Microstory 1602: New House

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In 1981, after Japan House was finished being built, the Bicker Institute started trying to think of other ways to allow the human race to survive. Eight full bunkers were already up and ready to go, with another House in New Zealand, which was designed to maintain its population mostly above ground. Jumping off of that idea, they decided that keeping people underground wasn’t necessarily the only way to survive the end of the world. In fact, it may not even be the best way. The organization was not founded upon the basis of some specific disaster. If they had those answers, they probably would have channeled all of their efforts into stopping it. They wanted to prepare for anything, and massive global earthquakes, for instance, might just bury all of their bunkers, so they wanted to come up with new strategies. People in the ocean could conceivably survive such a thing. It wasn’t guaranteed, but nothing was, and again, this was all about preparation. They needed a ship. They needed the best ship in the world. And they needed it to potentially endure a tidal wave or tsunami. Their next interim deadline was in seven years, which was important, because the hope was to support a certain percentage of a growing population. The project leads started looking around, hoping to find something that would meet their requirements. It didn’t have to be perfect, they had time to modify it, and bolster its features, but after a few months, things were getting ridiculous. Nothing fit the bill. Nothing was good enough for them. All ships were made to weather storms to some certain degree, but none of them could last through the worst storm in history, should it occur. Before wasting any more time, they decided their only solution was to build their own vessel from scratch, which they did over the course of the next eight years. They went about a year past their deadline, but that was okay, because the actual end of the world wouldn’t start happening until around 2021, and even then, things weren’t bad enough to warrant populating the Houses. This latest project made them better with their time management, and before it was finished, they ended up getting to work on the next plan for survival, which was a submarine. As for the ship, it was a magnificent beauty, far beyond anything else 1989 had to offer, and probably even superior to the ships built in 2021. I won’t tell you whether it, or its Inheritors, survived what came to it.

Microstory 843: Defenestrated

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To be fair, everything that happened was ultimately my fault. I am not the easiest person to be around, or to work with, and it’s a character flaw that I’m constantly working on. Still, he chose to escalate our disagreement to physical violence, which I never would have wanted. All I can do is defend myself. Unfortunately for him, I’m a lot better at that than I look. I’m not muscular, and I in no way intimidate people, but I can take a punch, and I know how to avoid a punch. But this guy; damn is he fast. He throws his weight into ever blow he sends, and I’m starting to get tired. I’m thinking this might be it, I’m going to die. The more he goes at me, the less I can remember how this all started. I know I disrespected his heritage, and my remark was completely out of line, but I can't recall exactly what I said, or even what his background is. Not that it matters, I keep trying to get a moment to say something to defuse this situation, but he has no plans to give me that opportunity. All I can hope for is that someone happens to walk into auxiliary engineering, and distracts him long enough to let me escape. As angry as he is, he’s being pretty careful with the equipment and instruments. In an action movie, all this stuff would be completely destroyed by now, then magically returned to working order before they needed it again. He doesn’t want to lose his commission on this vessel, I guess, and I assume if there’s no lasting evidence that the fight occurred, he won’t have to worry about it. A smarter opponent would somehow use this weakness against him, but I don’t know what that would look like. I can’t think straight, of course, and if this goes on much longer, I may stop thinking forever. In a desperate final move, I bolt for the exit, but he takes my arm in both his hands, like he was just waiting for me to try this. He lifts me right up off the floor, and swings me over towards the viewport, which is half the size of a standard adult human. Now, I’m not saying I’m an expert in xenobiology, but I was fairly certain his species was not strong enough to break a polycarbonate window. Maybe that’s not the point, because whether he’s supposed to be strong enough or not, my body shouldn’t be able to survive striking the window that hard. But I just crash right through it, sure I’m on my way to dying in the vacuum of space. Yet I land on the cold, hard floor of the hangar bay. I just lie there for several minutes, bleeding and broken, thankful that we hadn’t actually launched yet. A man hobbles over with a bottle in his hand, and lifts up my arm to check for a pulse, spilling some of his bourbon on my face, burning the cuts under my eyes. The only reason we never left is because the pilot is drunk. My lucky day. I wake up in the hospital hours later, and the Admiral is standing over me. “I’m here to thank you, Ensign,” she says to me. “Had you not let yourself be thrown through that window, we would not have learned how deficient it was...until it was too late. You saved the lives of everyone on your ship.”

Microstory 825: Dodo

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In 1604, a ship called the Resplendent set upon the island of Mauritius, and abducted dozens of dodo birds. Records recovered from its wreck suggest it was on its way to Malaysia, with plans to sell the birds. The last journals of her captain reveal that a terrible storm came upon the vessel, and dumped a great deal of its cargo into the ocean. They were then able to travel several miles towards Australia, before finally sinking altogether. A single scribble in the margin of the first mate’s journal read, beached birds? And I work for the woman who believed this to mean the dodos survived, and landed on an uncharted island, somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Of course, the scribble could have meant nothing at all, or was simply part of the last ramblings of a dying man. Still, my boss has a lot of money, and she was willing to spend ever last cent of it on the search for the lost dodo birds. We boarded a new ship, complete with GPS, and weather tracking software. We spent months on the water, using every bit of research we had found to hunt for the island the Resplendent’s first mate might have been talking about. We came upon the shores of many small islands, but found no evidence that any dodos had ever been on any of them. Until one day. Right there on the beach was a bottle of Cirne Rum, which was known to be the Resplendent’s captain’s favorite kind. This wasn’t proof that the birds had ever been on this island, or were still around, but if we were going to find them anywhere, it would almost certainly be here. The place was absolutely teeming with life, like people had come here to purposely plant a botanical garden, with as many species as possible. It was larger than it should have been for having apparently never been discovered. It was shaped like a top hat, with a sea level beach and wooded area along the perimeter, and cliffs in the center. We scoured the beach, and the wooded area, but found nothing. We knew our only option was to start climbing the tall rock face that led to the top of the hat. Though I hadn’t planned on doing any climbing, my boss had, and was fully prepared with all the equipment we would need. I had to get over my fear of heights to make that climb, but I did, and it was well worth it. In only four hundred years, the dodos here had transformed dramatically, growing larger, with tougher talons for grabbing onto rocks. They had evolved vibrantly colorful iridescent feathers; the most beautiful I had ever seen in my life. I told my boss that, as the leader of this mission, she had the right to name what we knew had become an entirely new subspecies of what they once were. She smiled and shrugged, ultimately deciding the informal name we had used to distinguish them from those who had never been placed on the ship was good enough: the resplendent dodos.

Microstory 801: Burial Ground

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Growing up, the four of us were inseparable. Lawrence, Jessie, Frank, and I would do everything together. Our bond was so tight that we ended up getting jobs together. Whenever one of us was tired of working somewhere, we would all quit and find something else. We even moved halfway across the country together. But then Jessie needed to go back home and take care of her sick mother, and the rest of us just couldn’t afford to go with her. It was okay, though, because we were able to keep in contact with her pretty easily in this modern world. Until we couldn’t. One day, she stopped calling, and we soon discovered that her family hadn’t seen her either. She was reported missing to the authorities, but they weren’t able to find anything. Since we’ve had so many different jobs, though, we had made tons of connections with others. We used this vast network to conduct our own investigation, and eventually learned that she was last seen at the docks where her father worked before he retired. There were rumors that a crew of fishermen were secretly pirates, so that seemed like our best lead. After months of coaxing, we infiltrated the crew, and discovered that the rumors were true, but that wasn’t the worst thing about them. One of the crewmembers was even sicker than the rest, and appeared to be responsible for the abduction of nearly a dozen other women. We found a poorly scaled map in his quarters, and set out to find the X. In the woods, between the bay and the highway, in a relatively remote area, we found what we were looking for. Parts of the ground had been turned up and replaced, forming perfect human-sized rectangles. Each grave was marked with some kind of personal item. We started digging the one marked by Jessie’s lucky stone, which was a painted rock she bought in a gift shop because it “spoke to her”. We worked slowly, not relishing the idea of seeing our best friend’s lifeless body. When we finally opened it, our eyes widened. I immediately grabbed her and pulled the mask off of her face. “Start digging up the others. They’re alive.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: August 11, 2157

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Lincoln and Darko were still standing in about the same places they were the previous year when Mateo returned to the timestream.

“What is it?” Mateo asked. “What’s happened?”

“Someone showed up, looking to retrieve The Superintendent’s special pen,” Lincoln said. “She said she was from another universe, but I don’t think she traveled in the Crossover.”

Mateo looked down at his hand. “Oh, crap, I still have it.”

“It doesn’t matter. She’s a time traveler. She’ll be back in a morning, and it won’t have been but a few seconds for her. She suggests you get some sleep.”

“We’re all going to sleep,” Darko reminded Lincoln, who was still feeling guilty about what he’d done, by placing his hand on his shoulder.

“Are we in big trouble?” Mateo asked.

“Tonight we don’t worry about that,” Darko said. “Tonight we eat, we drink, we be merry. We sleep. She’s not gonna show up ‘til we’re awake, so don’t set an alarm.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“She was clear. She said that sleep is very important.”

“Who is she?”

Darko shook his head, “she never gave a name.”

“Sandy.” The woman shook each of their hands the next morning. “Real name is Sandra Clausen, but I go by Sandy. Please, no jokes about beach sand.”

Last night, they spent an hour eating fourthmeal, and drinking water, and then they each went to bed. They were not in the mood to be merry, and were all still pretty serious.

“Wow. Tough crowd,” she said, trying to adjust her demeanor accordingly.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Lincoln asked.

“What’s going to happen to us,” Mateo corrected. “We’re a package deal.”

“I don’t know.” She looked at her watch. “In a few minutes, he’ll be asleep, and I’ll be able to channel his very thoughts. I’m just the vessel. I am going to need that pen back, though.”

Mateo took it out of his pocket and started handing it to her, but then pulled back. “Would it be wise for us to maintain leverage?”

“Mateo,” Darko urged, “just give it back.”

“It’s obviously important. I don’t think we should just throw it away. I don’t think we can afford to.”

She looked at him like she wasn’t impressed. Suddenly a man appeared behind Mateo and swiftly snatched the pen from his hand. He gave it to Sandy. “Thank you, Mister Casales. You were right, I couldn’t do this one alone.”

“What is it you do?” Mateo asked, knowing he had lost the pen gambit, and that it was time to move on.

“I am a creator of worlds.”

“You’re from Gaius’ universe,” Lincoln guessed.

“Yes,” she said. “But my bloodline is from a dif—” She realized the thief was still at her flank. “You do not need to protect me, Elías.”

“I’m not so sure that’s true,” Elías said.

She nodded and scanned the treeline. “I’m sure Valerio is somewhere in a perch, watching everything here. This is a private conversation.”

“Very well,” Elías said, leaving.

“You’ll have to forgive my associate,” Sandy said. “He spent quite a bit of time in prison, so open spaces make him nervous.”

Mateo was just worried about this second associate, perched somewhere in a tree.

“Oo, he’s ready. Mister Lohner cannot travel to other worlds, not even through the Crossover, so he has sent me in his stead. But once I open the channel, it will be him all the way. Speak to him as if he were really here. Please do not be alarmed, and do not condemn him for this. I do this sort of thing all the time, and I do not a consider it a violation—thank you, Sandy,” she said in a lower tone, like they were just conversing in a business conference call. “I’m glad we could schedule this so everyone could be here.”

“Gaius,” Mateo said, almost accusatorily. This wasn’t the first time he he had spoken with someone via someone else’s voice, so it wasn’t all that strange.

“Mateo,” he said back. “Congratulations on your win. You bested your enemy once more. Unfortunately, this one will not become a friend later on. It’s sad, really, I could have used her for more stories.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“No, it’s quite all right. It had to end this way. This is what we in the business call narrative symmetry. I think.”

“I thought it was irony,” Darko said.

“That too,” Gaius agreed. “As a reward, you will tomorrow see all of your friends returned to you.”

“No more expiations?” Mateo hoped.

“One more expiation. You never got to do one for President Puppy here.” He gestured towards Lincoln.

“That will not be necessary,” Mateo said. “Just keep him here with everyone else.”

“That I cannot do.”

“Can’t...or wont?”

“Won’t.”

“Your damn story.”

“Hey, I got three more installments before this wraps up, I gotta do something with them.”

“Well, what am I gonna have to do to get him back? Are the others going to be able to help?”

“I don’t see why not, but I do not know what the challenge will be.”

“Let me know when you figure it out.”

Gaius nodded with Sandy’s head.

“Is that all?” Darko asked passive-aggressively.

“No, that was just the reward. You still need a punishment.”

“Punishment for what?”

He held up his pen. “Do you know why this thing has power?”

“Magic,” Mateo assumed.

He smiled. Then he broke the pen into pieces, and let them fall to the ground. “It had power...because I gave it power. I wasn’t lying when I said you people had free will. President Puppy, you chose to erase Arcadia from the timeline.” He held up his hands pseudo-defensively. “I am beholden to your whims. You wanted her gone, you had in your possession something you believed would send her away...and so it did.”

“The pen is nothing?” Lincoln asked.

“The pen is me. I am the God. I erased her for you, because you thought you were erasing her.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Darko questioned. “If the pen was meaningless, and it was you the whole time, why would Lincoln need to be punished?”

Gaius made Sandy’s face all serious. “Because I wrote myself into the story, and I brought three of my characters into my world. Then one of them stole from me, which made me look like a fucking idiot!” He paused for effect. “I’m punishing you, because I can. Because I want to. Next year is going to be wildly different. I had plans for you, Matty-boy. You were gonna sacrifice yourself. Arcadia was going to give you a choice after you had all the expiations finished. She was gonna make you lose one person from the island. She was gonna come up with some bullshit loophole for this. She would think she was so clever, making sure she stipulated that you couldn’t choose her. What she didn’t count on, was you choosing yourself.”

“That sounds like him,” Darko said. “What went wrong?”

“What went wrong is that Arcadia’s gone, dumbass. I haven’t figured out how intelligent you are, Donnie, that’s why you’re all over the place.”

“What are you doing instead of that?” Mateo asked, trying to come back from the tangent.

The self-proclaimed God put a smile Sandy’s face. “I’m just gonna do it myself. No choice. No free will. Not this time. I’m going to erase you from reality, just like your friends. The difference is, there will no expiations to get you back. And no one will remember you. Not even Leona, not even Vearden. After tomorrow, you’ll be gone.”

“You can’t do this!” Lincoln cried.

“Pretty sure I one-hundred-percent can,” he said, this close to letting out a maniacal laugh. “Just be grateful I’m giving you tomorrow.” He took another pen from his pocket. “I could take you anytime I wanted.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Darko said, stepping in, worried about there being some struggle.

“Is there anything we can do?” Lincoln pleaded.

“Literally no. How does it feel to be normal? I told you I was gonna take away your power, and I did. You won’t remember him either. I recommend you take solace in that. In one year’s time, you won’t be angry anymore. And you, Mateo...you’ll feel nothing.”

“What happens to Leona?” Mateo asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Gaius answered. “I mean, she won’t be fine, but she’ll survive.”

“Can you not break her out of our pattern? Once I’m gone, can you not give her that? For me? One favor.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m not doing that. She stays as she is.”

“Worth a shot.”

“Indeed.”

“If you can’t do that, maybe you can do something else,” Mateo tried again.

“What’s that?”

“Give them back today,” Mateo requested. “Return the missing now, instead of waiting until tomorrow.”

He thought this over. “That I believe I can do.”

“Thank you,” Mateo said solemnly, humbly, defeated.

“Say goodbye,” Gaius instructed.

“Goodbye.”

Sandy’s body started breaking apart into increasingly tinier pieces, until each was smaller than a grain of sand, and the wind took them away.

“We have to do something,” Lincoln said. “I’ve lost my powers, it’s true, but I still remember a lot. There’s something called the Incorruptible Astrolabe. It can fix problems with reality. Last I heard, The Forger had it. Now, he hid it somewhere safe, but I think we can—”

“Linc,” Mateo interrupted. “Lincoln. It’s over. Whether I consider him to be a god or not, he has power. We can’t stop this. I’m just going to enjoy my last two days.”

Darko started tearing up.

“I’ve been alive for thousands of years, my friends. I will be okay. Just watch over Leona and Serif for me.”

“We can do that,” Darko promised.

Mateo smiled warmly as Baudin’s buildings started coming back into focus. “Today is the day we celebrate. Tomorrow...is also for celebration. The day after that, is up to you.”

As the buildings and the people began fading into view, Darko and Lincoln faded away. Reality was rewriting itself, putting everything back to the way it was. A lot of people appeared that he didn’t know, showing that this was once more the hub of the time traveler underground. Mateo started walking around, occasionally noticing people he recognized, moving about as if nothing had happened. Téa was just opening her shop for the day. Aura and Samsonite were helping assemble a mannequin. Horace and Lita were playing a game of catch in front of the Hall of Records. Paige was taking photographs of people. When asked about it, she said she was responsible for contributing to the salmon and chooser files that The Archivist keeps. James Van Der Beek was one of them. Darko and Marcy were enjoying the day on their front porch, while their daughter, Dar’cy was presently visiting friends in Sutvindr, with Lincoln.

There were a few people that weren’t there, though. All of Marcy’s family had been returned to them, except for Nestor, but were living somewhere on Earth. Saga was on a freelance mission in 1947 Bangladesh, and Mario was already gone for the day, saving people’s lives throughout history. Xearea, now almost seventy years old, had resumed her duties as Savior, teleporting all over Earth. Her job was much easier now, as people were far more capable of protecting themselves from freak accidents. Though Baudin had moved his offices to Tribulation Island, having the apparent memory that this was several years ago, he was at a work site at the moment. No one seemed to know where Gilbert was, and no one seemed to know who Kivi was. She had been erased from the timeline once again, which was sort of her modus operandi.

“Mateo,” came Leona’s voice from behind. “There you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.” She jogged up to him, Serif in tow.

“Hello, love,” Mateo said.

“Something feels wrong,” Leona said. “This all looks familiar, but I’m also experiencing fragments of memory from the island looking nothing like this.”

“Come, let’s have brunch,” Mateo said. “I’ll explain what I can.”

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Microstory 683: Remember the Sufferers Part II

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Since this holiday we have created is a new one, we didn’t know how we were meant to observe it. In fact, we didn’t even know what to call it. Highlightseers started to determine the details before the lost man was made to remember, but once Meliton Rete was suddenly cured from EQUA, they discovered that they didn’t need to. He had their collective propositions, all in his head. Literally. At first everybody thought that his suggestions were completely original, but a few tests gave evidence of something completely different. Rete was suffering from quantum amnesia, which meant that his memories were floating around spacetime somewhere. When they were returned to his mind, they somehow brought with them lots of other people’s thoughts as well. Over the centuries, people have thought about, and discussed with each other, their faith. They would consider what each taikon means, what the rest of the Book of Light might have to do with the universe, and just...everything. Anything and everything. All of these notions had the potential to be sent to Rete’s mind, but we believe only the best ones did so. His brain rearranged them in a cohesive vision; an amalgamation of how all Lightseers think things should be. It was Rete who proposed that our new holiday be called Daglit. It was he who recommended how each faction should remember the sufferers. But in reality, this is the general consensus, and Meliton Rete has somehow become the vessel for that. Though we share a history, we’ve all been through different things, and we all have different perspectives. Rete understood not only this maxim, but how each faction would see this day, and how they would recognize those they’ve lost. In less than one day, he wrote an entire book, spelling out the differences and similarities between the practices. We now know what to do, and it starts tomorrow.

Microstory 636: Capture the Wandering Bellcone

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About thirteen years ago, a previously unseen animal appeared on a random planet called Iusel. A ship of soldiers of fortune touched down to hunt for any useful resources, of which they found little. As they were in the middle of loading the cargo hold with the few things they found, a small animal crawled up the ramp as if it belonged there. It found a spot it desired against the bulkhead, and just sat there, waiting for the humans to take off. When they reopened the doors on the Hiereune dock, the animal walked right back out, apparently having reached its destination. It has been wandering the galaxy ever since, stopping only to casually look for food, explore, or transfer vessels. It has become a bit of a staple of the Fostean galaxy, never causing any problems. A survey ship later traveled to its world of origin, and found no evidence than any other animal of its kind ever existed. They did, however, discover a secret laboratory built into the side of a canyon. Not much of the original research was there, but they did find some information. The unnamed scientist based out of there genetically engineered the creature not long before it was found. She designed it as a gift to an also unnamed individual, the identity of which does not go beyond the fact that he is an Earthan. People of Earth often assign themselves, or each other, what they call spirit animals, a practice our ancestors on the old worlds sometimes enjoyed as well. Apparently this Earthan boy was assigned a mythical animal that was a cross between a bovine called a bull, and a lagomorph called a coney. For the last decade, no one thought much of this.

The creature grew up, and became much larger, but continued to remain pleasant and innocuous, unless threatened. A few people periodically attempted to trap or lure it, for various ends, but were always unsuccessful. It never let itself be in a situation where it couldn’t hop away, or rampage through a barrier. It was only recently when a Lightseer noticed that this must be the Bellcone of the taikon, even though it wouldn’t have existed at the time the Book was written. This was unverifiable, but linguistically possible, and eventually, the idea caught on. Since that time, there have been more attempts to capture the Bellcone, though not by true Lightseers, who all know that the fulfillment of any one taikon cannot happen until the completion of its predecessor. For every one of these hunting parties, however, there is a separate party in a position to protect and assist the Bellcone, and let it travel to its next world. However, following the ascension of the resurrected Sotiren Zahir as First Judge, the capture of the Bellcone was unavoidable. Presumably sensing this danger, the Bellcone instinctively changed tactics. It happened to be on Protanr at the time, and there it remained, never getting on any ship where it could be cornered. As it turned out, it’s one of the fastest, strongest, and most durable animals recorded. It always exerted very little energy evading capture during other attempts, but now it wasn’t taking any chances with these taikon attempts. Dozens of people were injured, though none was killed, like it knew that it didn’t want to cross that line. They would have used technology to accomplish their goals, but the Book of Light specifically demands that the Bellcone be captured by hand. The physically strongest Lightseers were brought in from all corners of the galaxy, and after hours of chasing and fighting, the Bellcone was pinned down. It submitted and allowed itself to be placed in a cage. The primary driving force in this feat would go on to be even more important.

Microstory 629: Fruit of Peace

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As mentioned before, our galaxy is not without its conflicts. When you bring together such a diverse group of people, and put them in one place, it’s no surprise that some friction arises. All of these skirmishes, however, pale in comparison to The Dodulko War. This was the first, and longest-lasting war of Fostea, having been going on for nearly an entire millennium. There are short times of peace throughout history, but only when both sides deplete their resources so far that neither one can survive even one more battle. While most hostilities are fought over territory, capital, or religion, the Dodulko War started very simply. The Dodulko was one of the last exodus ships to arrive from Earth, carrying with it the least valuable of our population at the time. No one on this vessel was capable of affording luxury cabins, or priority transport. As a result, the passengers were frustrated and restless, often lashing out at each other with little provocation. One such of these disagreements seemed rather innocuous from the outside, but gradually began to grow. People took sides, ultimately stealing resources from each other just to survive. Historical records contradict each other regarding the exact nature of the original grievance, but one thing we know is that both of these first two people were killed in freak accidents before the ship even arrived in the galaxy. These deaths angered their loved ones and supporters, sparking further violence. These battles began to escalate year by year, as each side retaliated against the other for some unprecedented attack. And it has been going on ever since, developing into a full-fledged war within the first four years. This war is of little concern to most other residents of Fostea, and financially beneficial to others. The battles take place in unpopulated areas, or in their own respective territories, none of which are desirable by anyone else. People in certain industries do profit from the war, though, namely those who sell munitions, rations, medicine, miscellaneous technologies, and other assets. Still, many wish to see the conflict end, if only to find out what the galaxy looks like without it. As with others, the Book of Light’s taikon passage on the Fruit of Peace leaves some up for interpretation, but is clear that this particular conflict must end. In an unprecedented move, both sides of the Dodulko War agreed to begin peace negotiations with each other, under the guidance of the replacement for Eido Feivel, Agantai Bauriter. Though on its own unnecessary, and not her responsibility, this will be Bauriter’s first act as a new Fostean eido. It is immaterial how it eventually turns out, however, seeing as the taikon predicting this event has already been reached simply by commencing.

Microstory 589: Extinct Human Civilization Discovered on Exoplanet

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For thousands of years, our people believed humans to be the only species in the universe. But as we were progressing towards enlightenment through astronomy and computer science, we started questioning this belief. Scientists of the day thought it unlikely that, out of the trillions and trillions of stars in the observable universe alone, we would be, well...alone. Not too long later, we developed the ability to travel beyond our lonely star system, and visit other planets. On one such of these trips, we encountered a race of aliens. But they were not what we expected. We assumed they would have more than two arms and two legs, be able to fly, or breathe underwater. Some of them actually can do these things, but then again, so can we, but that’s just because of science. Strangely, these aliens were human, having evolved on a planet of their own...at about the same time we did on ours. The only reason we were even likely to meet each other that early in our technological history was that their galaxy collided with ours not too long after the humble beginnings of our respective evolutions. They were supposed to be living in a separate galaxy, but it has been scientifically determined that we now belong to the same one. This angered a number of loyalists who did not appreciate sharing a home with outsiders, and so the scientific community came up with a compromise, referring to this single entity as the Justean-Nectean Bigalaxy (for reference, the Necteans call it the Nectean-Justean Bigalaxy).

We didn’t at first understand why humans would evolve so far from us. Simple genetic investigation taught us, however, that we were actually separate subspecies; genetically incompatible with each other, but there is still no denying that we are all in all the same. We would later learn that humans, and their variants, are the most common species in the universe, with very few capable of being excluded from this general categorization. We now know that Justean humans evolved naturally, however, while others are ultimately descended from genetic engineering. So okay, these were all extremely important discoveries, but also rather logical. In simple terms, Justean humans were meant to exist, and others had to be created. Certain terrorist organizations use this as an excuse to provoke war amongst our brethren, but the popular opinion is that we should just leave each other alone. A recent discovery has turned our notions of humanity on its head once more, however, and it threatens our status as the so-called legitimates. Explorers have uncovered evidence of an ancient civilization on a planet that would have been originally counted in Justean territory. Further research has shown that they were genetically identical to us, and evolved completely naturally. There is also no evidence that they are the result of some long since forgotten interstellar migration. After months of investigation, experts have concluded that these Justean humans evolved on their planet simultaneously as we did. The explorers have not yet revealed what happened to them, but their existence has opened a plethora of new questions about why we even exist. How many other legitimate civilizations were once out there, and more importantly, do any of them remain today?

Microstory 588: Outsiders Selected to Crew Theseus

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If there’s one thing this star system likes it’s trying to new things, thinking outside the box, and giving people a chance. I guess that’s three things, which makes sense if you know anything about our culture. In The Core, there are no half measures. We either go big, or we go home to work on something even bigger. We built for ourselves new bodies, modeled upon the old ones, but far superior physiologically. We designed an entire artificial solar system so that we could all live within spitting distance of each other. We fly around in ships despite our ability to teleport to anywhere in the observable universe near instantaneously. And it is one of these ships that’s going to undergo a change in dynamic. The Theseus is a ship that can never be retired. It is one of the oldest in our collective history, having been repaired too many times to count. When the Virgats first learned how to lift off from their lonely rock, and into orbit, they did so with single-use rockets, as most planetary cultures do. Once their technology had progressed enough, they built for themselves a vessel worthy of being referred to as a ship. This would not only take them to the planets beyond their moon, but could also be reused as many times as necessary. An entire field was created to maintain this one ship, and eventually others like it, called rocket surgery. In order to make another trip outside of the atmosphere, the Theseus would need to undergo heavy maintenance. As time went on, and technology greatly surpassed Theseus-class ships, the Virgats decided that they did not want their first to be left behind. And so the repair procedures were enhanced to a degree most would not find worth it. It was far more practical to simply decommission it, and move on to something better. Nevertheless, they persisted. That was many thousands of years ago, and the Theseus remains today, having been bequested to the Core once it was formed.

Also thousands of years ago, a small group of our ancestors were unwillingly shot through time, landing in present-day Earth. They struggled with their new lives, solving mysteries, battling ancient evil religions, and trying to get their physics homework done on time. They have recently made their way to us, seeking asylum from their pursuers. Of course we obliged their request, but we have decided to give them something else. They have been chosen to lead the crew of the new Theseus. It has recently experience a major retrofit, with all the bells and whistles that our other ships carry today. In fact, it is likely the most advanced and powerful vessel that we have in our ranks at the moment. These outsiders will not be doing this alone, so do not worry for their safety. They will be led by Prosper human Captain Eldon Cross, Navigator Erasteus Milke, Weapons Officer Monrovia Milena Varinia Labriola De La Prada, and Ambassador Keillor Hallenby. As the flagship of the Core, it will not have a mission for itself. Instead, it will remain available to all other travelers and offworld outposts in the case that they run into some kind of trouble. Sporting the largest artificial simplex dimensional elaborator, it will be potentially capable of housing thousands upon thousands of passengers, should the need arise. No one knows if this unorthodox plan will work out for us, but most involve have confidence. Afterall, we have been through so much—as disparate societies, and also following The Melting Pot Migration. The only thing that has gotten us through it is our ingenuity, our quick wit, and our ability to erroneously list three things when necessary.

Microstory 577: Evidence of Illegal Human Experiments Uncovered

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This is a confidential internal report. Authorized personnel only. Any unauthorized persons reading this document will be pursued by the law. Illegal and preliminarily declared unethical scientific experiments on human subjects have been discovered in Romora. An agent of this organization has infiltrated these laboratories and found evidence that humans are being tested on by a number of integrated, but still separate, research factions. These factions are part of a single entity, but have branched off in order to pursue different ideas. They are all attempting to modify the natural genetics of human beings, but each are doing so independently, and to sometimes only vaguely related ends. Our agent has yet to make contact since transmitting several documents from the rogue scientists’ central facility. Though these stolen documents offer proof of what the rogue scientists are working on, they do not have enough information in order to design effective countermeasures. This report is an attempt to garner volunteers from anyone in our organization willing to risk traveling to, and infiltrating, these laboratories with very little information. Desirable skills include mountain climbing, stealth action, hand-to-hand combat, old world alarm systems, cyber intrusion, and extraction. Anyone with significant experience flying aircraft or piloting sea vessels is urged to contact their handler as well. Due to the uncertain nature of this mission, no guarantees can be given in regards to safety or return. All agents with children have been automatically disqualified from involvement. The repopulation of the planet remains Imperative Two. It is important to understand, however, that gathering intelligence on these scientists could potentially lead to progress towards the completion of Imperative One. If we are not somehow relieved of the floodwaters, these hypothetical superhumans may end up being the only species left on these planet within a matter of centuries, if not decades.

Microstory 576: Construction on Verge Planet Complete

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Seven hundred years ago, the global public learned of the existence of interstellar space travel. The government had been using faster-that-light technology to study systems all over the universe for nearly a century, and kept this fact secret. After the great revelation, private companies began to invest in transdimensional technology, and established territories, claiming planets as quickly as possible. Fast forward a few more centuries and the Astral Military Force is initiated to regulate this travel. Fortunately, this control is not the hardest feat to accomplish. Every single vessel, no matter what, and no matter where its passengers intend to go, always has to first travel to the center of the universe first. Only then can they enter a second of what we call astral lanes and head for their final destination. It is at this central point that the AMF set up their base of operations. A space station was built to receive, log, and police all travel throughout the galaxy. They called it The Verge. But it quickly became clear that this station was never going to be a sufficient means of regulation. Travel was slow and tedious. Smuggling was, honestly, not that difficult, with the few staff that could even fit on the station far too overwhelmed to institute effective procedures. And so they got to work on the largest endeavor the galaxy has ever seen. Imagine slicing a standard planet in half, and removing the remaining dome until you have a relatively thin disc. This is The Verge Planet, as it were. Boasting an area of about 18 dolmas, this “planet” is the largest manman structure in the universe. It is capable of accommodating the hundreds of millions of officers, support staff, travelers, and visitors...and then some. An entire index of soldiers (268,435,456 units) will be posted here at any one time, which is currently under the command of Commander Harzel DuFrise. At the moment, the original space station—still orbiting a golma from The Verge Proper—has official control over astral travel, but power is set to be transferred to The Verge Planet tomorrow. At this point, thousands of astral collimators will be opening and closing astral nodes from every planet in the system, allowing Verge staff to decide exactly who can even enter Verge space in the first place, rather than handling whatever comes on an ad hoc basis. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for one week from today.

Microstory 575: Sunken Russian Passenger Submarine Found

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Search parties yesterday completed their search for a Russian passenger submarine that went missing two and a half weeks ago in the Baltic sea. The vessel was transporting primarily refugees from St. Petersburg to Stockholm, Swede...but never arrived. At last communication, the submarine crew reported a malfunction with the main hatchway, and informed a nearby Finnish military outpost that they were attempting to remedy the situation. Communication with the submarine was cut off suddenly, with its last verified position just West of Estonia. Many of the passengers’ homes were destroyed by, or under threat from, a terrorist known as The Destruction. The Latvian Coast Guard, which led the search mission, wants to assure the public that the submarine sank due to equipment failure, not as the result of an attack. Professionals were sent to the wreckage to examine it, and recover the captain’s logs, as well as catalog the passengers and crew. According to the sub’s manifest, four people are missing from the wreckage and presumed dead, while all other bodies have been accounted for. The names of those not found have not yet been released to the public so that the victim’s families could be properly notified. Government officials are currently debating whether to investigate the matter further. As stated previously, no evidence suggest that the submarine sank due to a criminal act, or crew error. Latvian authorities are unsure at this time whether it would be feasible to continue dedicating valuable resources to a deeper investigation underwater. Many of the victims’ loved ones have expressed a strong desire for closure, but still others have expressed a need to simply move on from this terrible tragedy. The leaders of the semi-legal Russian travel company that owned the submarine has been taken into custody by the police, and will be giving a statement tomorrow. Their punishment, if any, has not yet been said. Lastly, the families and friends of the victims wish for your patience and understanding in these trying times.

Microstory 573: News brief: Jarl Found Dead; Thralls Missing

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A planet owner was found dead in his home one standard hour ago. All 144 Arkeizens have also turned up missing, and are suspected as being at least partially responsible. Cathasach Derricks only recently promoted himself to the status of jarl, and possesses very little on his planet, which he named Castle Cathas. He owned no craft capable of traveling through space, and is only able to transport to other planets via a standard Nexus. That Nexus has not been activated for months, proving that his thralls were not the only ones on the planet. An unknown vessel has moved them offworld...and could now be anywhere in the galaxy. Lactean irritants are suspected. Any information on the truth behind this crime, or the location of the missing thralls will be handsomely rewarded. 

Microstory 560: Child Pulls God Down From Sky

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When our people first woke up on this world, we were astounded. Endless lands and seas lay before us, seemingly only so that we could find peace and love. But the road to this peace has not come without its problems. Countless wars, disease, and other grief have riddled our history, and death is one obstacle we may never overcome. We still do not fully understand what we have found, but we know it to be the closest approximation of God, and for the moment, that remains our position. Throughout time, even amongst the tragedy, we have also made progress. We went from living in trees, to in caves, to building shelters for ourselves, to building shelters for others. Yes, we learned to specialize our skills so that, while those best at building structures were busy doing what they do, others could plant our crops. This was the spark of civilization. We advanced even further, constructing vessels capable of crossing to the middle of lakes to hunt for the kinds of fish who choose to stay away from the shore. We made these vessels even larger, and were able to sail them up and down the coast, trading with each other, and sharing our knowledge. Eventually, the ships became so magnificent and sturdy that they could survive trips away from the coastline, across the vast ocean, and to other continents. It was in these continents that we found new friends; some more advanced than us, and some less. We did not always get along, but most of us knew that we were headed towards greatness.

Then one day, the crew of one of these ships found themselves in the middle of a terrible storm. The sky darkened, the waters became wretched...they could not navigate. Soon, they were not able to control their movements at all; forced to surrender to the whims of God. They were fearful and uncertain, but as it turned out, God was not punishing them. She was directing them even closer to her so that we could catch a glimpse of her glory. After the storm had passed, the sunlight broke through and showed them what has now become the greatest discovery in our history. It is hard to explain to those who have never experienced it. It could only be seen at certain angles, at certain times of day, and only by those with excellent vision. It was this fleeting wave of sparkling light, hovering over the ocean. Our best philosophers could not explain it, and so we began to worship it as a window to heaven. Word spread, and people all over the world came to witness its majesty, and make their attempts to draw nearer. We built yet larger vessels, trying to get high enough to reach the God window, but were always unsuccessful. We simply do not have the resources or understanding to build something that high in that location. Most believe this to be a sign that we are not worthy, and this may be true. But this did not stop a young girl named Jiredia.

Jiredia was born as the runt of the family, much sooner than her mother should have delivered her. Her parents kept her close and safe, for her body has always been frail, and unsuited for the rambunctious life of a normal child. Somehow, this young girl became the miracle that has brought God closer than ever to us. Her size and lightness was perfect, for only she could accomplish what many have tried many times before. Instead of building something tall enough to reach the window, she simply flew up to it. She and her two older brothers caught and trained a Great Silverbird that had taken nest not far from their village. People have tried to tame Silverbirds in the past, though to no avail, but it was because they lacked what Jiredia and her brothers had in spades. They were patient. And caring. They treated the bird, named Villo, like royalty; feeding it, playing with it, and even letting it free to hunt on its own, knowing that it would eventually return to its new home.

After months of slow progression, they began to train Villo to carry passengers. Though Great Silverbirds are the largest bird species in the world, they are not generally strong enough to carry people on their backs...unless they happen to be Jiredia, who was now both old enough to take care of herself, but small and light enough to not burden the Silverbird. They transported Villo to the location of the God window, placed Jiredia on him, and let him loose. They flew around for awhile, amazing all visitors present, but then they headed straight for the floating ball of light, and took it down. Once her hand touched the God window, it became completely visible as a metallic sphere. After all this time, we had finally reached our goal, but this was not the end of God’s tests. As Jiredia held her prize over her head, showing the cheering witnesses her accomplishment, the sphere turned red, and burned her hand. The pain grew to be too much, and she dropped it in the water. Our journey is not yet over. While before we had to find a way to reach great heights, we now must learn to reach the depths. But now we know something we didn’t before...that we can do it. We will one day learn God’s secrets.

Microstory 517: A Brief Look at a Crew Ship

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A lot of questions come up when one is discussing the concept of ship-based space travel in this day and age. Automated probes, deep telepathy, virtual reality, and nexa seem to make the whole idea of even building a ship that can carry people pointless. If you want to communicate with someone, you can just send them a telepathic message. If they’re too far away from you, you can connect to the same virtual network. You could even temporarily transfer your consciousness to a different body on the other side, if you absolutely needed to feel what they were feeling in regular space. And if all that fails, you could always just transport yourself through the nexus nodes; a collection of interconnected machines that provide near-instantaneous plex travel. Scientists aren’t 100% sure, but it’s believed that every single star system in this galaxy holds at least one nexus node, and other galaxies are probably the same. So if all this is true, and it’s more efficient and easier than flying in a spaceship, why would anyone do it? The short answer I’ve received from members of a crew is because we can. There’s something to be said for a level of redundancy. Afterall, none of the nexa in the galaxy of Sontea were ever hidden and in need of being uncovered, so ships were simply never invented. This became a problem when a nasty virus spread through the system, blocking all nexus travel for an extended period of time. It would have been nice if they had had some other means of connecting to each other. But there are other reasons for necessity of ships. For one; not everything we want to do takes place near star systems. There are a lot of interesting things happening in interstellar space, and even in the intergalactic voids. In order to study, or enjoy, these things, a ship is the only option.

But just what exactly goes into a crew ship? Well, interestingly enough, every crew ship is fitted with its very own standard nexus transporter. Crews can be exchanged across vast distances at any random point in time, and it also acts as a catastrophic escape plan. On that same tier, you’ll find other transportation; four-passenger flappers, four quantity 108-passenger tetra ships, which are capable only of interstellar travel; five quantity 72-passenger pancha ships, which are small enough to also fit in standard nexa; and also a few drones and probes. To round that all out, you’ll also find the hock. It’s unclear who decided prisoners should be kept so close to so many different means of escape, but it’s the way it is. The next tier up will vary according to individual vessel specifications, but will always feature the main computer core, the engineering room, and a garden. The third tier is all about daily living and work. There is a kitchen, mess hall, infirmary, main conference room, presentation room, and storage rooms. There is even a bathroom, in case the crew encounter someone who can only expel waste manually…like an Earthan. The top tier is where everyone sleeps. Standard configuration provides only a few hundred rooms, but this can be altered. Each room is keyed to its own artificial dimension, which allows it to be almost as big as necessary, and for rooms to overlap with each other up to the plex frequency limit. The tier above this is designated for the bridge, and nothing else. It can, of course be raised and lowered on the z-axis at will. And lastly, we have the astral collimator. Most collimators people use every day can, at most, travel to a star within a single galaxy. This puppy, however, can take a crew ship across the void, into a neighboring galaxy. It’s as tall as a ten-story building, and produces so much heat when powered up, that standing within ten feet of it would result in the immediate death of any biological entity. For a virtual look into every facet of this incredible piece of technology, please access this article using your standard bionic conduits.

Microstory 513: WARP Lantern Accident Damages Artwork

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In order to travel between the stars in a reasonable amount of time, a spacefaring vessel requires one thing: an astral collimator. This allows the ship to fall into what’s essentially another dimension, which allows it to bypass normal space, and propel itself forward at incredible speeds. However, enclosed ships are not the only method for near instantaneous travel. At current technology, if you just wanted to get to the other side of the planet you’re on, all you would need is a medical implant. To reach that planet’s satellite, your clothes can be modified to accommodate the necessary components. You could go anywhere in a single solar system with a device small and light enough to be carried in your hand, or suspended over your head. The question at this point is, what if you wanted to go to the next star over? Well, that qualifies as interstellar travel, which means you would need a vessel large enough to carry an astral collimator about the size of two people standing next to each other...and standing on boxes. But perhaps this is too much. Afterall, such vessels are designed to go anywhere in the galaxy, and maybe you don’t really need all that much. Is there an option that lies between an interplanetary device, and a transgalactic ship? Yes...technically. It’s called WARP lantern. The letters in the word stand for a great many things, coined by different people. System renowned technology critic, Pacy Reusner has been famously quoted as saying, “WARP means so many things that it actually means nothing. Today, it’s just a cool word that the Earthan humans will like when they learn that their precious entertainment franchise, Star Trek is kinda real.” Reusner has also said, “it’s dangerous as all hell. WARP lanterns, sometimes adapted to belt form, operate in a different way than traditional plex dimension collimators. Instead of sliding through a low-level dimension, which comes with limited risk, or staying safe in the confines of a vessel, WARP lanterns form a prototelekinetic forcefield. Forcefields are so dangerous on their own that most ships don’t even utilize them for defensive protection. Time and time again, they’ve proven themselves to be unreliable, often spontaneously overloading, or losing power altogether. Though no WARP lantern has failed in transit, sending its passengers to the vacuum of space, many experts agree that it is just a matter of time.

The lower plex dimensions are so ingrained in the fabric or celestial bodies that slipping into one leaves no lasting damage to the normal space environment. Interstellar travel is different, as it can release bursts of energy beyond the transport parameters. This is why any ship intending to travel the orange-colored interstellar plex system will generally jump into orbit of its originating planet first using the blue astral plane. It will only go orange once everything has cleared its vicinity. And this works perfectly for ships. As a WARP lantern has no physical bulkhead, though, this method does not work so well. Jumping through blue first using a WARP lantern can do just as much damage as a ship if it does not create a forcefield, and lift its passengers off the ground first. But even then, departure can lead to consequences, which is what happened at an Earthan Art Replica museum on Arion. Several paintings, and one marble statue, were damaged due to a WARP lantern accident. Preliminary findings suggest that the error can be traced to a miscalculation in the forcefield range, though the final report will come with more details. Already, Martians, Isala, and Dragon officials are working on a proposal to make indoor WARP traffic illegal, and possibly WARP travel altogether. We will update as details come in.

Microstory 65: Gravity Transfunctioners

I’ve received a lot of messages over the years, desperately asking me how ships are able to fly. There has been some confusion as to how a vessel could be capable of lifting itself from surfaces without any obvious means of propulsion. People tend to expect to see some kind of jet stream, or arcing electricity, or even explosions. Ships are also relatively quiet, which seems to be pretty unsettling to those who do not understand it. They’re used to loud shuttles being forced into the sky, with pieces falling off as fuel is expended. I’ve been looking through the specifications, manuals, and textbooks that I have attained from various intergalactic organizations in order to help me tell my so-called “fictional” stories. They’re pretty long-winded and overly complex about the science behind antigravity and spaceflight. But then I came across this cute little blurb that a rocket surgeon came up with to explain to his young daughter why he no longer had a job. The following explanation of gravity transfunctioners is several thousand years old: When unobtanium is injected into the turboencabulator, it reverses the polarity of the phlebotinum core which creates a quantum tunnel through which the sonic hand can wave the gravitons in the same direction that the user wants an object to move.