenly spaced around the edge. He had never seen it used but had seen Evaran in the room before.
Evaran went to a freestanding console on the side and tapped at it.
After a moment, a rectangular object with rounded edges and a firing extension materialized on the pad. It was roughly three feet long by six feet wide, stood three feet tall, and hovered off the ground. An exterior port on the top stood out with a digital screen next to it.
He gestured at the object. “This is the planar beam generator. I have to hook it up to a room in the maintenance lab, and once it is powered up, we can use it.”
“It’s kinda big relative to most of the devices we’ve used,” said Dr. Snowden.
“That should give you some idea of how powerful it is,” said Evaran. He got behind the generator and pushed it forward.
Dr. Snowden and Emily stepped out of the way.
Evaran guided the generator out to the Torvatta exit ramp. He pushed it up to the shielding and then interacted with the generator’s console.
The generator lowered to the ramp.
“The generator cannot move while in use,” said Evaran. “I need to hook it up while it is motionless.” He took off toward the maintenance room.
Dr. Snowden and Emily caught up to Evaran just as he reached the maintenance entranceway.
Evaran paused and tilted his head. “You wish to see what is inside.”
“Well … yeah,” said Dr. Snowden. “We’ve been here all this time and never seen this door used.”
“Very well,” said Evaran. He interacted with his ARI, causing the normal white shielding over the doorway to dissipate.
Dr. Snowden peered in and noted that there was a featureless hallway that led to a lit-up room at the end.
Evaran stood to the side and gestured forward. “Please proceed.”
Dr. Snowden adjusted his glasses and, after a quick look at Emily, entered the hallway. When he reached the end, he stepped into an immense circular hub. His eyes widened at the hundreds of evenly spaced doors. There were multiple levels with ramps connecting it all. He pointed to a platform at the other end of the room. “What is that?”
“A control center of sorts. It is a … backup. If the Torvatta were ever lost, this dimension would still exist. It has some travel capability, it would seem, but I am unclear as to the rules of its operation. It is different from the Torvatta’s approach.”
“Huh. I guess if the Torvatta were ever immobilized, it would be like an escape pod,” said Dr. Snowden. He arched his head back to examine the ceiling. It was an arched dome, with transparent sections between the supports that allowed him to look out into space. A light strip ran along the ceiling edge and illuminated the room. “This is … amazing.”
Evaran stepped into the room. “It is amazing, and also the maintenance hub, with power management and other rooms I have not yet identified. What we want is over here,” he said, walking toward a circular port with a handle in the wall. He grabbed the handle and pulled it out slightly, then flipped it up, exposing a hole. After reaching in, he pulled out a device that was attached to the wall by a thick wire. He walked forward with the device and waved forward. “Back to the generator.”
Emily looked around. “I’d sure love to see what all these other rooms are at some point.”
“Same here,” said Dr. Snowden.
“I will keep the dimensional doorway open. We can explore it together. For now, let us get my last plane form.”
Dr. Snowden nodded. “Of course.” He noted Emily’s eyes had lit up at the prospect of learning about the Torvatta with Evaran. The urgency in Evaran’s actions did not escape Dr. Snowden’s notice. Evaran wanted in that facility, and fast.
Once they were back at the generator, Evaran plugged in the device. The interface on top lit up with options as the generator began to hum.
Dr. Snowden examined the area outside the Torvatta’s shielding. The Torvatta had landed and was only a few feet away from the facility shielding. He saw that V, in orb mode, had joined them and was hovering to the side of the generator.
Evaran raised his head at V. “The hole will only be open for a few moments. You will need to be in scouting mode. Are you ready?”
“I am,” said V.
Evaran interacted with the generator console.
A small, circular purple beam shot out from the generator at a downward angle and pierced both the Torvatta and facility’s shielding. After a moment, the circular beam expanded its circumference, creating a small opening in the shields. The beam dissipated.
“V, go now,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged. Scouting mode engaged,” said V. He shimmered and disappeared as he flew through the opening.
The facility and Torvatta shielding closed back up.
Evaran motioned back at the Torvatta entrance. “We can watch V in the holo room.”
Dr. Snowden nodded. He remembered when they used it in their last adventure. Having a 360-degree view was extraordinary. He was impressed with the generator. Although he had not said anything, he had observed that the beam sliced through the Torvatta’s and the facility’s shielding like it was nothing.
When they got to the holo room, it had already adjusted itself to the view from V. Several chairs had been created that hovered in the air.
Everyone took their seats.
Dr. Snowden observed that as V flew toward the multilayered mound, he could see V’s analysis via his scan. Even the beam used to scan could be seen. The holo room gave a very deep insight into how some technologies worked. The details being displayed about the mound were fairly high-tech. It had a built-in defense in the form of turrets that could be deployed. There were also small chutes that seemed to be filled with disc-shaped objects. Several of the discs had emerged and were scanning around where V had flown through.
V hovered in front of a wide doorway at the base of the multilayered mound.
Dr. Snowden thought it was interesting that although V’s scan could not penetrate deep into the facility, it still showed what he could see a few feet in, and overlaid was what the Torvatta had scanned. This coverage provided a fairly detailed layout of the top part of the facility.
V flew up to the door and knocked.
After a moment, more of the disc-shaped objects flew out. The ones that had been scanning the shielding converged with the other drones. Their scanning range was shown in a light orange as they flew around the top of the facility. V had hovered out of range and hid near one of the pillars. The door that V hovered near earlier opened up.
Dr. Snowden held his breath as a Time Warden crawled out. It reminded him of a trapdoor spider coming to claim its prey. The Time Warden appeared to move efficiently using only four of its tentacles. Other tentacles waved around in the air. Their scanning beams were highlighted.
V dodged the beams as he moved inside the facility, past the Time Warden. Once inside, he began to scan the interior.
Dr. Snowden jumped when the door slid shut behind V. Emily touched his arm. He jumped again.
“Nervous?” asked Emily.
He licked his lips. “It’s … so real in here. That Time Warden gave me the creeps.”
“Yeah, me too.”
V flew along a darkened corridor, with only a few spots of light along the walls.
Dr. Snowden did not like the low illumination. “Why is it so dark?”
“As timeline-void denizens, they are not used to light. The fact that we see any is mostly due to the systems that power the facility giving it off,” said Evaran.
“Given their size, the corridors seem a bit large for them,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran nodded. “The corridors are built to carry prisoners they can feed off of. Also, you have only seen the maintenance variety of Time Wardens.”
Dr. Snowden gulped. “Right.” He noticed that as V continued to fly through the facility, there were not many consoles or interfaces. The hallways were arched, with spaced pillars that had unusual designs etched on them, giving off a gothic feel. Between each pillar was a featureless paneled wall. He pointed at one of the circular ports he saw interspersed throughout the walls. “What’re those?”
“Interface ports,” said Evaran. “The Time Wardens can extend one of their tentacles into it in order to interface with the facility systems.”
“I guess the UIC wouldn’t work on that,” said Emily. The universal interface card was a razor-thin credit-card-shaped device that could access any technological system. It did not work on mechanical systems or technological systems that had artificial intelligences.
“In its current form, you are correct. Also, my UIC would not work in this universe. I have a Time Warden extension that I modified that should work in those ports, though.”
Emily nodded. “From your previous encounters with them in our universe, right?”
“Correct. I am not sure if it will work here, but I suspect it will. If this were the timeplex, I would be considerably less confident about that.”
Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows. “Was it hard to get?”
“It was,” said Evaran. “Time Wardens are tough, but if their form is exposed, they will simply cease to exist in the timeline and be tossed out.”
“Oh,” said Dr. Snowden. “So I guess puncturing their body would do that.”
Evaran nodded.
Dr. Snowden sighed as he eased back into his chair. Over the next hour, he watched V fly around. The featureless hallways seemed to be the aesthetic choice for the facility. It made him wonder who built the facility. Maybe there were construction drones. He noticed that V had paused in front of a large metal door. According to a layout of the facility, it was several levels down from what was visible on the surface.
“Analysis. Coordinates are behind this door,” said V. He flew out a bit from the door, then faded in while he shot at the door with a stun beam. After flying up a bit, he faded back out.
Dr. Snowden ran a hand along his arm as he observed Emily. She was standing and had her hands on her knees as she peered into the darkness. V had switched to infrared view.
After a few minutes, a Time Warden scanned around as it approached. Once it reached the door, it moved to the side and extended one of its tentacles into an open port on the wall. A clicking sound rang out, and the door began to rise. V flew in as soon as there was room to.
Dr. Snowden surveyed the large, empty, circular room. He noticed that the floor had round seals with several interior rings. They emitted a light that caused the room to be much brighter than he expected. He pointed at them. “What are those things?”
“Siphon tanks,” said Evaran as his eyes flared.
The intensity of Evaran’s eyes startled Dr. Snowden. He had seen that look before.
Evaran dipped his head. “V, head to where you detected the last plane form’s signature.”
“Acknowledged,” said V. He flew across the room. Once he was hovering over the seal, he began scanning.
Dr. Snowden jumped as the holographic image of the Time Warden passed through him. “These Time Wardens …” He shook his head as he tried to focus his attention on the image that appeared above the seal V was scanning. He knew the Time Warden would not see V or the image and was thankful that V would not have to fight it.
The image showed a cylindrical tank filled with a mushy substance. Inside it was a humanoid form.
Dr. Snowden gestured forward. “Looks like that’s it.”
“Analysis. Life signs are weak.”
Evaran clenched his jaw for a moment. “V, head back. It is time to retrieve myself.”