The Other Side of Beyond, page 22
part #2 of Mitch Mythic Series
“Must be stopped, must be stopped,” Mother said as she looked Drak in the eye.
“This is so typical,” Kate said beside Mitch.
“It’s exactly what I thought all along. The cabal at the center of the universe. Do you know how many people post about this every single day,” Gaelin said.
“I don’t think it really matters now, Gaelin,” Mitch said as he turned his attention back to mother. “Is there any way out of here? Is there anyway that we stop this?”
“You with all the questions. I told you that I would provide answers, but first there is more you need to know. In time I will reveal what I have foreseen. Now we await the arrival of the Goddess,” Mother said as she looked up at the stone above them.
“Goddess? What Goddess?” Mitch asked.
“This is when they sacrifice one of us. As soon as they start talking about gods and stuff, that’s when the blood rituals start,” Gaelin said.
“Not helping, Gaelin,” Mitch said without looking over.
“It doesn’t matter if it helps. It’s true,” Gaelin said.
“This one has great knowledge,” Mother said as she turned her head towards Gaelin. A smile flashed across her creased lips for an instant before she turned her head back to the stone. “Sacrifice, great sacrifices. What must one sacrifice for freedom? A question we shall attempt to answer soon, but brace yourselves. She is coming now.”
A rumbling vibration passed over the platform and Mitch stumbled as he tried to maintain his balance. He recovered after a moment and then a flash of light caught his eye. A ray of light had burst forth from the upper portion of the rock. The light shone down upon the altar illuminating the stone. Mitch and the others backed away as the beam intensified.
“What’s happening? What’s going on?” Mitch shouted out.
“Someone is coming, or so she said,” Drak replied.
“One of us is getting sacrificed,” Kate said and she looked directly at Mitch. “I bet it’s you, #epiccrotchshot boy. The goddess has come and she claims you!”
“You are such a lunatic. Nobody is getting sacrificed” Mitch said as he turned back towards the stone and gulped. “At least, I hope not,” he muttered under his breath. The beam intensified and an opening began to appear above the altar, blackness extending into infinity.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SOHEE FELT SOMETHING poke her shoulder and shake her gently. Looking up, she saw a deep blue emptiness all around her, a sea of oblivion stretching into endlessness. A presence hovered behind her and the apparition of a face greeted her as her head came around. After a moment of shock, she was overcome with sensations of joy and heartache. The face pulled back and folded into a glowing green orb and familiar pulses of energy passed over her, sensations she hadn’t felt since the final battle at the convention last year. Below her and in front of her lay a vast expanse of emptiness, impossible depths. She could see what looked like cosmic gases and star clusters swirling in an infinite dance surrounded by a crushing blackness consuming all.
The orb sat across the expanse, distant as a star yet close and intimate. Getting to her feet, she stood on some type of solid ground, wet stone blanketed with the dust of eternity. Across the void, the orb began to communicate with her, soft pulses and soaring currents. Strands of light reached out towards her across the great emptiness. A wash of energy passed over her and she felt a wholeness and completion penetrate every fiber of her being. The energy slowly began to intensify and the chasm between herself and the orb diminished, space time bending back infinity. Before her the orb expanded, spreading into the ether. She was overwhelmed by a flood of raw energy and communication. A steady stream of powerful undulations emanated from the now monstrous sphere. The distance continued to close between herself and long lost companion. The rock shelf she stood upon crumbled underneath her feet as the mass of energy neared. Shards of stone fell into the void beneath her feet, crumbling into infinity. Waves of energy held SoHee aloft as the last remnants of solid ground fell away. All that remained in the emptiness were SoHee and the sphere. Cosmic gases continued their eternal dance with distant galaxies in the blackness beyond.
The sphere of energy loomed before her, but she couldn’t fathom the space between herself and the orb. She became aware motion all around her, light flickering and objects moving past. A flash of understanding passed over her and she realized it was not the orb in motion, but it was she that was rapidly moving towards it, drawing her in across the vastness of space and time.
The undulations continued to pulse as SoHee approached, waves bending the continuum. She rose and fell with the flow of the pulsing energy, breaking through the waves like a cosmic mariner. Behind her a tail of fire blazed as she sailed through the intergalactic void, a tiny comet barreling across the universe.
She felt like she was barely moving, but she saw galaxies passing by like billowing clouds. Nearing the orb, a sense of euphoria overcome her followed by a sense of calm. The waves had grown in velocity and there seemed to be a more staccato rhythm to the pulses. The gravitational force that drew her towards the sphere intensified and she felt herself accelerating.
It seemed like it had taken an eternity or perhaps it was only a moment, but she finally found herself directly before the gaseous sphere. It hung in the void majestic and radiant, a titan among the maelstrom of cosmic debris. As immense as it was, SoHee was not overwhelmed by the magnitude of its presence. She felt an intimacy that seemed to fill her heart, a wound that hadn’t healed. Emotions swelled within her she couldn’t control. Joy, awe, understanding.
The pulses quickened further and their focus narrowed upon SoHee as she was drawn into the orbit of the looming sphere. Surges of electromagnetic energy sprung forth from her skull as a wellspring of submerged emotions release from her inner being, rippling across the distance between herself and the orb. The energy seemed to strike to the core of the orb, its surface undulating, a frothing see of light and energy.
The orb seemed to contract in upon itself as SoHee neared. It vibrated rapidly for a moment before releasing a tremendous torus of energy. For a moment she was frozen in fear, but the feeling quickly subsided and was replaced by a fuzzy sense of understanding, the sea after a storm. SoHee opened her eyes and found herself directly in front of the orb. It seemed to be only a few feet from where she stood. It had either radically diminished in size or she had grown at an exponential rate. Before she had a chance to comprehend what had transpired, the orb sent forth a barrage of pulsing waves, induing SoHee with a sense clarity that allowed her to understand her current predicament.
Terror gripped her for a moment as she recalled her last memories. Passing through the maelstrom, she saw herself entering the blackness beyond. Others followed her through the opening and she was surprised to learn that she wasn’t alone in the void. As she looked around her, she could see the limp forms of several figures hovering around her.
Spasms pulled her focus back towards her old friend. The orb had much to communicate and it was anxious to continue with its story. Slow down and start at the beginning, she replied through a thought wave.
The orb seemed to expand and contract for a moment before a small storm gathered on its surface. A spot of light swirling on a surface of flickering green. A beam of energy came forth from the spot and waves of images flowed towards her. She saw herself falling to the floor of the dome at the MindHIve convention the year before. The orb look down at her for a moment before it shot towards the open portal and the collapsing generator. A flash of fear passed over her as the Orb expanded. Urgency and resolve swelled within her heart as the Orb make contact with the swirling vortex at the center of the dome. Pain and terror overcame her as the Orb was inundated with the energy whipping around the generator, violent currents clawing out of the void. She saw Robert Chapman at the center of the swirling vortex, clinging to a piece of flooring, a look of desperation in his eyes. Anger and rage swelled in her chest as she recalled the battle that had taken place moments before. A dizzying sensation overcome her as the mass of energy began to spin at an alarming rate. Giant spikes of crackling power cleaved through the vortex as the negative mass continued to suck in everything in its gravitational radius. She doubled over in pain as an intense explosion ripped through her core. More images passed over her and she watched in awe as the orb travelled through a firestorm of volatile destruction, a chaotic sea of deathless obliteration. After a short instant of eternity, the Orb emerged a vast emptiness. Entombed in a place of timeless nothing, somewhere between universes. A state of catatonia soon overcame it as it was unable to move or function on the physical plane.
The reality of her present circumstances slammed her in the face as she looked upon the orb in awe. She wasn’t sure wether she should crumble down before her familiar companion and sob in grief or laugh out loud at the absurdity swirling around her.
More pulses of energy passed over her and she looked up to see familiar faces staring back at her. She saw Mitch on his knees alongside Drak. They were thrust before a strange machine. It spoke to Mitch for a moment its locked onto SoHee. A creeping feeling laced up her spine as its black eyes looked directly at her, cutting through to her core.
The vision changed again and SoHee saw an elaborately armored figure standing before a giant statue. She could clearly see Robert Chapman’s face on the figure and she was shocked as she saw the statue stand up. Robert began to battle agains the statue until a powerful looking woman with blue skin stepped forward and blasted Robert with some type beam.
The Orb brought SoHee’s attention to the soldiers hanging motionless nearby. She watched as the orb reached out to each soldier with a glowing tentacle. One of the appendages wrapped around Gerald Tobero’s body and he was cocooned in a ball of light. The tentacle retreated and the ball hung in the air, oscillating softly. SoHee watched as the process was repeated for all of the soldiers. Her bodyguard hung among them, his face frozen in horror before he vanished into an illuminated sphere. The orb made short work of each of the soldiers and in what felt like an instant, a dozen vibrating fields of light surrounded her.
Another flash of light drew SoHee back towards the Orb and she saw that her companion wasn’t finished. More images passed over her and she saw the container which had housed the cloned specimen. The ray from the coiled spool of copper was blasting into the container. Images of the molecular changes happening within the specimen flashed in front of her. The energy penetrated each cell and the molecular structure rapidly altered. Each atom broke down and the protons rearranged themselves. The restructuring cause a tremendous release of energy which pushed the continuum in search of a balancing agent.
SoHee saw the orb shudder and shake as the particles of its clone reached out across the cosmic divide and drew it back into physical reality. A funnel of light and energy stretched across eternity as the orb combined with its clone. SoHee saw herself and the other soldiers traveling down that funnel along with the altered clone, particles passing through the divide.
The visions ceased and the orb floated in front of SoHee, fluttering waves rippling across its surface. It seemed to be waiting for a response. She exhaled deeply and looked around. The vibrating cocoons containing the soldiers still hovered nearby. A luminous pulse began to throb from deep within each of the cocoons. They expanded and contracted rapidly before reaching a crescendo. Each one burst in unison and the soldiers tumbled forward, looking around stunned as they regained consciousness and assessed their surroundings.
Gerald shook his head in disbelief. It felt like only a moment before he had been sucked into the vortex. He didn’t feel dead, but he couldn’t say for certain if he was alive. He looked himself over and saw he was now wearing an outfit made from a metallic fiber. A soft blue aura came over his body and he felt a powerful energy coalescing at the tips of his fingers. Before him a glowing green orb hung in the emptiness and he could see the figure of a young woman outlined by the glowing sphere. Beside him the other soldiers were reviving as well. The green sphere approached them and Gerald saw SoHee moving in concert with the orb.
“It looks like your little experiment didn’t go as planned, Gerald,” SoHee said as she looked him over.
“Where are we? What has happened?” Gerald asked.
“Good question. But it may be better to ask where we aren’t,” SoHee said. “We have crossed a threshold of sorts and we are now in between realities. A holding place or a jumping off point if you will.”
“Like purgatory,” Gerald said as he looked around.
“That might a good way to put it. Fortunately, we’re not dead. But we may be on our way to a hell-scape all the same,” SoHee said as she came to a full stop in front of the soldiers. “It seems the war has only just begun. Although the game has changed the players remain the same.”
“What are you talking about?” Gerald said.
“Your old boss has a new job,” SoHee said as she looked Gerald square in the eye.
“Robert Chapman? He lives? That’s impossible,” Gerald spat out.
“Everything has a degree of probability in the multiverse, but that’s beside the point. Robert Chapman’s allies, the Masters, or whatever they call themselves, have taken him in and given him a reprieve. They have altered his physical makeup and his powers are exponentially stronger than they were last year.”
“How do you know all this?” Gerald asked.
“The Orb, it tells me things. I also know where Mitch Mythic is and we’re going to help him. He is in great danger. Chapman is intent on revenge and if he succeeds, all will be lost,” SoHee said.
“What do you mean ‘all’?” Gerald said.
“What happened last year was only a test, an experiment of sorts,” SoHee said. “Did you really think the masters would just pack it in like that? That was only a bump in the road as far as they are concerned.”
“Why doesn’t this surprise me at all? I should have know it would turn out like this. Lost in space and I’m at the mercy of a teenage girl. How do you propose we get out of this mess, Miss Moon?” Gerald said.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Tobero. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve,” SoHee said as she turned her attention to the soldiers flanking Gerald. “I think you’ll like your upgrades. It’s all based on the same technology as the inReal, but with significant improvements.”
“Not sure If I like the way this going. What do you mean by improvements? Have you altered our DNA or something,” Gerald asked.
“Maybe a little,” SoHee said as she looked Gerald in the eye. “Don’t act so surprised, Gerald. You were fine when it was being done to me and my specimen, but now that the tables have turned, you look like you’re going to have a mental breakdown. Everything is fine. I didn’t turn you into a mutant freak or anything. The changes I speak of took place at a neurological level and they are identical in nature to the changes made to my brain during contact with the orb. You’ll be fine, and besides, it was necessary to keep you alive. You’re going to need all the protection you can get where we’re going.”
“I’m not sure if that’s wise, Miss Moon,” Gerald said.
“How so, Mr. Tobero?” SoHee asked.
“Well, for one, we’re all in great danger. If we don’t find a way to get back soon, we could be lost in space forever,” Gerald said. “I know that you are pretty confident with your abilities, but charging forward to attack at this point seems a little foolish,” Gerald said.
“You may be right, but unfortunately we’re running out of time. There is a cosmic event that is about to play out and the results could be disastrous for everybody unless we intervene. The Orb has foreseen it,” SoHee said.
“What kind of an event?” Gerald asked.
“Whatever it is the masters use to manipulate space and time has caused some kind of upheaval in the fabric of the universe,” SoHee said.
“So the universe is about to explode and you think you can stop it,” Gerald asked. “It sounds like suicide to me,” Gerald said.
“Perhaps, but from my perspective it doesn’t seem like we have much choice,” SoHee said.
“Why is it that teenagers see everything as an ultimatum?” Gerald said. “I’m not sure if you fully grasp the severity of our situation.”
“I understand it fully, Mr. Tobero,” SoHee said. “It was the actions of you and your screwed up boss that got us into that mess last year and It was up to Mitch and me clean it all up. We’re all here because of your plan. You’ll recall that this wasn’t a plan that I agreed with, but I went along with it because I wanted to help my friend. Now I know I can help him and I intend to do just that. You can either join me or stay here and wait for eternity for all I care.”
“How exactly are you planning on finding Mitch,” Gerald asked. “It seems to me that we’re lost in space. If you have the means to get us out of here, then I order you to return us on the double. Any other actions will be considered insubordination. I don’t need to remind you I am the commanding officer of this operation.”
“Mr. Tobero, you relinquished your control the second that generator was triggered. Your command has been officially rescinded. I’m certain that these fine men will agree there is only one course of action here,” SoHee said as she looked at the other soldiers. “Besides, Gerald, where’s your sense of adventure. Haven’t you ever dreamed of saving the universe?”
“This is a bad idea,” Gerald said.
“Messing around with a wormhole was a bad idea and look where that got us,” SoHee said. “You had your chance to lead. Now it’s my turn. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to clean up a mess you made,” SoHee said. As she turned towards the Orb. “Time is short. We need to find Mitch before it’s too late. Prepare yourselves to take another ride. But this time we’ll all be better equipped. Your suits will protect you as we cross the plain.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
