A.R.: Beyond the Universe

“Alex, I have no idea what you are talking about,” Sara tells him. “You vanish in front of us without any warning. Then you show up back at the Complex without any warning. You fix us a great steak dinner and then you casually insert of your DNA into ours. I look at Kate and she’s glowing like a firefly. Next thing I know, we’re floating somewhere out in space, talking to three nothings that change into copies of you and then look like ghosts. You tell me there is something out there, and that if we don’t stop it, it’ll wipe out everything, everywhere?

“Sorry, Alex. I’ve seen some incredible stuff in the Complex,” continues Sara. “We have technology there that would knock the socks off anyone on the planet. But to say that Kate and I are the only ones who can prevent everything from vanishing…”

Sara looks around. She is not in space but instead standing on the top of a grassy hill with a single large oak tree next to her. She looks up to see a clear blue sky with a warm sun shining overhead. Looking down from the hill, she sees a small group of people, all dressed in black. They are standing around a long box, watching as it slowly lowered into a hole in the ground.

Sara studies the people standing there. She looks closely at the two young women standing close to the box. Standing between them is a man with his arms wrapped around them.

“This can’t be,” she tells herself.

“It is, Sara,” a voice beside her says. “You know where you are; you know what you are looking at. You just have to believe.” She turns to see Alex standing beside her.

“But this just can’t be. If what I am looking at is true, this happened 75 years go,” Sara tells him.

“And the two women you are looking at, you know who they are, don’t you?” Alex asks softly.

With tears in her eyes, she looks up at Alex.

“Yes. This is my mother’s funeral. My father loved her very much. I think her loss tore him up inside. It was many years before he would begin to do things again.”

“And the two women,” Alex continues. “It is you and Kate, isn’t it?”

“But how…” Sara starts to say.

“Sara, you just asked us what was going on, and then we appeared here. I think you are the one who brought us here. We had nothing to do with it. I think that the more important question to ask yourself is why you don’t believe anymore. What happened to make you stop wanting to believe in anything?” Alex asks.

“I loved my mother very much. When she died, part of me went with her. I couldn’t understand why my father, Kate, and I seemed to quit aging while she continued to. Even until the day that she died, we were all still looking for a way to prolong her life. But we failed. I failed. And she died anyway.”

“And that’s when you quit believing in anything, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Her voice sounds solid, as if she is trying to steady herself. There is almost anger in her tone.

“Sara, look down there. Look at yourself and Kate standing there. Look inside yourself. What do you see, what are you feeling?”

Sara looks at Alex and then, reluctantly, at the scene below her. She looks at herself, standing there with tears in her eyes, trembling. She stares harder.

She is inside her own mind, looking out. She feels the sadness and fear of not having her mother with her anymore, of not being able to stop it or control it. And then an anger begins to form inside of her, anger at herself for letting her mother die. She finds comfort and strength in that anger.

“If I can’t save her, then I won’t save anyone else, ever,” were the thoughts that overwhelmed her.

And then from nowhere, a sense, a feeling of strength and calm begin to form beside of her. She looks around to see where it is coming from. She is drawn to a place deeper inside her own mind. She sees an image of something, but it is very difficult to make out. Alex tells her to look harder. Sara does not want to, she is afraid.

“Sara.” It is Alex’s voice. “You were hurt, afraid, and angry when your mother left you. You blame yourself for her dying. But there was nothing that you or anyone on your world could have done to stop it from happening. You are innocent of her death. You must release that before you can go any further.”

Sara hesitates and looks up as if trying to see something, somewhere. She looks back inside herself again. She knows Alex is right. There was nothing that she could have done, even if they had a thousand years.

As the anger begins to fade, the image Sara sees in her mind begins to get clearer.

It is Kate. She is glowing. Strength and power radiate from her image.

“It was Kate. She was the one I was getting my strength from that day,” Sara realizes.

Sara withdraws her thoughts back to herself standing on the hill. She looks at Alex.

“It was Kate. I never knew…” was all she could say.

Sara looks down at the group of people. They are beginning to disband and go their separate ways. The funeral is over. As Sara watches, she sees herself walking away. She watches herself stop, turn around, and look up at the sky. Then her gaze turns to the top of the hill where Sara and Alex are standing. She watches herself look as if she seems to be trying to see something.

“Alex, I remember. As we were walking away from mother’s funeral, I had the feeling that someone was watching us. At first, I thought it was my mother saying goodbye. So, I looked up to see if I could see her. But my eyes, my thoughts, were drawn to the hilltop. I could have sworn I saw two people standing there. They almost looked like ghosts. And then they vanished. I thought maybe it was just shadows from the tree.”

Sara’s eyes widen as she looks at Alex.

“Are you saying that I saw myself? How can that be possible?” Sara asks him.

“Sara, that was the day you quit believing in anything. That was also the day that your sister first used the inherent strength inside of her to help you. She just did not know it. Even then, she had to ability to summon the power to comfort you in a way only she could.”

“There really was nothing I could have done to save my mother, was there?”

A look comes over Sara’s face as she stands there on the hill. She looks up at the sky, the big oak tree, and at Alex.

“No. Through whatever causes things to happen, the day you lost your belief is also the day that you found it,” Alex tells her.

Sara looks down at the gravesite. She looks back at Alex. Then she looks up.

“Goodbye, mother. I love you.”

She turns to Alex. He can clearly see a difference in her face. All the confusion and the pain and anger are gone. What is left is Sara with a very determined look on her face.

“Alex, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Alex smiles. “Good, now take us back.”

There is a look of confusion on her face.

“Why are you asking me? You’re the Traveler. You’re the one who brought us here…”

Sara looks at Alex and the scene changes instantly. Before her are Alex, Kate, and the three other Travelers. They are once again back in space.

“OK, sis. What just happened?” Kate asks her. “Where’d you go? You and Alex just vanished.”

“Ok, Alex, what just happened?” Sara asks him.

“Sara, I said that you have the ability to control a lot of things. What you just did was to control time. You needed a way to believe again. Your subconscious took you back to the one place where it can be fixed.”

“You mean that you Travelers can control time?” Kate asks.

“No, we cannot. We have never met anyone who could. I didn’t know Sara could, until she did it taking us there.”

“If you can’t control time, how did you end up back there at my mother’s funeral with me?” Sara asks him.

“Trust me, I didn’t do it. You did. You brought me with you. I had nothing to do with it. Once I was there, I realized why. But I did not know I was going to be there with you standing on the hill, looking down at you, your sister and your father.”

“Wait a minute. You and Alex went back in time and you were standing on a hill? Was at mother’s funeral?” Kate asks quickly.

“Yes, both of us.” Sara looks at Alex.

“And you two were standing on the hill above mother’s grave, beneath the big oak tree?” Kate asks them.

“Yes, Kate. What is all this about?” Sara asks her.

“As we were leaving her funeral, I saw you looking up there at the top of the hill. I wondered what you were looking at. I remember looking up at the hill and seeing two people standing there, a man and a woman, but they were too far away for me to see who they were,” Kate tells them.

“You mean that I was looking at you two, who had just come from the future?” Kate asks.

“It looks that way, Kate,” Alex tells her.

“I had no idea you even looked up there, much less saw anything,” Sara tells her.

Alex thinks for a minute. “Sara, how clear did we look to you that day?”

“I thought I saw some ghosts. The images were pretty faint.”

“And you, Kate. How clear did we appear to you?” Alex asks her.

“Very. I saw two people standing on the hill looking down at us. I always did wonder who they were.”

“Amazing. Kate was using her ability to draw on energies surrounding her,” Alex says. “She used her energy to allow her to see us clearly. It was automatic for her. She did not even know it was happening.

“Kate, I was right,” says Alex. “Your ability to absorb the surrounding energies is guided by your subconscious. You cannot control your subconscious, but Sara can. She can go inside your mind and help you focus; help you control what you cannot. Therefore, you two are here.”

Both Sara and Kate look confused.

“Sara, do you remember looking into your own mind?”

“Yes, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

“You need to do the same for Kate. Go inside her mind and tell me what you see,” Alex tells her.

“You mean that my sister’s going to be inside my head?” Kate asks.

“Sorry, Kate, but this is something that has never happened before. Whatever made you two also gave you the ability to use what has been given to you. It probably also knew that we would have no idea what the specifics are. All we can do is follow your lead. That’s why I said that Sara will be the one in control when the time comes.”

“Nope, no pressure here,” Sara thinks to herself.

Sara looks at her sister and concentrates. She suddenly finds herself inside of her sister’s mind. There, she sees millions of fine threads, each glowing and going in different directions. She also sees a white, glowing sphere. Its surface looks like liquid metal with continuously moving small ripples on its surface. The storm-looking clouds surround the sphere seem to be drawn to and are being drawn into the sphere. Sara relays what she is seeing.

“Sara, you will need to position yourself next to the sphere.”

“What is it?” she asks.

“That is what Kate uses to store the energy she has been and will be absorbing. Sara, you will need to help Kate. When the time comes, and it will be soon, she will be simultaneously receiving energy blasts of energy from many points in space. She will absorb and refine it. Her system, while in this form, is incapable of being terminated. Her will and inherent strength will protect her. That is why she will be the focal point. She is a living energy collector, transforming and storing all forms of energy.”

“You said I will need to help Kate. How?” Sara asks Alex.

“When Kate has received everything that we can throw at her and is ready to send the energy she has stored inside of her, all that energy must be transmitted in one focused, directed beam. But she does not know how to control or focus it. Without those two, her built-up energy cannot be released without doing untold amounts of destruction. Her system will continue to absorb the surrounding energies until an overload occurs.”

“And then?” Kate asks.

“Alex, I’ve got this one,” says Sara. “Kate, remember when we were kids and you put a firecracker in an apple and lit the fuse? What happened to the apple?”

Kate pauses for a moment. And then her eyes get big.

“You mean I’ll blow up?!”

“No, blow up isn’t quite the correct term,” Alex quietly states.

“Whew,” sighs Kate.

“It would be more like several thousand supernovas all exploding at the same time in the same part of space. The resulting energy release would probably vaporize everything in this part of the galaxy. Kate, you have no idea how much energy you now carry within you. You are a living capacitor. If you were to release even a sub-microscopic part of it, you would release more energy than your sun has since it was created.”

“How can that be? How can a single person do something like that?” Sara asks Alex.

“The type of energy she is storing is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is not like the energy of your sun or your electricity. It is infinitely more; it is pure, compact living energy. No negatives, no spaces between molecules. No movement within until it is released.”

“So, Alex. What is it that I need to do?” Sara asks.

“First things first. Let’s see if Kate can release just a small amount of energy without blowing up everything in the area. Kate, do you see the piece of rock floating just behind you?”

Kate turns around to see a rock the size of a small mountain floating there in the empty space.

“Yes, I see it.”

“I want you to think about it, picture it in you mind. Think about what it would look like being blown into a million pieces. Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“Sara, when I tell you to, enter Kate’s mind again. Find the bright sphere. At Kate’s command, a small opening on the sphere will begin to appear, releasing energy, sort of like a slow leak in a balloon. You will need to guide the beam of energy as it is released from the sphere.”

“How do I control it?” Sara asks.

“Did you ever experiment with using a magnifying lens to concentrate sunlight? Your mind will act just like that. Kate is the sun; you are the lens. Let the energy go through you. You will direct it after that.”

“OK, we need to do some tests. Kate, think about the rock being blown apart. Concentrate on it. When I say go, imagine it blowing up,” Sara instructs.

“Sara, enter her mind,” says Alex. “Find the sphere and concentrate on it. When you sense a small opening beginning to appear, put your mind in front of it and think of the rock. Picture it in your mind. Now, go in.”

Each does as they are told. Alex stands by and provides additional precise instructions.

“Go.”

The three Travelers watch and wait. Nothing happens. Without any warning, both women start to glow brightly and keep getting brighter. Space around them starts to sizzle as the energy buildup inside Kate continues. Then an extremely fine point of light appears between their faces. From it, a beam of pure energy shoots towards the rock. It hits the rock, vaporizing it instantly and keeps going. It then hits a small planet the size of our moon. The surface of the planet glows and in seconds the planet is no more.

Kate asks, “Did we do it?”

Sara opens her eyes to looks for the rock. It is nowhere to be seen.

“I guess so,” Sara says. “I don’t see it anywhere.”

“I think this will answer your question,” Alex tells them. He produces a hologram above them that shows the sisters what had just happened.

“I would say it was a very successful first test, wouldn’t you?” asks Sara.

“A little overkill, but still a good first test” Alex tells them.

“I want to try it again,” says Kate.

“Probably a good idea,” says Sara. “When Kate opened the sphere, I had to move quicker than I wanted to. I need to get in some practice controlling the beam.”

There are several more successful trial runs with each sister getting more used to what they need to do. The last test is to aim a larger energy beam at an unpopulated star system, complete with several suns. The idea is to blast one of the larger suns with the beam and force it to go supernova. Everything goes as planned until Sara temporarily loses control of Kate. The beam shoots from them and hits a smaller sun, vaporizing it.

“Sorry ’bout that one,” Sara tells everyone. “But I think that we’re ready.”

Alex gathers everyone together.

“Each Traveler knows what to do. Kate will receive the energies from the ones who exist within the small stars and then the control units. I will place the planet of liquid energy at the correct location in the Void’s path to act as a target point for Kate’s beam. When she releases, Sara will concentrate and guide it to hit the energy planet. The planet will act like a multifaceted diamond, spreading out the energy until it solidifies into the barrier. I will place the black holes and use their gravitational fields to keep the barrier spreading as it forms. It will then take all four Travelers to keep the energy planet in place and to keep its elements aligned correctly to use the energy beam projected from Kate and Sara. Once that is done, we will have to concentrate our efforts on keeping the Void at bay until the barrier forms.”

“Alex, exactly what is this barrier?” Sara asks.

“It is a field of energy that the Void cannot pass through. It is the only thing we know will stop it. When it gets too close to the barrier, the barrier cancels the negative energies of the Void as it meets it. The Void will touch the barrier only once and will vanish as it moves on to another reality.”

“But what is this Void?” Kate asks. “Can’t it be destroyed?”

“No,” answers one of the other Travelers. “For countless eternities, we tried to do so and failed. We have lost too many Travelers attempting that very thing. Only by an accident did our ancestors discover the type of energy that will prevent the Void from advancing and canceling out all matter in a reality.”

“Canceling out matter?” asks Sara.

“Yes,” Alex answers.” The Void is a mass of very specific negative energy. When it encounters anything in any space, that thing simply ceases to exist. It does not explode; it is not consumed by the Void. It simply ceases to be. We originally thought the Void would eventually come in contact with enough barriers, get damaged in each encounter and begin to get smaller. But something keeps it going, something keeps renewing it.”

“Where did it come from?” Kate asks.

“That we do not know,” answers another of the Travelers. “It existed before all Travelers existed. It has always been. It must have some form of intelligence. When it touches the barrier, it moves away and leaves that reality to attack another reality. It moves from reality to reality. We do not know how or why. All we can do is to stop it from canceling out everything in the reality we are in. If successful, we move on to the next reality to try and stop it there.”

“We do know,” says one of the Travelers, “that when the Void is prevented from completely canceling an object, what is left is a warped version of its previous self. I have seen the remaining population go mad because part of their world had been touched by the Void before the barrier could stop it.”

“I have contacted the energy beings living on the suns,” Alex states. “When they receive my signal, they will, in unison, send their beams to Kate. When that is done, I’ll send the energies from all the control units for her to transform and store, sending it on to the energy planet’s location. We have done all that we can. It is time.”

Alex and the other Travelers vanish and reappear at the edge space, bringing with them Sara and Kate. In front of them is a large, black nothing. It cannot be seen but its presence can be felt. Both Kate and Sara feel something, and they start to get dizzy. Alex sees the sisters’ reactions and puts himself between them and the Void. They begin to feel better.

Sara looks at the Void again. There is nothing inside it, nothing, just blackness. No stars, no galaxies, no light of any kind. Sara looks at it and feels genuine terror for the first time in her life. As she watches what appears to be the edge of it, she can see stars twinkling in the distance. As the Void advances, the stars closest to the edge of it simply disappear and cease to be.