Microstory 2486: Estuaridome

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There is a mountain under this dome, which is nearly all natural, and a river flowing from it. It’s not a particularly long river, but it’s necessary to support the star of the show, which is of course, the estuary. Like Nordome Network, this is not only one dome. It’s connected to the one next to it, but it’s unique in that it connects to a non-standard-sized dome. An estuary doesn’t just mark the end of a river. It serves as the transition between a river and the ocean, so in order for this to work, they needed an ocean. Sure, they could have dug a mini-ocean inside this dome just to get the point across, but why do that when you can simply choose a spot that’s next to a full-sized ocean, which they were doing anyway? Estuaridome butts right up against Aquilonian Deep. They share an atmosphere, and you can travel between them freely, either by boat, or along the bank / shore. There’s nothing to do here, really. You can’t camp overnight. You can’t have parties, or participate in water sports. You can have a nice picnic, and obviously, you can go on a hike. You can climb the mountain, or just sit and enjoy the peace. But you can’t do anything disruptive, destructive, or annoying. There is a tour you can take, if you don’t want to be self-guided. I took that one day, then came back to just be alone the next. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and you could tell that he was a human who studied all this stuff on purpose, rather than a superintelligence who simply downloaded the data. He will tell you all about this estuary, and what kind of life lives there, but he can also answer questions about other estuaries on Earth. But just Earth. He has not studied other habitable planets in the galaxy, nor even other water-based domes on Castlebourne. That’s not a complaint, just a warning to direct your questions appropriately. That’s all I’ll say about this. It’s nice and enjoyable, but it isn’t revolutionary, and it’s not any better than a natural geographic fixture.

Microstory 2483: Campodome

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Camping has never gone out of style, but it’s had its ups and downs. Once our ancestors invented computers, they realized how disruptive it was to be away from their devices. People in the 19th century were basically, like, “camping is just living without being in a building, and peeing in the woods”. Over time, the gap between regular urban living and camping in a tent widened. Then we started developing better portable energy storage, and more prolific satellite connectivity, and it started going back the other way in many respects. You could go out to the middle of the woods, and enjoy nature, while still maintaining a connection to the outside world, to just about whatever degree you wanted. There were snobs, of course, who said that you really shouldn’t have anything, and to a certain extent, I agree. Glamping is what they called it when you basically lived in a tiny home with no sacrifice of amenities. Really, what’s the point? The leaders on Castlebourne couldn’t answer that either, so it doesn’t exist here. There are all kinds of other camping formats, though. Forest, prairie, desert, even wetlands, and snow camping. What people don’t realize is that each dome is large enough to be fully capable of supporting a diverse multi-biome ecology. You just have to tailor the terrain to fit what you need, and maybe add a bit of scientific intervention. Colder regions are near the top of a mountain range, as you might expect it on Earth. It doesn’t have seasons, since the kind of engineering that would require is just a little beyond what’s practical. It’s not impossible, but it’s more logical to divide climates up by areas. You choose where you wanna camp, and how you wanna do it. Some people go out there and totally rough it. They have no supplies, no food, maybe not even clothes. There’s a subculture of people who go out there totally naked and alone, and survive on their skills.

As I said, there are no seasons, though these survivalists can replicate them by moving to different spots. I will say that that’s not quite right, because if you really wanted to start your journey in Spring, and see how you fared when the weather changed, you would build your shelter as well as you possibly can, and wait for it to become necessary. That’s not a feasible option when your campsite has to shift in order to account for that journey. So maybe they can improve upon that. I know it’s not easy, and maybe they shouldn’t try. After all, that’s why the flying spaghetti monster made Earth, because it already has everything you need, and the cycles kind of take care of themselves. I’ve not mentioned it yet, but there are hiking and backpacking routes, if you like to stay on the move. Some of them are pretty long, but nothing that compares to the grueling trek of the Pacific Crest or Appalachian Trails. There’s just not enough space. There might be a dome out there that winds you around enough times to cover that distance, but it’s not here. This is mostly about the camping and again, some things probably should be left to the homeworld. We didn’t spend decades rewilding the surface exclusively to leave it to nature. We still allow ourselves access to that nature, and are encouraged to camp when we feel like it. So, is this place better at what it does? No, I shouldn’t think so. You’re still in a snowglobe. You will always know it’s artificial. And it’s nothing we don’t have elsewhere, unlike say, the waterpark in Flumendome, or the realm in Mythodome, but it’s still pretty nice. I certainly wouldn’t cast your consciousness here with the express intention of coming to this dome, but it’s a great option if you’re already here, and need to take a break from civilization.

Microstory 2470: The Empyreamax

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Before virtual reality and volumetric immersion holograms, people used to watch media on 2-dimensional screens. I won’t get into the whole history of film—you can look it up your damn self—but suffice it to say that they were extremely tiny compared to what we have here. This is the Empyreamax. It is the largest film auditorium by orders of magnitude. You would have to project a movie on the moon to be larger than this. Towering 22.2 kilometers over the surface, this image covers an area of roughly 5,030 square kilometers. You can see it from anywhere, though of course, the center has the best seats in the “house”. Or should I say they have the best beds? Since you’re looking straight up, regular recliners just won’t do. You can adjust it to your liking, but they lay down completely flat, and let you look straight up at the movie. Obviously, they’re quite comfortable, with the standard firmness adjustments, heating, cooling, and vibrating features. If you’re an organic who still needs to eat, each bed comes with an interface that allows you to order concessions. If you’re not in one of the designated viewing loungers, you can request a mobile interface, and they’ll deliver to you wherever. There’s a Castlebourne-specific three-word address for wherever you happen to be. Actually, one little problem I noticed is that you can input any valid Castlebourne address, and they’ll try to get there, even if it’s on the other side of the planet in a different dome, so I hope they fix that dumb little bug. You can bring your own bed, or sprawl out on a blanket. There are several swimming pools and lakes that you can float on while you’re watching. One couple came in with an autotrampoline. They lay on their backs, and let the motor bounce them as they were watching. It sounds distracting to me, but who am I to judge? As far as sound goes, the options are limitless too. You can connect with your conductive implants, or your internal speakers, or your external headphones. They have ground speakers and pedestal speakers as well, but those are only allowed in certain areas. And that’s because some areas allow for regular conversation, and some are quiet zones. They provide you with an interactive map, so you can find out where you wanna be. While the ground is pretty flat here, they also have some hiking trails, so you can kind of keep an eye on the film while you’re walking with your honey, so that’s just a little thing that I’m not sure people would ever want, but it might as well be there. It’s not like we’re short on space. Again just about everything is up to you. They have a movie playing all the time on the big screen, but it’s not the only one going. They also have smaller screens lining nearly the entire perimeter. Each one is about 100 meters wide, and 40 meters tall, with a capacity of around 750 people. There are 1,699 of these, allowing for 1700 simultaneous shows in total. I’m not sure how many people could be here at any one time, for the big movie, or all of them combined, but I’m guessing it’s a pretty high number, even though we’re not vertical, on top of each other, like other domes. I know it’s old media, but there are some really great gems here. I saw one the other day called The Mystic, and it was basically the best movie musical I had ever watched. Even if you’re not interested in what’s playing, you can request a time slot for a specific title, and use one of the smaller Ultramaxes. One thing I’m not sure is right or not is that you can’t request a private auditorium. You can choose a movie, if there’s space available, but once it gets into the system, anyone can RSVP for a seat, so just bear that in mind.

Microstory 2450: Stairway to Heaven

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Not to be confused with Heavendome. I’m callin’ it, this is the largest staircase in the entire universe. Some aliens eighteen billion light years away may have a large one of their own, but I doubt it beats this. The stairs go all along the perimeter of the dome, spiraling up from the surface until you reach the zenith, which I’ll talk about when we hit that point in the story. Let’s start with some stats. Each dome has an 83 kilometer diameter. Ignore topographical variations. A line from one end to the opposite end crossing through the exact center is 83 kilometers long. Since these domes are hemispheric, that means the distance from the surface to the top is 41.5 kilometers. Again, ignore varied topography, like mountains and valleys. If you were to climb a ladder from the bottom to the top, you would be climbing 41.5 kilometers. They’re considering including that as well for an even more extreme test of your mettle, but I can’t review eventualities. It’s important to note, though, because the spiral staircase is necessarily longer than the total vertical distance, due to the tread length of each staircase, and the length of the landings. There are 207,500 steps. Every 19th step is a landing, which gives you a little room to stand when you need a break. Some of these lead to pitstops, while others lead to full-on campgrounds for daily rest periods. If you can’t make it to the next campground, they’re not going to let you stay the night at a pitstop, so you best recognize your own physical abilities before you even take the first step. You will go on practice hikes before your trek—that’s what the surface is dedicated to—and this training program takes about as long as the climb, so expect to dedicate two months of your life to this adventure. There are no transhumanistic enhancements or cybernetic upgrades here. You’re given a traditional human body between 1.5 and 2.1 meters tall with average muscles. You do get to choose your height, and it can look like your residual self image, but don’t expect the superkidneys, or the unidirectional respiratory systems that you’re used to. I heard some complaints from people who didn’t understand the spirit of the hike. If you don’t want to work, take an elevator. But not here, the periodic exit elevators are only for people who had to quit in the middle. There’s no judgment from me, by the way. You make it more than 50 flights, and I’ll say you’ve accomplished something impressive. If you do make it the whole way, it probably took about a month, covering a few kilometers each day. That may not sound like much, but gravity hates you, and your fight with it will never end until you beat it...or it beats you. Some will do it faster, others slower. How you lived your life prior to this will impact your performance. When you get uploaded into the new substrate, you don’t just end up on equal footing with everyone else. If you were a mech before, you’re not gonna be used to the energy expenditure. If you were mostly biological, it should be easier to adapt to the new body. I met one climber who was born 24 years ago, and never received any meaningful upgrades. Guy did it in two weeks. He works out to stay fit, and pretty much always has. His experience was a major advantage. 10,922 flights for a total of 84.44 kilometers is a huge achievement whether it takes you that month, or double that, and it comes with a reward. It’s a party. Unlike other domes, there’s a nipple on the top, which is reached by your last flight. You stay as long as you want, talking to other climbers, comparing stories. Eat, drink, be merry. You’ve done something that few before you have, and few will probably try in the future. I think I’m gonna keep this body, keep working out, and see if I can do it faster next time. Good luck.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: July 19, 2501

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Leona, Olimpia, and Romana were on a trip together in Portland. They checked into a hotel for one night, but then they left to rough it in a cabin in the woods far outside of town. This was a bonding experience meant to strengthen Leona’s relationship with Olimpia, and create a relationship between Olimpia and Romana. The former seemed to be okay with the three-person arrangement that her parents had, but she hadn’t spent much time with their third. They weren’t intending on her becoming a second mother—especially not since Romana was approaching adulthood—but it was important for them to get to know each other better.

“Do you still know where you’re going?” Olimpia asked. They were on a hike now, straight away from their cabin.

Leona checked the satnav on her watch. “Absolutely, I do. Not far now.”

“I hear the highway,” Romana said. “We’re not in the middle of nowhere anymore. If we need to stop and ask for directions, I’m sure it’s fine.”

“That you can hear the highway is a good sign,” Leona said. “The surprise isn’t remote.”

“What is it?” Olimpia asked for the umpteenth time, knowing that she would not receive an answer this time either.

“Just be patient.” We’re really close. She wasn’t wrong. Ten minutes later, they were passing through the trees, and onto the edges of some town. “Welcome...to Kansas City.”

“We walked all the way back to Kansas City?” Olimpia questioned. “What did we do, teleport?” She laughed.

“Kansas City...Oregon,” Leona clarified.

“Is that even a thing?” Romana asked.

“Clearly. You may now look at your phones.”

They both pulled them out, but Romana was faster. “There’s, like, fifteen people here.”

“I know. Cool, though, right?” Leona said with her hands on her hips.

“This was the surprise? A few people moved here from Missouri, and were too unoriginal to come up with a new name.”

“Well, I thought it was interesting.”

Olimpia turned around. “I’m headed back.”

“Oh come on, there’s a pool hall,” Leona whined.

“There is a pool hall,” Romana confirmed, still looking at her phone. “It’s pretty much all there is at this point. There isn’t even a restaurant.” She dropped her hand, and stood there with a blank face.

“There’s a school too.”

“No, it closed down.”

“Since when?”

Romana lifted her phone again. “Today.”

“Oh.”

“They had to finish up some summer schooling, but now it’s over.”

“Well, I’m sorry I wasted our time. I thought we could take a picture in front of the town sign. Ya know, like what people do when they go to a small town that shares its name with their surname?” She looked out, and blocked the sun with her hand. “It should be somewhere on that other road over there.”

“No, they took the sign down too,” Romana explained to her. The county stepped in, because it’s an unincorporated community, instead of a real town. So they weren’t allowed to have a sign anymore.”

“Fine,” Leona lamented.

“It’s all right, I still got my steps in today.” Olimpia looked at her own watch. “Eleven kilometers, not bad.” She patted Leona on the back. “That’s reason enough to come here.”

“Can we just take some pictures at least?” Leona begged.

“Sure. Let’s walk closer and get some more steps.”

They took a few photos of each other near one of the few buildings, which must have been a barn, or something. They went to check out the pool hall, but it was very smoky, and gross, so they didn’t even play one round. They just left, and started hiking back to the cabin. Leona was more upset than any of them at how anticlimactic this was. She kept walking with a frowny face, which the other two kept trying to pull back up at the corners. Eventually, she was able to forget about the whole thing, and get back to normal. It was only one day, and the hike was still lovely, so it wasn’t like it was a total waste of time. Besides, they would be able to laugh about it later, and tell a decent story at parties. Or so they thought, until Olimpia fell.

They were on a narrow trail on a ridge, switching their order organically and unintentionally. Each new leader would warn those behind of obstacles or dangers awaiting them. Unfortunately, this meant that one of them would not enjoy any given warning. Before Olimpia had the chance to inform the other two of a loose rock in the soft dirt, she became the victim of it. At first, she believed that she was okay. She caught herself on a whip tree, and even had enough time to say, “I’m good” before the pole trunk snapped under her weight, and dropped her over the edge. She fell so far, Leona and Romana couldn’t even tell how far it was. She kept tumbling and tumbling down the hill, ultimately disappearing through the forest, but they could hear the sounds of her knocking against things as she kept going, and her screams.

“Stay here,” Leona ordered her daughter.

“You’re not going after her.”

“Of course I’m going after her.”

“You’ll die too! You think it’s gonna be easier for you to get down than her?”

“She started on her back, and gained too much momentum,” Leona reasoned as she was dropping her pack. She took out her trekking poles, which she so far hadn’t bothered using. “I have the luxury of being more careful. We can’t just leave her.”

“I’m not saying that. We need to call for help.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Leona said as she was starting down the hill. “We don’t know how long that’s gonna take, though. I need to go assess the situation. That’s why we brought radio transceivers in addition to the sat phone. I’ll stay in contact from down there. Call S&R.”

“Be careful,” Romana warned, as if that could ever help.

“Yeah.” Leona cautiously walked down the hill with her four appendages, but it was taking too long. If she were going up, she could just keep climbing and climbing, but facing forwards, she had to be mindful of where she placed the tip of her pole. It could sink into mud, or slide on a thick leaf, and then it would literally be downhill from here. Momentum was Olimpia’s problem, but it was going to be Leona’s solution. Now that Romana probably couldn’t see her anymore, she started to slide—not uncontrollably, but more like she was on a snowboard. She went as fast as she could, leaning back to keep herself from tipping over. She still used the poles to slow herself down a little, and occasionally catch herself on a tree. As she got the hang of it, it actually started to be less like snowboarding, and more like skiing. She could just about glide down like a pro, like this hill was designed for it. Then she hit an invisible root, which reminded her why boot skiing wasn’t a real thing. She did tip over, and fell right on her face. Her ass flew up over her, and sent her rolling farther down, and just like Olimpia before, she couldn’t stop herself. She kept going and going until she felt a sharp crack in the back of her neck, and the lights went out.

“Mama! Mama!” Leona could hear. It was Romana.

Leona fluttered her eyes open to see that pretty face looking down at her. “Roma,” she whispered.

“She’s awake,” Romana said to someone out of view.

Olimpia’s equally pretty face appeared above her. “How is that possible? Her neck was broken. I swear, it was broken.”

“Clearly not,” Romana argued.

“Help me up, daughter.” With Romana’s aid, Leona got into a seated position. She leaned back against a boulder on the edge of a creek, and looked up at Olimpia, who was absolutely covered in blood; not quite like Carrie White, but not entirely unlike her either. “How are you alive?”

“I don’t know,” Olimpia replied. “I guess we’re both lucky.”

“Where’s the rescue team?” Leona asked.

“They’re not here yet,” Romana answered. “They said that it would be a couple of hours.”

“That’s funny,” Leona began. “They would be your only way down here since I explicitly ordered you to stay up there.”

“I’m younger than you two,” Romana reasoned. “I have better balance. Even with these things.”

Leona scoffed. Ever since Romana’s boobs came in, she was always talking about them...like Leona ought to be jealous. “You’ll get sick of ‘em.” She struggled to stand up all the way. “I’m all right, I can do it,” she insisted when Romana tried to help again. She looked up at the sky as if she would see a helicopter on its way. “You need to wash yourself off. You survived something that you probably shouldn’t have, and we don’t need people asking questions.”

“What are we?” Olimpia asked. “Superheroes, or something?”

“I’ve never saved anyone in my life,” Leona replied.

“Yes, you have, you’ve saved trillions,” Romana said.

“What?”

Romana flinched, and took a beat. “What?”

That wasn’t true, yet it did sound right somehow. Leona turned back to Olimpia. “Get in the water.”

“I don’t wanna get dysentery.”

“Just don’t get any in your mouth, you’ll be fine,” Leona assured her.

“You could also use these,” Romana countered. She removed a pack of wet wipes from the side pocket on her pack, which she managed to keep on her person.

“Thank you,” Olimpia said, graciously accepting them from her. “I’m gonna need them all, I think,” she decided, looking down at the mess. “And a change of clothes?”

“I can afford it,” Romana told her, “and certainly. How do you feel about pink crop tops?”

Olimpia stripped down and cleaned herself up. In the meantime, Romana tried to cancel search and rescue, but that went against protocol. They said that they couldn’t just turn around and erase the mission from their logs. She could be under duress, or suffering from a concussion that made her confused. They received a distress call, and were obligated to go out and investigate. Welp, they would have to lie and say that it wasn’t as serious as they thought. Romana wasn’t lying about the crop top, though. For Olimpia’s larger frame, however, it was extra croppy; more like a bra. They opted to climb back up the ridge. It wasn’t safe, but they seemed to be some kind of invincible, and they were hoping to find Olimpia’s bag along the way. They did, which allowed her to change into her own extra set of clothes instead.

They found Leona’s bag back up on the ridge trail. After taking a stop to drink water, they simply continued on their way. Oddly enough, the rescue team didn’t show up, and never called back. Concerned, Leona called them again an hour later, but the line was dead. “The phone number you are trying to reach is unavailable, or has been disconnected. Please check the number, and try your call again.” They tried a few more times, and still got nothing. That was super bizarre, but not their problem anymore. They just returned to the cabin, and collapsed on their respective bunks.

The next day, they got back in touch with the boys back in the regular Kansas City area. They immediately confessed what happened to them on that ridge, which prompted Mateo to admit that something similar happened to them, though less accidentally. There was something going on between the four of them, and their neighbors, the Walton twins. Even though they had no clue what was happening, their instincts were telling them that Romana was a lot more fragile, and her durability should not be tested with stabbings, falls, or surge protector strikes. Still, she was one of them, and other than Boyd, and maybe Pacey, no one else was. The more they thought on it, the more convinced they were that they were in a simulation. They had customers and clients and employees, but none of them could relate any specific story about one of them. They couldn’t remember the last time they were at the dentist, or a conversation they had with a classmate. There was something wrong with their memories. That was what it all came down to. And Pacey. He knew something. They could feel it.

The girls boarded their plane, and went back home, or at least that was what they believed. They didn’t have any memory of that either. Not clearly. They returned with the impression that a sufficient amount of time had passed between Portland and Mission Hills, and it seemed like they were at the airport, and then on a plane, but they had no recollection of it. They needed answers, and they needed to find a way to get those answers without their memories being messed with again, if that was really what was happening at all. They didn’t know. They didn’t know anything. Maybe confronting Pacey wasn’t the right call. Maybe all they could do was go out and push the boundaries. If none of this was real, there would be clues. There would be little rendering mistakes, and coding copies. Ramses called this geometry instancing. If they were in a virtual environment, each blade of grass would probably just be a copy, repeated from a single block of code. Through enough examination, they should be able to detect this, even though they obviously couldn’t read the code directly. Hopefully, whoever was watching over them—if anyone—wouldn’t catch them in the act. Perhaps a distraction was in order?

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: June 16, 2468

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Mateo Matic came back into the world, and screamed. He screamed for a good two minutes while his memories of the past that were taken from him flooded back into his brain at once. They weren’t bad, per se, but the journey that his past self took with Carlin and Aclima was anything but pleasant. Once he arrived in Ferdiz, the locals welcomed him in, but were upset by his insistence on exiting immediately. He had come for the wrong reasons. They were there for enlightenment, and peace with one’s own past. He was there for his future, and that was not the point of the Pilgrimage. Still, he was apparently entitled to do whatever he wished with his life, as was Aclima, who chose to leave as well. Though she did not allow the timonite extracted from the ground to transport her elsewhere. She began the long walk back to the border of the desert. This, they were far more accepting of.

Obviously, Mateo did make it back to Earth in the Third Rail, memories not intact. He continued on with his life, trying to help his friends, and save the worlds. He had many more adventures, traveling to other realities, and other universes, eventually making his way all the way back here to close his loop. The timonite was what erased his memories in the first place to prevent a paradox, and now that such a thing was no longer a concern, he could have them back. He recounted his experiences with the group, as did Aclima, who had her own perspective, and was the only one who could tell them about her experiences alone.

Carlin chose to stay behind in Ferdiz. He understood the assignment, and Mateo and Aclima believed that finding peace in paradise was always his intention. The war efforts to which he contributed in Stoutverse were affecting him more than he let others realize. He spoke a little about it during the Pilgrimage, but Mateo and Aclima did not relate this information during their recap. Apparently, this was bound to happen one way or another. Members of Carlin’s family had an incidental history of leaving the group, and never seeing each other again. First Trina, then Alyssa, and now it was his turn. Moray would be all right without them. He had his own path to walk.

The Waycar was still here, and as he promised, Ramses stayed behind for a year to keep an eye on Cassius and the crew. They spent most of their days training for a war that would hopefully never come. Theirs was not a job of violence, but of protection, yet they wanted to be prepared in case they encountered opposition out there in the bulk. None of them knew for sure how the Ochivari would react to their interference in their plans. They didn’t cause trouble for the Verdemusians, so Ramses mostly worked in his lab on the Vellani Ambassador. It was here that he fabricated their own version of the quintessence consolidator and skeleton key, but he said it was even better. Now they no longer needed the Waycar’s help for anything. He wasn’t truly alone there, though. Over time, factions went their separate ways on this planet. They weren’t hostile towards each other, but trade negotiations were as tricky as they were necessary. Each micronation had control over at least one resource that the others needed. The Ambassador was a good, neutral location to hold these discussions. Ramses stayed out of it, though. He didn’t even serve as host. Everything was their responsibility.

Since he and the rest of the team would eventually have to leave, he built and deployed small reframe automators to the next star system over to gather raw materials to build them a new permanent diplomacy orbiting station. This way, everything they had for these purposes came from outside help, and no one could argue greater rights to any of it. Maybe it wouldn’t work. Maybe their conflicts would strengthen over time, and slowly erode the peace that they still enjoyed. But at least Ramses had done everything he could to help them. And that was kind of what they were out here doing, wasn’t it?

It was decided that both Team Matic and the Waycar would depart today, so in celebration of this, the locals proposed a joint dinner for all executive members in their new space station. The Alpha and Beta were there, as were the respective leaders of the nations. Cassius represented the Waycar along with Kineret and Hadron. Aclima had yet to officially accept the position of his Deputy Sentry, though she was here in that capacity. Also present were the four Staff Sergeants. They were eating and talking, and having a good time. Mateo was particularly interested in learning more about the timonite deposits, and how they came to be there. He was afraid to ask, though, so Leona did it for him during a break in the discourse.

“Well, we don’t actually know how it happened,” Focus Janda Wilden answered. He was the leader of one of the smallest micronations called Extrema. They were a group of scientists and researchers who were dedicating their lives to reestablishing a connection to Extremus. They were apparently cut off from it decades ago. Everyone in Extrema had their own title, which were all just terms that exemplified what a good scientist needed, like Reflection, Tenacity, and Curiosity. “This planet had to have unusual temporal properties from the very beginning, or what happened here would be happening everywhere. But at some point, presumably due to all the temporal manipulation that was going on during the early days of settlement, a grass evolved called timogramen. It was a precursor to the timonite that you are already familiar with. At first, the settlers used it for their own needs, to power some of their technologies. Understanding the conditions of it, among other factors, was actually required for using the Nexus that once stood here, as well as other time travel technologies and powers. 

“Over the years, the timogramen spread to become an invasive species. The more timogramen there was, the harder it was to do the simplest of things here, like teleporting. It was threatening to take over the whole world. So our ancestors gathered every last blade, and every last seed, and flew it to the Alhadabara Desert. They burned it. They burned it all up, thinking that they would be rid of it forever. But the ash seeped into the soil, and mineralized as it sunk deeper into the crust. At the same time, life sprung where once there was none. Thus, the Ferdiz, and the timonite veins below it.”

“Fascinating,” Mateo said. “And the timonite, do you use it in your research?”

“None of us has been able to make the journey across the Alhadabara,” Janda replied. “It sounds too hard. We’re intellectuals, so we’re not exactly built for it.”

“We would love a sample,” his right-hand man added, though they couldn’t recall his name. “It wouldn’t guarantee results, but studying it would certainly provide us some much-needed insight. Before Omega disappeared, he apparently cleared most of the central archives that were stored in various places in this system.”

Aclima reached into her bag that was hanging on her chair, and removed a fist-sized timonite stone. She set it on the table, and used her index finger to scoot it towards the Extremans.

“Where did you get that?” Leona questioned.

“The Ferdizites gave me one too,” Aclima answered. “I didn’t ask for it, but I think maybe they knew that someone here would need it. I’m guessing that they use the timonite at their disposal to see the future, or just to keep tabs on the rest of the world, and maybe beyond.”

“Hold on,” Alpha Merchant said, hovering his hand over the crystalline stone when Janda reached for it. “There are procedures here for this sort of thing. You can’t just take power, even when an external force gives it to you. We did not come here for diplomacy, so a discussion will have to be scheduled.”

“It’s a gift to us,” Janda contended. “There. Discussion over.”

“That is not how this works.”

“We are no threat to you,” Janda argued. “We are only a handful of self-sufficient people, and we do not rely on trade from others. We have not asked for anything since we asked to secede. We are entitled to this.”

“I will not have it,” Leif insisted. “We talk first. That is our way. If you disagree with my decision, you are welcome to challenge my position as Alpha.”

Janda shrunk into himself, implying that a challenge was as physical as it would be for a fictional werewolf pack, or something dumb like that.

Aclima picked the timonite back up. “I’m not giving it to Verdemus. I’m giving it to Janda. He may do with it as he wishes.”

“Please respect our customs, visitor.”

“You will show respect,” Alpha Vernon demanded, standing up. While Alpha Leif Merchant was in charge of the population of the whole planet besides Ferdiz, his claim to this right was in perpetual challenge by the leader of the second-largest nation of Vaskovia. This was why the leader of that nation also called himself an Alpha, and it led to a lot of tension between them on a personal level, as well as a diplomatic one. “Aclima of Ferdiz has made the Pilgrimage...twice. She is superior to all of us.”

“Not everyone sees it that way,” Alpha Merchant spits. “You may sit back down,” he said, as if it had been his decision for Vernon to stand in the first place.

Either way, Vernon was the loser of this argument. If he sat back down, he would be admitting his own subservience to Leif. But if he remained standing, he would stand out like a fool. He chose the latter.

Leif smirked. “He is wrong,” he said to Aclima. “You may take back the rock, if you like, but I cannot authorize a gift to an individual, or a single nation, of this magnitude. My rule over all is the only thing keeping us from the brink of war. You must understand that. And you must respect it...Aclima of Ferdiz.”

“She is not Aclima of Ferdiz,” Cassius said, also standing now. “She is Deputy Sentry for the Bulkverse Traveler Waycar. You will show respect to us, and our ways, or you will find yourself on the wrong end of an Ochivar wing. The stone goes to Mister Wilden. I have spoken.”

Leif seethed. “That rock is not going back down to my planet. I will not have it!”

“Fine,” Janda said. “Then we’ll move permanently to the moon of Jaunemus. That’s where the Nexus was. We were considering doing that anyway. But know this, Alpha...when we make contact with Extremus, we will be laying out the truth of what’s become of our government. We will not show you loyalty.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Leif responded, digging into his position.

Aclima handed Janda the stone.

“Wonderful!” Ramses exclaimed. “That’s done. Let’s get back to the meal. I believe it’s time for dessert? Who wants sand cake?”

They continued to eat, and enjoy each other’s company, albeit with a few more awkward silences than before. The benefit of there being more than one micronation was that they could serve as buffers. It wasn’t just two polar opposites who had to get along with each other. They had things in common with a few others, who had things in common with each other, who had things in common with the other end of the spectrum. After it was over, and people started leaving, Aclima pulled Leona to the side. When Mateo started to follow, she didn’t ask him not to.

“What is it?” Leona asked.

“I’ve spent more time with Matt than anyone else here,” Aclima began. She looked over at him. “I told you and Carlin things that I’ve never told anyone. I don’t...feel anything for the Waycar.”

“I can see that,” Mateo acknowledged.

“Well, I was wondering...” Aclima started to say.

Leona smiled, which was enough to get Aclima to trail off. “You would be alone a lot of the time. There’s a reason that the six of us have stayed together for so long, and haven’t really added anyone else in the long-term. We bring people on sometimes, but they always leave, because they have to.”

“I can go into stasis during your interim periods,” Aclima offered. “It’ll be like I’m one of the gang.”

“We’ve tried that,” Mateo told her. “It’s not a good long-term solution either. Besides, I need you on the Waycar. With Carlin out of the running, we need someone there that we trust. Because we all know that we can’t trust Cassius. He’s not evil, but...”

“You can trust me? I’m a hybrid.”

“You’re a person,” Mateo clarified. “And like you were saying, we’ve been through a lot together. I remember it now. I know it’s gonna be tough, so what you should do is find someone else there; someone you can confide in. You’ll be able to see it in their eyes. They won’t be enamored with Cassius either, and you can bond from that.”

Leona opened one of her arm compartments, and took out a communication disc. “These don’t have unlimited range, but if you’re ever in the neighborhood again, you can talk to us. There are others on the network who aren’t on our pattern, so you can talk to them too. I’ll get you a directory.”

Aclima looked honored as she was accepting the disc. “Thank you.”

Mateo nodded, and then just decided to go in for the hug. Leona did not partake.

They said their goodbyes, and then joined in on all the other goodbyes. They made sure to stick around to watch the Waycar disappear before they launched the Vellani Ambassador into orbit. They didn’t know where they were going to go now but they would discuss it on their own, probably next year.

“I assumed we were returning to the Goldilocks Corridor,” Ramses said, confused. “We’re pretty close to it now. We’ll be there by tomorrow, even if we only use the reframe engine.”

“What would we use if not the reframe engine?” Leona questioned.

“What do you think I’ve been doing all year? And what do you think quintessence is? It’s a doorway to the whole universe. I can get us anywhere in spacetime near instantaneously now.”

“You can?” Leona was shocked.

Ramses smiled brightly. “Yeah. Wanna test it out?”

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: June 15, 2467

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Putting their heads together, Leona and Ramses were able to fix the issue with the quintessence consolidator. The second test missile they deployed was no different than the first. It was just as intelligent and adaptive as the first, but it failed to penetrate the thick layer of dark matter that was now protecting Stoutverse. After a third test, they piloted the Waycar back through the barrier. The skeleton key allowed them to pass through, which satisfied both of their goals for this mission. They were now done with this brane, and could leave it behind to return to Salmonverse.

It wasn’t very far away, hyperdimensionally speaking, though calculating an entry point close to their exact destination was a different matter. Fortunately, they had Aclima on their side. She understood Maramon technology better than most due to the fact that she was genetically engineered for it, instead of just being born as a normal person. They broke through the membrane, and found themselves in cislunar space, almost running into a shuttle that was parked at the apparent Lagrange point one. After the near-miss, they entered a high orbit, and began to scan the surface. Before they had surveyed the whole thing, a voice made contact with them, and sent them the coordinates for a landing site. Cassius ordered the pilot to make the landing, and told her that she was in charge until he got back. He and Team Matic then exited the ship, and approached the Welcoming Committee.

“My name is Sentry Cassius Hoffman of the Interversal Defensive Ship Waycar, name subject to change. Are we on Verdemus?”

A man broke free from the line of locals. “This is indeed Verdemus. I’m Alpha Leif Merchant. This is Beta Uaiya Merchant. Yes, we’re married. No, there’s nothing in the Charter that says we can’t be.”

“Wasn’t gonna ask,” Cassius said.

Leona stepped forward. “I’m Captain Leona Matic of the Stateless Private Vessel Vellani Ambassador. Apologies for cutting the introductions short, but we came here on a mission of grave temporal importance. We’re searching for something called timonite, and have reason to believe that it’s here. From our perspective, we have already succeeded in procuring a piece. We need to close the loop.”

The Alpha and the Beta exchanged a look. “We know what you’re talking about, and we know where you may find it. Our ancestors accidentally created it, and the garden on top of it, over a century ago.”

“We’ll show you,” Uaiya said, “but you must promise to follow all of our rules and customs. You cannot merely take the timonite. It must be earned.”

“We agree,” Leona promised. “Sentry, why don’t you...go back to the ship?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Cassius argued.

“We appreciate the ride,” Leona told him. “You may go on to fulfill your mandate to the bulkverse. Thank you.”

“You can’t make me leave,” Cassius contended.

“But we can,” Leif said. “We study the Ambassador and Team Matic in school here. I don’t even know you.”

“You’re welcome,” Cassius said to Leona with an attitude. Everyone else was on Leona’s side but they all recognized that Cassius was an okay guy, and that he wasn’t the enemy. He just kind of rubbed people the wrong way, and he kind of did it immediately.

“Aclima, you’re not going back?”

“I will later,” Aclima replied. “He’s obviously not leaving yet. He knows that you’ll be gone at the end of the day, so he’ll have plenty of time to make his exit.”

Leona nodded in agreement. “Tell us about this garden,” she politely requested of Leif. “Was it man-made?”

“Yes, in the middle of the largest desert on the planet,” Leif started to say.

“Won’t be a problem for us,” Future!Mateo assured him.

“It will,” Leif insisted. “We asked you to follow our rules, and our rules say that you cannot teleport there, or even take a vehicle.”

“How do you get there then?” Past!Mateo asked.

“You walk.”

“How far is it?”

“Roughly 6,000 kilometers.

“That’s impossible,” Olimpia figured.

“It’s not. It just takes a long time,” Uaiya countered. “We call it the Pilgrimage. You may not enter Ferdiz unless you walk there from the desert border. To take any shortcut would be incredibly offensive to us, and more so to the ones who did it.”

“I see,” Leona said.

“No. But you can.” He offered her his hand as Uaiya offered hers to Future!Mateo.

All four of them teleported away to be followed by the rest of the team, including Aclima and Carlin. They were standing on the ridge of a mountain. Below them, in the center of the desolate basin, sat a lush patch of fertile ground. It looked so out of place from up here; a paradise surrounded by desert, like an artist’s interpretation of the Garden of Eden. If they didn’t know better, though, they could believe it was natural. This was a reasonable spot to expect an oasis to form. Between them and the garden, they could also see an ant-sized person making their way towards it. They were moving very slowly before falling to their knees, and then to their face.

Angela lurched.

“No,” Leif urged her. “He is close enough to Ferdiz. Others will come for him. He will just not have quite made it all the way. But it is not up to us to help.”

“I thought we couldn’t teleport here at all,” Ramses reminded him.

“Just to show you,” Leif explained, “it’s fine. But if you want that timonite, you have to make the Pilgrimage, following the rules literally every step of the way, and you have to hope the other Pilgrims let you take it. They do not fall under our jurisdiction, so I can promise you nothing.”

“How many people take the Pilgrimage per year?” Marie asked. “How many die?”

“These days, maybe fifty people attempt it? I couldn’t tell you how many die. Taking the first step breaks you free from your duties to society, and also its protections. We don’t retrieve the bodies, and we don’t communicate with Ferdiz.”

“So it could be a deathtrap?” Future!Mateo suggested. “A group of cannibals could be living there, waiting for their weekly meal?”

Leif fell into a very soft smile, and waited to respond as he turned his head to look at Future!Mateo. “Yes. They could be. There are currently around 60,000 people in the world, and there’s a reason we don’t all try it.”

“No one comes back?” Leona asked.

“I believe some have, over the years, and they’ve been welcomed. But they stay quiet, and if their experiences were recorded, I’m not cognizant of the details. Like I said, I’m only the current Alpha; not an expert in this. You’ll have to speak with the right scholars for more information.”

“This planet was populated by Extremusians. Did they abandon their mission?” Olimpia pressed.

“No.” Leif took a breath, and admired the view one last time. We’re all clones, or descended from the clones.” He turned away. “Stay as long as you like, but don’t take one step closer, or you’ll be killed. That much I do know about them.” Leif and Uaiya took each other by the hand, and disappeared.

“How are we going to do this?” Future!Mateo asked. “I don’t know how long it takes to walk 6,000 kilometers, but I know it’s longer than a day.”

Leona nodded. “Yeah, it could take 200 years of realtime, depending on the terrain, and the fitness level of the Pilgrim.”

“I could go,” Aclima volunteered.

“As could I,” Carlin piped up. “Neither of us is on your pattern.”

“I’m also superhuman,” Aclima added, trying to distance herself from Carlin, even physically. “So it should be me.”

“I don’t think there’s a maximum, since the Alpha couldn’t even give us an exact number of Pilgrims, and he didn’t say you had to go alone. But anyway,” Leona continued, shaking her head, “we can’t ask you to do that. It’s not your problem.”

“It’s mine,” Past!Mateo said. “It’s mine, and mine alone.”

“If you die, it’ll create a paradox,” Future!Mateo argued with himself. “And anyway, you’re on the pattern, just like the rest of us.”

“We need more information,” Olimpia determined. “We need the entire set of rules. What can you take with you, what can’t you? Is there a dress code?”

Leona noticed that Angela was still staring at the fallen Pilgrim. “Angie. This is their way. Whoever that is, he knew the risks, I’m sure of it.”

“There’s nothing to eat or drink around here!” Angela cried. “How does anyone survive this, without an IMS, or anything?”

“We’ve seen very little of the route,” Leona answered calmly.

“Well, Pia’s right,” Angela responded. “I have more questions.” She teleported back to the landing site. Everyone else followed.

They sat down with the Alpha, Beta, and the Gamma in the Delegation Hall of the Ambassador. They didn’t only discuss the Pilgrimage. There was a reason for their leadership titles, and it had nothing to do with alpha-male mentality. Omega Strong was a clone of Saxon Parker. He gave himself that name after the number that he was assigned left him with a mental complex. He abandoned his calling, and struck out on his own, eventually winding up on the transgalactic ship known as the Extremus. To remedy his regrets, he cloned himself more than a hundred years ago to build an army to fight against the Exin Empire. This planet was located relatively close to the Goldilocks Corridor, though it was not considered part of it. The Extremusians choosing it as an outpost placed the two factions more at odds than they already were.

Some of the clones rejected their responsibilities, which should have come as no surprise, since they were all created from the original, defiant Omega. They weren’t exact copies at any rate. Each one was actually based on the one prior, and genetically altered ever so slightly each time, always drifting further and further away in every respect. It was for this reason that the clones who chose to dig in on Verdemus instead of going to war had felt comfortable procreating with each other, even though they all technically had the same progenitor. There were anti-incest laws, though. It was illegal to form any sort of romantic bond with someone within one thousand degrees of separation. As it turned out, Leif and Uaiya were exactly a thousand degrees apart, which was why they were so defensive about their relationship. Different people had different ideas on what was considered acceptable, and many felt that even this amount of genetic drift was too close. Over time, as the population aged, these restrictions would probably relax, especially since the descendants made it more difficult to make the calculation in the first place, but for now, it was a topic of intense debate.

As for the Pilgrimage, they were right that they didn’t have all the rules. Whoever went could not go with an IMS, nor any electronic, or temporal advantage. They were allowed minimal supplies, including shelter, limited clothing, a knife, rope, a fire-starting kit, and initial rations. They obviously had to carry all of this on their backs, though Leona guessed correctly that they could travel in a group. Aclima was clearly the perfect candidate for this since survival was so much easier for her, and the Merchants didn’t see any issues with it. The rules didn’t say anything about what species you had to be. For Carlin, the more they talked about it, the more excited he became. This would be a personal journey for him—as it was meant to be when it was first designed—but he could not articulate his exact reasons. Regardless, there was nothing they could do to stop him. But Past!Mateo was very perturbed. People had already done so much to help him, and he felt like a helpless baby bird. He had to do something too.

“We can help with that as well,” Uaiya claimed. She stood up and disappeared briefly, returning with what reminded some of them of an ankle monitor. “This fits around your ankle. It has a little bit of the timonite you seek, though my guess is that it’s not enough for you to just take. It doesn’t suppress all forms of temporal manipulation, but it does tie you to realtime. It should stop you from jumping to the future. It will use the timonite up, though, just as it would any other power source. And if I’m being honest, if that happens in the middle of the year, it might throw you back on your regular pattern instantly. I don’t know enough about how salmon work.”

Past!Mateo smiled, and graciously accepted the gift. “That settles it, I’m going. It doesn’t matter if anyone else does.”

“You don’t need to be alone,” Aclima said to him, patting him on the back.

“I’ll be doing this for myself as much as for you,” Carlin promised.

“Are you two sure?” Past!Mateo looked to Leif for guidance. “I don’t think there’s any going back.”

“It’s true,” Leif began, “when you begin the Pilgrimage, you forfeit your rights. But...you’re not citizens, you’re visitors, so it’s a bit of a gray area.”

Past!Mateo looked at his friends. “If we can’t wear our suits, then we need time to prepare. You won’t be able to see us off.”

“That’s okay,” Leona “We’ll say our goodbyes now.” She leaned in, and planted a passionate kiss on his lips.

“Hey, that’s my wife,” Future!Mateo joked. It was strange to see it, but he was fine. It had been a long time since his past self had seen his own version of her.

“That ankle thing,” Ramses said as he was eyeing it. “Do you happen to have another one of those?”

“Do you wanna go on the journey too?” Marie asked, confused.

“No. But I think someone should stay and keep an eye on the Sentry.”

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Microstory 2213: Calming Environment

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Negative. Negative or inconclusive, that is. All of the blood test results came back, and none of them told us what Nick might have. We woke up to no answers today, just as we have every morning in recent days. He was scheduled to have an MRI in the early afternoon, so we were still hopeful that that would turn up something, but it didn’t tell us anything either. Well, I’m sure it told the doctor something, but it goes over our heads. All we know is that Nick is sick, and there is no apparent treatment for it. While we were waiting for the ultimately unhelpful MRI analysis results, I took him for a walk in the arboretum. This is precisely why they built the hospital at this location, so patients and loved ones can have a calming environment in some of their darkest times. There are trails in there that are somewhat difficult to walk on, or at least which require two legs, but for the less mobile people, there are also paved paths. We stayed on those, but were still able to enjoy a lot of beauty. I think it was really great for him to be out there. If you go deep enough, you stop being able to see the ninety degree angles of the buildings and roads, and hear the sounds of the cars. He told me that he likes either being inside with the conditioned air, or in nature, but not in between. He doesn’t like the urban world, with all its loud artificial noises, and crowds of people. Due to all the jail time he experienced, and the work he did during and after that, he hasn’t been able to spend much time in places like that. He agrees that it did him good, but there was a downside to it. I pushed him in the wheelchair, which is not the same thing as walking it himself. He regrets not going on one more hike, but of course, he had no idea that things would turn out like this. He may never be able to once again walk on his own, but I’ll take him to places like this every day if he wants. Nature has been scientifically proven to be emotionally and mentally beneficial to all, but especially for someone like him, and for someone in his condition. EEG, and maybe a spinal tap, tomorrow. Yikes!

Extremus: Year 74

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A year later, and Tinaya is still made of glass, but she’s doing okay, and adjusting to her new life. Solid walls no longer faze her. She’s gotten used to walking right through them whenever she needs to. She’s not technically phasing through them though, as one would conventionally picture a superhero’s atoms curving around the object’s atoms without interacting. It’s more like she makes the atoms disappear, even while they appear to still be present. There is a time when the house that Belahkay built for him and Spirit is standing there by the river. And there is a time when that house isn’t there at all; it doesn’t exist yet. What Tinaya does when she’s passing through the wall is steal little bits of spacetime from the past, specifically the mostly empty air that was once occupying the area that is now occupied by the wall. While it may look like Tinaya and the wall exist in the same point simultaneously, a clever bit of time travel allows her to become the only solid object in that moment. There has only ever been one recorded case of someone with this temporal ability. It was reported in the early 23rd century, on a ship called the Sharice Davids, but this was never confirmed.

While Tinaya was learning to accept her new physiological situation, she also needed to accept her new life in general. She is on a planet in the middle of nowhere with almost no hope of reconnecting with her friends and family back on Extremus. They considered manufacturing a long-range communications device of some kind, but ultimately decided against it. The True Extremists who now live somewhere kind of close to this area are under the impression that Verdemus was destroyed. There could be spies from this civilization amongst the people of the ship. They were there before; there could be more who have as of yet not been found. Even if they’re all eventually rooted out, the nature of time travel places all intel at risk at any other point in time. It simply isn’t safe to return, if the people on the ship could even find a way to backtrack. This is their home now, and they are better off acknowledging that. Tinaya has finally managed to do that today. She’s in a good place, and ready to move forward. Today is also the first day that she’s going to speak with the prisoner.

Everyone had a job to do on this planet in the beginning, but thanks to Belahkay’s extensive understanding of automated engineering, they don’t have to do a single thing at all anymore. Agricultural robots tend the fields. Kitchen robots make the food. Construction robots build the structures. This is like a permanent vacation. Of course, automation is the name of the game back in the stellar neighborhood too, but people still pursue goals. There’s no way to advance the human race here, though, so the simple life is the only rational pursuit. There is still plenty that they’re missing. The boy’s mother, Lilac was assigned to be Hock Watcher for their one prisoner, who was not fit to serve his time on Extremus, where he might be discovered by someone who was not aware of the persistent human presence on this world. Since her job was mostly incredibly boring, she was allowed to bring the majority of central archives, including the grand repository and the core compendium, with her. She was not, however, given copies of any of the virtual stacks. She wouldn’t be very good at watching if she were spending time in a simulation. Niobe was living too simple of a life in Exin territory where she was a slave-in-training, so she’s been eager to learn computers now, hoping to one day build the Verdemusians virtual worlds to explore. Tinaya isn’t worried about that right now, not only because there’s still plenty they don’t know about this world, but also because all she can think about is Ilias Tamm.

“First Chair Leithe, you’ve finally come.”

“I’m not First Chair anymore,” Tinaya volleys.

“I don’t see it that way.”

“You better. My chances of going back to that ship aren’t much higher than yours.” She looks around at his four walls.

“I’m holding out hope,” Ilias says cryptically.

She sighs. “Why did you ask to see me?”

“That explosion killed most of the people who were living here.”

“The explosion that you caused,” she reminds him.

He shuts his eyelids. “I’m not arguing that. I’m stating a fact to lead to a point.”

“Well, get on with it.”

“The Hock Watcher is the only survivor, besides the children, who know nothing. Many secrets died with the rest of the victims. Why do you think I was here?”

“You wanted a pardon for your father.”

He smirks. “It was more than that. I wanted you on these lands, so you could uncover those secrets. Yes, I wanted to restore my father’s name, but it will do him no good, since he’s already dead.”

“What are you saying, there’s a conspiracy of some kind?”

“Well, we’re talking about Extremus; of course there’s a conspiracy. You’re part of at least two of them. How’s Thistle doing, last you spoke with him? Still one hundred percent sentient?”

“No comment.” He isn’t supposed to know about that.

He doesn’t mind her stonewalling him. “Tell me, what is the purpose of the Extremus mission? What are we trying to do?”

“We’re trying to find a home in the farthest reaches of the galaxy.”

Ilias flinches as if that’s a bad answer. “Why? What’s the point of that?”

“It has its intrinsic value. The mission is the mission.”

This makes him laugh. “That’s a nice tautology, but it’s bullshit. Everyone who started this is dead now, and they mostly did not pass their motivations onto the latter generations. My bloodline is an exception. And I’ll explain it to you, if you want.”

“Only if you’re not lying...”

He nods slightly. “Operation Starseed is a secret subprogram under Project Stargate, designed to seed human-based life all over the galaxy, starting from the stellar neighborhood, and propagating outwards. The galaxy is a couple hundred thousand light years wide, which means it will take about that long to reach the whole thing. The point of Extremus is quite simply...to beat ‘em to the punch. It’s a race, and Extremus is trying to win it.”

“Okay. Well, that’s a pretty cynical way to put it. What does that have to do with Verdemus anyway?”

“It has everything to do with Verdemus, as well as the Goldilocks Corridor and the True Extremists-slash Exins. The goal of the farthest reaches of the galaxy has always been vaguely defined. Who wins this race has therefore always been determined by your definition of that goal. Bronach Oaksent decided that the goal was in the past. He won the race thousands of years before any of us were born. He didn’t just beat Extremus, he beat modern Earth. Verdemus is just another off-shoot of that idea. The people who were meant to live here would have been just as much Extremusians as our descendants will be, who will exit the ship together on a hypothetical world out there.”

“No, that’s not true. The goal was a factor of the time that we were going to spend on the journey. That’s why there were nine captains planned, because it was going to last 216 years. This is not Planet Extremus, and not only because we didn’t literally call it that. We’re not even halfway across the galaxy yet.”

Ilias nods again, but more substantially. He removes a piece of paper from under his pillow, and sticks his arm through the bars. “Go to these coordinates. You’ll see what I mean. I’m right about this.”

Tinaya reluctantly accepts the sheet. “What the hell is this? What are coordinates? Is this based on the Earthan system? We’re not on Earth.”

“Turn it over,” he urges. “I stashed a satnav there that’s coded to Verdemus’ coordinate system,” he goes on when she flips it to the back where there’s a map to a second location using the settlement as the origin, and various large landmarks as points of reference.

“Why didn’t you just draw a map to the coordinates?” she asks.

“That’s about a quarter way around the world,” he explains. “I wouldn’t recommend trying to walk there.”

“The satellite up there is new,” she begins to argue. “It doesn’t have a coordinate system, because it’s just a warning station. The original ones, which would have been programmed with such a system, were destroyed by the crew of the Iman Vellani, because they might be detected by the Exin invaders.”

He shakes his head dismissively. “The data is in my satnav. It will send the program to the new satellite once you establish the link. It will take some doing, but the way I hear it, you know your way around a microchip.”

Tinaya reluctantly follows the map, and digs up the lockbox. She punches his code in, and retrieves the device that he was talking about. It does indeed take a little work to find a way to interface it with the orbiting satellite. Once she manages to do it, her window to actually use it closes up. In order for it to be able to warn them of external threats, it can’t remain in geostationary orbit, which would place it above them at all times. It’s constantly moving around the world, so she enjoys a limited amount of time before it disappears over the horizon, forcing her to wait. The good thing about this is that it can effectively map the coordinate system that it has just learned to the actual geography. A geostationary satellite would not be good enough to help her get to where she needs to be. About an hour and a half later, the coordinates are locked in, and the device receives an accurate set of directions. The easy part is over.

Tinaya walks over to Belahkay’s workshop where he’s building them something, or rather working on something that a robot will build when the plans are ready. “Hey, Tiny,” he says. That’s what he calls her.

“I need the jet.”

“The jet?” he questions, surprised. “Wadya need that for?”

“Fishing,” she lies.

“I hear the..bass is good on the..third continent.”

He slowly smiles, and twists his chin. “All right, I’ll let you have the jet, but I’m going with you.”

“No, I would like to be alone. That’s part of what I enjoy about fishing.”

“Tiny, I’ve never synthesized any fishing gear for you, and you’ve never mentioned it before. You’re obviously lying, which is fine, but I’m not letting you go off alone; you’re literally made of glass.”

“Ugh, everyone’s always saying that. It’s magic glass, I can’t break.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe you just haven’t got hitten hard enough.”

“Hitten?”

“It’s a word, don’t look it up. So how’s about it? I’m goin’, or no one’s goin’...? Or I’m goin’...?”

“Okay, fine. But don’t ask questions, I don’t have the answers. And you have to promise to not tell anyone what we find unless I tell you it’s okay.”

“Very well. Just let me run a preflight check, and we’ll go.”

They came up with a quick lie about the two of them wanting to feel like free birds, far, far away. The rest of the group bought it because they had no reason to believe that they were being deceived. The six of them spent time together, and they spent time apart. Aristotle went on a hike alone for a week a couple of months ago, and no one tried to stop him. He stayed in contact the whole time, and agreed to let an aerial sentinel drone fly over his head at all times. As mentioned before, this is basically all one big, long vacation.

The jet that Belahkay engineered is sleek and modern, but it’s not hypersonic. It will be some time before they mine the necessary raw materials to build anything like that, and it might not be necessary anyway. The point of getting halfway around the world in a few hours would be to connect people to each other. There’s no one else where they’re going. At least there shouldn’t be anyway. Perhaps that’s where Ilias is leading her. It could be a trap too, but it’s unlikely that he ever had enough power here to set anything like that up so far from the settlement. They didn’t find any preexisting jets over the course of the last two years, nor any place that they would have been manufactured. What could possibly be all the way out here?

A building, that’s what. A series of nested buildings, in fact. Belahkay lands the jet in an open field, and then they get out to walk back there. They’ve already seen it from the air, but they want to get a more detailed picture. Tinaya remembers learning about these in class. In the late 21st century, most people lived in arcological megastructures that towered over the landscape kilometers high, and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. But they didn’t go straight from modest highrises to this hypercondensed style of living. They gradually worked up to them. They built superblocks first, which housed hundreds of people, and later thousands. Then they upgraded to megablocks, which housed tens of thousands. What they’re seeing here is a megablock. A giant complex several stories high surrounds a courtyard, and on the inside of this courtyard is another building, shorter than the first. They just keep going like that, each layer being smaller in two dimensions than the one outside of it. In the very center is a 10,000 square meter park.

The fact that they’ve found this thing is shocking enough. It shows that the people who first came to this world weren’t just curious about the flora and fauna. They were planning to settle it with a significant human population who would never see the Extremus again, and would start a new civilization. Ilias was right, different people were making up their own definitions for the end state of the Extremus project. But that isn’t the only thing they find here. In the park is what looks like a downed jet. It seems to have crashed here many years ago. There was one apparent survivor, or maybe he had nothing to do with it. He comes out of a handcrafted structure next to the pond, and approaches to shake their hands. “Hi. Welcome to Sycamore Highfields.”

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