Microstory 1480: The Serpent and the Bear

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Ever since Durus avoided a collision with Earth by a hair, scientists had been trying to figure out where they were going. There wasn’t any particular reason for this. They could alter their speed using time powers, but altering direction was an entirely different matter, and could lead to disastrous results. Calculating the exact vector of the planet’s journey through interstellar space was quite difficult, what with its random accelerations and decelerations, and the lack of proper equipment. It wasn’t until 2183 when they were sure they knew where they were headed. If they continued on their present course—which they expected to—they would eventually encounter a binary star system that the Earthans called 70 Ophiuchi. While the speed they were traveling was constantly going up and down, the average was pretty steady, so barring any dramatic change, it would take them over a hundred years to arrive. Now, there was nothing wrong with waiting this long. Not only did they still have the connection with Earth that kept them alive, but the close encounter seemed to have made it stronger. The borrowed sun was shining, there was now more than one source of water, plantlife was spreading at an alarming rate. Perhaps all of this was exactly what drove the people of Durus to want to break free from their mother world’s protection and support. They wanted to go off on their own, orbit their own sun, and provide for themselves. It was what they were supposed to do. This was going to be the largest endeavor they had ever tried, and if they wanted to do it faster, it was going to be even more difficult. Not only did it give them far less time to prepare, but they were going to push the speed of the planet faster than it had ever gone before. They were already traveling at relativistic speeds, so time was passing faster for anyone outside of the planet, but the disparity was going to grow so large. If they went through with this, they would reach their destination by 2200.

Of course, the first thing they needed to do was to make sure the majority of Durus was on board with this. There was no election coming up, but they wanted to decide on it quickly, because the longer they waited, the faster they would have to accelerate the planet in order to make their timetable. Well, things didn’t go according to plan. People were not happy about being forced to respond to the question quickly, without any real discussion, or time to gather all of the evidence. Plenty of people were against the idea, and if the proponents wanted to convince them, it was going to take time. They still had two years left until the next election, so they were just going to have to be patient with this, and get it right. Like always, the people weren’t going to simply say yes, and leave it at that. There were questions about how they were going to accomplish their goals, and whether they needed to rethink those goals in the first place. After careful consideration, they realized that the 2200 deadline was not a viable option. As powerful as the paramounts were, and as durable as the rogue world had proven itself to be, they just could not handle such high speeds. The speed itself wasn’t a problem, but acceleration was a tricky thing. Any change in velocity would seriously throw off any normal planet’s stability. If the Earth were to start spinning or revolving just a tiny bit faster, or slower, it would cause mass destruction all over the world. It’s not the speed that kills you, but the changes in speed. The only thing allowing Durus to fluctuate this much was its unique relationship with time. Still, there were limits for how far this time magic could go, and by the time the vote went through, if it passed, and everything was set up, 2204 was a far more realistic goal. They did vote, and it did pass—with the necessary conditions and precautions—and Durus did reach 70 Ophiuchi in 2204.

Microstory 1479: Social Harmony

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In the late 2170s, the first generation of Durune born post-Deathspring was coming of age. Many of these adults-in-training were paramounts, with some of them even having no lineage that could be traced back to the mages. It would seem that time powers were becoming less hereditary than they once were, and a lot of people attributed this shift to the Deathspring, or rather to the fact that Durus was no longer on a collision course towards Earth. They were finally becoming their own civilization, free from many of the horrors and burdens of the time before. A sort of religious movement was forming, founded upon the idea that the paramounts were part of some grand design. They didn’t claim to know what this presumably conscious entity would be, or where it was, but they could see patterns. There were paramounts who were helping build the outposts, and ones who were securing society through law enforcement. Some were making transportation faster and more convenient, while others were designing therapeutic pocket dimensions, or treating patients using psychic connections. The seers were protecting the future, while the retrocognitives were teaching students about their past. Some were born with the rare ability to alter the aging process, which would ultimately create a population boom, because death was no longer such an inescapable certainty. Everyone had a place, and it sometimes felt like they were placed there on purpose. They weren’t religious zealots yet, but they did have their spiritual beliefs, and for some, it kept them going. There were those who were concerned that this could lead to class warfare. They wanted to make sure that the paramounts weren’t treated as gods, and that they weren’t raised to believe they were superior. In order for this to go smoothly, they had to work together, and everyone had to believe that everyone else mattered, because they did.

In the early 2180s, this generation was starting to take ownership over the future of Durus. They were born without their ancestors’ prejudices, and bad blood. They could see that they had to become a single population, with the goal of doing what was best for the world, even if they disagreed about what that meant. Being a paramount became a huge responsibility, and while it opened up certain career opportunities, it also closed some off. It might seem like this would discourage feelings of equality, but there were other issues to consider. Sometimes a paramount’s powers gave them an unfair advantage in the workplace. If one could read minds, for instance, they would always be one step ahead of the competition, or they could otherwise violate people’s privacy. Their potential for job promotion was hazy and difficult, but if no one kept them in check, then their influence over others could grow out of control. If a mindreader were to be a therapist, it would make it harder for a patient to reveal their secrets on their own time, and could make them feel uncomfortable, or prejudged. On the other side, some of the more dangerous jobs were being left to the paramounts, who were often better equipped to protect themselves. When one could teleport off of a cliff at a moment’s notice, it seemed a little irrational to make anyone else go up there. This would stop being a problem in the future, with developing technologies, but for now, this was the way things were. And it was pretty good, considering how problematic things had been before. They called it the social harmony, and even though the Durune had more tribulations ahead of them, they would at least be mostly taking them on together. Not everyone wanted that, but their time would come later, and they would get what they deserved.

Microstory 1478: Bicentennial

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The first known human to set foot on Durus was a little girl named Savitri. In 1980, she fell into some kind portal, and ended up here alone. She had to figure things out, and fend for herself for ten years before anyone else appeared. Even though the Deathfall wouldn’t happen until 2016, many believed that 1980 should be considered the dawn of man on Durus. They wanted to honor and respect Savitri, for all she had been through. Sure, technically the Bicentennial should mark the beginning of a city, or some other form of civilization, but this was their own planet, and they felt entitled to make up whatever rules they wanted. They could celebrate the start of the new Springfield later, if they even really wanted to do that at all, since life was pretty crappy back then. In the 2175 elections, people voted for the Savitri Act, and preparations were able to begin for a massive worldwide celebration, and it would indeed be massive. Their population had always been in flux, as most populations are, but in general, their numbers increased predictably. It was estimated that there would be 500,000 people living on Durus by the time 2180 ended. The celebration would mark this occasion, as well as the Bicentennial, hopefully appeasing those few who disagreed that it had been 200 years since the beginning. The party was huge, spread out across the surface, in Aljabara, and the other towns. They had rides, dinners, time power games, music, and other entertainment. They also had quiet, reflective events, mourning those they had lost, and remembering the heroes of yesterday. There was something for everyone, and everything for a precious few. A paramount with time traveling abilities offered his services to a select group of people. Many entered, but only ten people won tickets in the lottery. If you wanted to enjoy every single event that the week-long Bicentennial celebrations had available, even the ones that conflicted with each other on the schedule, you had to be one of these eleven people. The paramount took the group back in time as many times as it was necessary in order for them to participate or watch everything. For the most part, time travel was illegal on Durus. It was dangerous, and possibly paradoxical, and the government agreed that no one should change history, even the bad things that happened. But for this one time, one paramount was given the freedom to use his powers. He had to stay within the loop, however, and take all necessary precautions against messing something up with the timeline. It was a success, however, as was the Bicentennial in general, and it had people already starting to think about what they might want to do for the Tricentennial.

Microstory 1477: Reconstruction

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For the 2175 elections, the people of Durus were not only voting for the people they wanted to lead them. There were certains laws and projects the current administration wanted everyone to decide on. One of these projects proposed that the city start rebuilding all of the towns that they lost during the final battles of the war against the monsters, and afterwards, when the remaining structures were all pulled together into the city of Aljabara. By this time, there were already several outposts built away from the city. Before powerful builder Andromeda retired, and later died, she agreed to help people spread out into new communities. There was nothing wrong with these towns, but some thought it might be nice if they went back to their roots, and honored their history. They weren’t intending to break Aljabara apart, but construct new buildings where they were once standing. It wasn’t necessary, but it could be kind of cool. This would be yet another symbolic gesture, to signify the rejection of the former Republic, and a return to the glory of the Mage Protectorate, though with more democracy. Polls suggested that it would be a tight race, because not everyone was convinced. Sure, these towns were part of their history, but their downfall was no less part of that, and some were worried people would forget that. If they just ignored the last eighty plus years of their past, and made it look like it would if it had not happened, were they doomed to repeat their mistakes? No one was really worried about who their next elected leaders would be. The incumbents were fine, and their competition was fine. They weren’t going to end up in some kind of fascist state because of them, so the 2175 elections were more about debating the reconstruction issue. People from both sides made arguments in the streets, and in more organized forums. The news was dominated by the topic, and everybody had their own opinion. The more people talked about it, the more they realized that this was far more complex than just a single yes or no response. Some of the original town sites were already being used for other things. Ladytown was already built on top of Hidden Depths, and even though that had a history of its own, it was still standing and still going. The original Springfield was already being revitalized, the Earthan refugee camp that came up after the Deathspring was built right next to where Shieldon used to be, and they were already starting construction near Watershed. In reaction to these arguments, the vote was scrapped, in favor of a more long-term approach. They would still consider doing this, but they weren’t going to be able to figure it all out by the time election day rolled around, so the next administration would be in charge of solidifying whatever plans they were going to go through with. One thing was for sure, they weren’t going to remain exactly as they were. They were absolutely going to build new outposts, so it was just a matter of what and where, and whether they would have anything to do with the old towns. This didn’t mean they wouldn’t make any decisions at all when it came to the reconstruction effort. Everyone agreed that they wanted to move forward with the completion of Town Sixteen, which was famously unfinished by the time the war ravaged the lands. They just needed to know what to call it. The people chose Gimura.

Microstory 1476: Quantum Love

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In 2148, a girl was born on Durus with the ability to make quantum duplications of people. For some reason, it only worked on people, rather than other objects, so she wouldn’t be able to generate infinite resources for Durus. Not that it mattered, she was a girl, and it was the government’s official position at the time that there was no such thing as a female mage remnant. When she was three years old, her powers manifested for the first time when she accidentally made a copy of her younger brother. This wasn’t the most famous family on the planet, or anything, but people were well aware that the parents had two children; one daughter, and one son. If this twin were to be revealed to the world, people would know that something fishy was up. They considered lying, and claiming that the baby boy had duplicated himself, but he was too young for that to be likely, and he wouldn’t grow up with the ability to prove it. So they kept one of them a secret, and sent him off to live on a farm outside of the city with a family friend. The two versions of this individual lived separately for sixteen years. They didn’t even know about each other, but upon reaching the age of eighteen, the parents, and their farming friends, figured that they were old enough to know each other. What they didn’t consider was the possibility that these two would end up falling in love with each other. The circumstance was unprecedented, but there were plenty of similar situations on Earth, where siblings separated at early ages were reunited. No one here had ever actually seen it happen, but still, their romantic connection was weird. It was very weird. Was it worse, falling in love with an alternate version of one’s self, than it would be for two twins, or even regular siblings? No one could answer that question, but it made people uncomfortable either way. There were protests.

Phineas Hanlin, and Philadelphia Kikkert didn’t really do a whole lot to resist the feelings that were brewing between them. They spent the day together when they first met, and hit it off, as if they were on a date. They easily gave in to their feelings, and started pursuing each other with equal vigor. Their families tried to keep them apart, but there was nothing illegal about it. They wanted to take the two men to court, but the government would not let it continue. It would set a dangerous precedent, they felt, to start deciding who was allowed to be in a relationship with who. The oppressive phallocratic government was over, and they were paranoid about the slippery slope. The fact was that they were two consenting adults, and they were free to be with each other, if they wanted. Incest was only treated as an offense if it would lead to the conception of a child, and as two men, this was impossible, so people would have to get over it. Well, they didn’t. Society shunned them, and marriage officiants refused to let them cement their love in ceremony and contract. They thought about asking the crew of the visiting ship to take them back to Earth with them, but already so many people wanted in on that, and they couldn’t be sure Earth would treat them any better. They had to stay together, and if that meant being alone, then that was what they would do. When Hokusai Gimura joined the crew of the Elizabeth Warren, she stripped her tiny one-person ship for parts. What she left was mostly the skeleton of the vessel, capable of supporting and insulating life in outer space, but not capable of launching off the ground, or propelling itself anywhere. She did fail to remove this extra little feature that halted aging for all those inside, regardless of how long the trip took. Still, Phineas and Philadelphia figured that it was their only option. Now people actually started helping them. No one wanted them to be together, but if they weren’t going to do the right thing, then at least they could do it somewhere else. The community came together, and started repairing Hokusai’s ship. Engineers and mechanics pooled their knowledge, and figured out how to add the right instrumentation to the controls. Paramounts added special upgrades to keep the ship going indefinitely. Wherever they chose to go, Phineas and Philadelphia wouldn’t be able to get there instantaneously, but at least they would be together, and from the Durune’s perspective, at least they wouldn’t be on Durus anymore.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Tuesday, July 10, 2125

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The pain disappeared in an instant, but Mateo was still lying face down in the dirt. He stood himself up, and looked around. He wasn’t extremely familiar with the topography of Tribulation Island—it wasn’t like he had a favorite leaf—but he could tell that he wasn’t there anymore. It was a lush jungle, though not one he had been to before, as far as he knew. He could see smoke coming from the bottom of the mountain, so with no other options, he started climbing down towards it. Just as he stepped into the clearing, dozens of other people did too. They nearly all looked confused, but were possibly more confused by the fact that Mateo didn’t seem to be. He confidently walked forward, and approached the outdoor amphitheatre they had set up. This wasn’t the first time he was suddenly thrust into a place he didn’t understand, so he needn’t fret. He sat front and center, right before the stage.

Seeing him do this made everyone else feel more comfortable doing the same. With no idea where they were, or what they were doing here, they began to find their own seats, and wait patiently. A woman stuck her head out of the curtain, and kept it tightly around her neck. “Oh, wow,” she said as she was looking them over. Mateo was only able to hear because he was close enough. “You guys are quick.” She watched until everyone had a place to sit. All but one. One man was left standing. “That isn’t right.” She slipped a clipboard through the curtains. “A hundred and forty-seven exactly. Is someone here who shouldn’t be?”

Mateo stood up. “I believe that would be me.”

“Name?” she prompted.

“Mateo Matic.”

She scanned her list. “Date of—of...” she trailed off.

That was fine, Mateo knew what she was asking. He was sure she wouldn’t want to say it out loud until she could go through her whole delicate spiel. “July 9, 2124.”

“Yep, that’s today.”

“I’ll come to you,” he decided. He climbed up on stairs, and followed her backstage. “There’s a reason I’m not on your list. I am a time traveler. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of us.”

“Oh! I thought they were joking. They went over it in training, but...”

He nodded. “It’s okay. My death started millions of years ago, but then a fffffrrr—someone I know pulled me through a portal so I could do die in present day.” Well, he wasn’t a friend.

“I see.” She gritted her teeth, and looked back down at her clipboard, hoping to remember the procedures. “I believe we’re meant to send people like you somewhere else. The Designers will want to speak with you directly. But I don’t know how to...”

“Again, it’s fine. Go ahead and run through your presentation. Those people out there need to know what’s happened to them. We can deal with me later.”

“Are you sure? The orientation process is quite long. People need time to adjust.”

“Really, I’m all right. Go do your thing. I’m here if you need help.”

“You’re very kind.” She took a deep breath, and prepared herself. Then she stepped all the way through the curtain to tell a crowd of people that they were dead.

“He’s dead?”

“I don’t see how he could have survived,” J.B. reported. “It was...it was bad. I’m sorry, this is all my fault.”

Leona stared at the ground a moment. “No, it’s fine. You saw a body, which means he’s still alive. He can’t die. The powers that be won’t let him. I’m sure his consciousness has been transferred back to the lab on Thālith al Naʽāmāt Bida, just like it was last time. He’ll be back any minute.”

Sanaa was staring at Ellie. “No, he won’t.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Leona questioned.

“You gonna tell her, or shall I?” Sanaa asked.

“You can read minds again, can’t you?” Ellie hypothesized.

“Answer the goddamn question.”

“There were two clone bodies,” Ellie explained. “The first one that Mateo used was after his fall from the cliff. The second was after his fall from the hospital. We didn’t grow a third. If his mind was transferred to some other substrate, then we had nothing to do with it.”

“Why didn’t you make more?” Leona questioned. “Why didn’t you make an army of Mateos?”

“Humans aren’t cylons. I’m surprised the powers let us do it even once.”

Leona didn’t cry, or fume. She just kind of looked tired. The truth was she didn’t know what to feel. Mateo had died so many times already, it was a trend. He had always come back, and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it an upteenth time. Anyway, they had a mission to complete, and now it was up to Leona to fulfill their promise to save Vearden. If nothing else, she would see Mateo again after it was over. This was probably the best outcome, because now they’ll be together. “Let’s go. Our window is closing.” She walked off.

They found Vearden alone in the woods. He freely gave them a sample of his blood without asking a single question, because he trusted that they needed it for something important. They returned to The Parallel with it, where a technician was waiting to produce a clone for them. They asked him to program it to grow to maturity after a year, and no sooner. There were ways to expedite the cloning process, but generally speaking, the closer you get to realtime, the more stable the substrate will be, and the longer it will last. They didn’t need this Vearden clone to last very long, but they did need it to be able to bleed and break, so it was just better if they took their time. They wouldn’t be able to use it for another year anyway.

On July 10, 2125, the team returned to the timstream. Leona half-expected Mateo to be waiting for them just outside the AOC, but no such luck. Maybe he really was dead, and it was nearly time to join him. “Are you ready, Ellie?”

“Are you sure about this?” Ellie asked diligently. “A life for a life is...a terrible trade.”

“Mateo had faith in you, and he died before he could prove it. I’ll die proving it for myself.”

“I can’t guarantee that there’s anything on the other side.”

Leona sat down in the chair. “You’re closer to a guarantee than anyone else has ever been able to give. Do it.”

“Anyone else want to object?” Ellie asked the other two.

“They don’t get a vote,” Leona argued.

“Yes, we do. It’s not just about you,” Sanaa fought back. “And no, no objections. We do this together, as long you’re capable of that.”

“I am.”

“What do you mean, together?” Leona questioned.

Without responding, Ellie placed her hands at the Vearden clone’s temples. She concentrated a moment, and then worked her magic, teleporting Leona’s consciousness into its brain. But she wasn’t alone. She woke up in a darkened room, with a facsimile of the hexagonoid table from the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ellie was sitting next to her, with J.B. next to her, and Sanaa next to him.

“Oh my God,” Leona said. “What are you doing here?”

“We’ve all been asked to save Vearden. We’re all here to do just that,” Sanaa explained.

“There was only meant to be one sacrifice,” Leona contended. “It can’t be Mateo, since he already did that, so it has to be me. And J.B., if you’re here, his death will be meaningless.”

“I was told that it was not,” J.B. replied plainly.

“I’m the one with the power,” Ellie told her, “so there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

“I have your power now too.”

Ellie lifted her hand, palm up. A viewscreen for each of them appeared in the middle of the table, showing them the perspective of the lab from the Vearden clone’s perspective. They could see their respective former bodies, strewn about the floor. “No, you don’t. Nobody’s wearing a Cassidy cuff. Whether he was ready for it or not, Jupiter can’t control us anymore.”

Like always, as if he knew exactly when they were talking about him—which shouldn’t have been possible in this case, because they weren’t talking at all, but communicating telepathically to each other using the same brain—Jupiter appeared. He examined the death and destruction around him for a second before dragging the bodies up to more dignified positions on the couch. He removed their cuffs, and dropped them into his bag. Once he had all of them stored, he took out what appeared to be a bracelet. He held it up in front of the clone’s face. “This was made from Ariadna’s hair. It won’t let you cross any dimensional boundary you want, but it’ll get ya past the merge barrier on Tribulation Island. Give it to the real Vearden when you swap places with him, and tell him how to get back here. I’ll make sure he makes a good life for himself in the Parallel.” He wrapped the bracelet around Clone!Vearden’s wrist. “Godspeed.” He knew. He knew what Mateo was planning to do the whole time.

After Jupiter disappeared, the inhabitants of the clone body took a few hours to learn how to navigate. They were all capable of assuming control over its movements, but it was obviously better if they selected one person for that role. Leona was going to take care of that, while Ellie would be doing the talking. J.B. and Sanaa could therefore just be there for the ride. And the death. When they felt like they were comfortable with this new body, and ready to go, they transitioned back to the main sequence once more, crossed the merge border, and went off in search of the real Vearden Haywood. It didn’t take too terribly long to find him.

He was meant to be out hunting for Lita, who was busy taking care of her daughter, Brooke. Instead, he was wandering the Colosseum replica he built with his partner, Saga a long time ago. He wasn’t particularly surprised to see an alternate version of himself, as he had been through this before. “Why, hello. How are you today?”

“We’re okay,” Ellie said through Clone!Vearden’s mouth. “I mean...I’m okay.” First words, already a mistake.

“Good goin’, genius,” Sanaa snarked telepathically.

Vearden stood there with a dumb smile on his face for a moment. “Well, bye.”

“Wait.” Clone!Vearden grabbed him by the arm.

Vearden looked down at it. “Careful. Time doesn’t like it when you rearrange her furniture.”

Clone!Vearden chuckled. That wasn’t how time worked.

Before they could say anything else, the entrance to the Colosseum replica opened up. A third Vearden walked through it, and closed the door behind him. He looked between the first two. “This is not how I was told it would happen.”

“Vearden!Three, what are you doing here?” Vearden!Two asked. He was from an alternate reality, where he and Saga jumped around in time, changing history, and the future, for the better.

This third Vearden was from this timeline, and he had his own adventures, mostly separate from Saga, of which there were also two versions. “I’m here to take your place, and rescue you.”

“From what? This island? I have to be here. I can’t go until Saga gets back.” At this point, Saga!Two had been removed from the timestream, and what Leona and her friends recently learned was that she was hanging out in the Parallel.

“You’re fated to die,” Clone!Vearden explained. “I’m going to take your place. The both of you are going to leave.”

“Why do I need to be saved?” Vearden!Two questioned. “Why does it matter which one of us dies? I’m not more important than you.”

“You are,” Clone!Vearden insisted. “Look. I’m not really an alternate version of you. I’m a completely different person who is using a clone body, so I can die in your stead. I can do this, because after that, my consciousness will transfer back to my real body, and we will all survive. You’re not more important, you’re just more fragile.”

Vearden!Two looked to Vearden!Three for confirmation, but Vearden!Three didn’t know anything about this either.

Clone!Vearden removed the Traversa Bracelet, and handed it to Vearden!Two, along with a hand drawn map, which J.B. was artistic enough to make for them. It used the campsite as a reference point. “Take these, and go. A friend of ours will help you over there.”

“No,” Vearden!Three said. “I already told Saga that I was coming here to save him.” He took the bracelet, and the map. “I’ll go meet your friend. He’ll go meet his. Is that a problem?”

“If that’s what happened in the original timeline, then...okay,” Clone!Vearden determined. “You have to complete your cycle, close your loop.”

“Great,” Vearden!Two declared, “as long as you’re not lying about being able to survive this.”

“I’m not lying,” Clone!Vearden lied.

“After a few more glances, hoping to suss out any hidden truths about this plan, Vearden!Two relented, and headed through the magical door, presumably back to wherever Vearden!Three had just come from.

Vearden!Three installed the Traversa Bracelet onto his own wrist. “Until we meet again...in the red forest.” He walked off.

Leona then walked off as well, looking for death. She found it.

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Glisnia: The Shorter List (Part VII)

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Porter decided to find Jupiter Rosa, as opposed to Jupiter Fury, even though they were alternate versions of the same person. When he was a child, he discovered his ability to call upon quantum duplicates of himself. Each was from an alternate reality, which was only slightly different than the first. These other worlds only lasted for fractions of a second before collapsing to make way for the reality that was meant to win out, but when accounting for time travel, those few microseconds were enough. Before Jupiter understood what he was doing, there was no telling which Jupiter was the real one. Only one of them truly belonged to this reality, while the other was a visitor, and could be reabsorbed into the primary by a process called quantum assimilation. By the time they figured out which of them was this primary, each Jupiter believed himself to be it. And so the primary decided to let the other live on as his own person. As the years flew by, neither of them could remember which was which anyway. Both of them were good, but Jupiter Rosa was better, because he rejected the influence of their friends, and went on to make his own decisions.

Saxon Parker was another person with alternate versions of himself, though by different means, and so many more. He was part of a massive exploration project, which sought to establish a settlement in every single star system in the entire galaxy. It was called Project Stargate, and though the ships he and his team built were automated, their overseers wanted them to carry a human touch. So Saxon cloned himself well over a million times, so each could keep watch over one of the modular ships. In order to protect causality, Porter was forced to look for Saxon after he underwent this project. She found this to be extremely difficult, and didn’t realize her mistake until after it was made. As it turned out, one of Saxon’s clones developed independent thoughts, and rejected his destiny. He asked to stay where he was, which forced Saxon to take his place. Porter didn’t know this, and accidentally retrieved the clone, instead of the original. He called himself Omega Parker, and he would have to do.

The third member of Katica’s shorter list was a man named Lihtren Uluru. He was born out of a companion endeavor for Project Stargate called Operation Starseed. While the former was designed to allow exploration, communication, and even travel to the Milky Way stars, the latter was created to seed life. Lihtren was born on a planet over sixty thousand light years from Earth and Glisnia, which meant it wouldn’t happen for at least as many years from now, if the timeline hadn’t been altered enough to prevent it. He unjustifiably traveled to Earth, unwillingly went back in time, and unwittingly became immortal. Though he was not as heavily involved in time traveler affairs, and had not gotten himself mixed up with interstellar expansion, his opinion mattered, and Katica figured he would be on her side.

The last member of this new list was a woman called Viana Černý. A long time ago, the world governments began to change. Several of them adopted a new form of democracy with a stronger sense of checks and balances. The state was run by two separate leaders. Each was advised by a separate board of experts, and following this advice, made decisions together, with the guidance of a mediator. Upon coming to some kind of consensus on a given matter, they sent directives to their administrators, which were just as respectively experienced and educated as the advisors, except they were in charge of carrying out the decisions, rather than merely discussing them. The interesting thing about this form of government was that it was scalable. The leaders answered to a population representative congress. One person represented 240 people, while the Senator oversaw 328 of these groups, for a total of 78,720. Larger groups combined with other groups, and reported to higher ranks. And this process could be repeated as needed, like proto-planetary dust coalescing around a star, until the whole world was unified. Whereas before, each nation state had its own government, they were now governed by a single body. Viana was an important member of this whole world government.

She was the Futurology Administrator, and one of the most important singular voices when it came to the interstellar expansion. She helped decide which star system the Earthans would explore, where they would go first, and how they would get there. Because of how much respect she earned around the stellar neighborhood, exoplanet colonists sent her regular updates, even though they were not obliged to. When very few people were made aware of the strange goingson that happened on a new world, she was one of those people. So it was no surprise that she consolidated all of this information, and eventually realized that time travel must exist. She wasn’t meant to know about all that, but once she discovered it, no one could take it away from her. Viana was an intelligent and responsible person, who could be trusted with the truth. She didn’t reveal what she now knew to the neighborhood at large, or even one other person. Katica Petrić felt this integrity entitled her to a spot on The Shorter List, and the right to help come to a decision regarding what kind of technology Glisnia was allowed to have. Katica didn’t think everyone here had earned that.

Hogarth was disallowed from participating in the meeting, which of course, pissed her off. She was the one the Glisnians asked for this, and she wasn’t even part of it anymore? That was total bullshit. She had called the first meeting, and it was a good meeting, and it should be honored. The Shortlist wasn’t something they just came up with one day while they were all hanging around together. It took a lot of time and effort to organize. Hogarth couldn’t help but worry that this new group had no hope of reaching a legitimate decision. Holly Blue was allowed to be in the room where it happened, which made this even more frustrating. Though she accepted the real decision, she would surely fight against it now that she had a second opportunity to do so, and that wasn’t fair. There was no one on the Shorter List which Hogarth felt would be on her side, and fight for her position. Right now, she was sitting in the hallway with Jupiter. “Why are you here?”

“They didn’t tell you? They want me to use my magical powers for an alternative solution to your resource shortage.”

“What can you do?”

“Well, I can access other—”

“No,” Hogarth interrupted, “I know what you can do, but why would that help us?”

“As I was saying,” Jupiter continued, “I can access alternate realities, and retrieve alternate versions of people and objects. Evidently, Katica believes this power can be scaled up for your purposes.”

Hogarth stared at him blankly for a moment. “She wants to steal resources from alternate realities?”

“Alternate uninhabited realities,” Jupiter clarified. “Think about it, if Holly Blue can adapt my power to a machine that siphons materials from an infinite supply of alternate Glisnias, then they will never run out of anything they need.”

“Is that possible?’

Jupiter smiled, and turned to face the opposite wall. “Unequivocally no. I don’t care how powerful I get, or how much of a boost Holly Blue can muster, it won’t be enough. The realities I access are really close to ours. One might be, for instance, exactly like this one, except with one less mosquito. I cannot, sadly, reach far enough into the multiverse to find one which doesn’t have any people in it, and even if I could, you couldn’t siphon enough resources out of it to justify the amount of energy you put into the trying. It’s like fusion power in my time period, the 21st century. Sure, it works, but it takes more energy to run the machine than the machine produces for you.” He indicates the universe around them. “Obviously, people in the future eventually figure out positive fusion energy.” He shook his head. “They won’t ever figure altreal siphoning, though. It can’t be done. So I suppose it’s less like fusion, and more like plugging a surge protector into itself.”

“Holly Blue’s alternate, Weaver invented what she calls a perpetual motion engine, using time technology,” Hogarth argued.

“Well, I don’t know anything about that. Like I said, I’m from the 21st century. Though I doubt that’s really what’s happening. I’m sure it’s a lot more complex than that.”

Hogarth turned to face the wall as well. “Yeah, it is. But if she could do it—if she could figure out altreal siphoning—I won’t fight against it. It would be a lot better than what I proposed.”

“If I’m being honest,” Jupiter began, “I don’t much care for Holly Blue. These future people, they...they don’t know what it’s like. You and I, we’re just a couple of jabronis from Springfield, Kansas.”

“You’re from Springfield?” she questioned.

He turned back to face her. “Of course! All the Springfield Nine are. That’s why we’re called that.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Miss Pudeyonavic, if we weren’t time travelers, I would be three years older than you.”

“It’s Madam Pudeyonavic. I’m married.”

“Why isn’t it Missus?”

“Because Hilde and I didn’t change our names. Madam is what you use for a married woman who still uses her birth name.”

“Who came up with that rule?”

“The Superintendent, I think.”

Lihtren stuck his head out of the door. “Mr. Rosa, we’re ready for you.”

“Not without my associate,” Jupiter contended.

“Who is your associate?”

Jupiter stood up, and offered his hand to Hogarth. “Madam Pudeyonavic.”

Lihtren looked over his shoulder, back into the room, but didn’t say anything to the people in there. “I cannot guarantee this will not be contested. We don’t really have protocols and procedures laid out.”

“Clearly,” Hogarth grumbled.

The two of them stepped into the room, and Jupiter’s decision to include her was indeed contested. There was nothing Katica could do about it, however, since the other three members had no problem with it, and Jupiter was holding all the cards. Hogarth was grateful to have met him. It only took four hundred years.

“We believe, Mr. Rosa, that we can convince you to help us,” Katica began.

“I understand your plan,” Jupiter replied, “and I’m here to tell ya that it ain’t gon’ happen. I’m not powerful enough, you’re not powerful enough. It won’t work.”

“We thought you would say that,” Holly Blue said. “Which is why we brought in some extra help.” She held up what looked like a garage door opener. When she clicked it, Crimson Clover appeared, and it wasn’t alone.

“Hi,” said the stranger. “My name is Ambrose.”

“Ambrosios?” Hogarth questioned. “The mad immortal.”

“No, just Ambrose,” the man corrected. “Ambrose Richardson.”

“He’s a power booster, like Savitri,” Holly Blue revealed proudly.

“I met him during my travels,” Crimson explained.

“Does this change your mind?” Katica asked Jupiter.

Jupiter thought about the offer for a moment. “I’ll consider it, but only if it works; only if he can boost my power enough.”

“That’s fair,” Katica agreed.

“And only if Hogarth is in charge.”

That was less fair. But awesome.

< > Entire Story

Microstory 1475: Attack on the Warren

< > Table of Contents

When the crew of The Elizabeth Warren arrived in 2170, they were here to pick up a few of their friends. They had no intention of taking on any passengers. They also didn’t intend to stay here very long, but it took some time for them to find who they were looking for. After she lost her wife and daughter’s mother due to complications from giving birth, Saga Einarsson hid away from the world, and raised little Étude pretty much on her own. While the crew was conducting their search, some people’s patience were running thin. They missed the boat when the salmon battalion was here, but they would be damned if they were going to let the same thing happen again. The battalion came through a series of portals, which only worked for them. The Warren, on the other hand, was a different story. It could hold anyone. The only question was how many? Well, a lot more than it looked like it could. Saga was able to stay hidden for so long, because she had help from a woman named Annora Ubiña. Annora could create pocket dimensions. These had limited breadth, but they did allow a given space to be extended, to increase its capacity. These pockets required her own internal power to keep them up and running, but they would add some extra room, and the issue with that was that the people of Durus knew about her. Now they felt there was no reason they couldn’t all go with. Well, as stated, Annora’s pockets could only be so large. It was just kind of an arbitrary limitation, and though they were much smaller when she was younger, she wasn’t nearly powerful enough to fit everyone who wanted to go back to Earth, not in the timeframe that they needed.

Some weren’t happy with being told no, so they got together, and formed a faction of those who would stop at nothing to return home, or to Earth for the first time. They called themselves passengers. One good thing was that the unity the salmon battalion was sent to create seemed to have worked. The passengers were composed of Earthans, Durune, paramounts, and regular humans; a healthy mix of all of them. The issue was that some of them were violent, or at least willing to threaten people’s lives to get what they wanted. They knew that two of the crew members didn’t exist in the timestream all the time. They only lived for one day every year, which meant that the Warren could only depart once per year, and if they missed their window, they would just have to wait. This gave the group time to prepare and coordinate. They attacked the crew all at once, even though they were all spread out, and tried to take them hostage. This didn’t work, as the crew carried with them emergency teleporters, which would deliver them directly back to the ship. They weren’t the only teleporters, though. One in particular was on the group’s side, and used his power to abduct poor little Étude, right in front of her mother. So they had hostages on both sides; some in the ship, and one outside of it, and there was no simple way to save everyone. It came to a stalemate, which lasted for the rest of the day, and therefore through the closing of the window. The group didn’t want to back down, and Annora couldn’t simply decide to make space for them, even if she wanted. She didn’t want that, though, because of how nasty the passengers were being. The fact that there wasn’t enough room on the ship to accommodate everyone who wanted to go wasn’t the point. It wouldn’t change, regardless of how the group handled it. But had they asked nicely, at least they could have started this process in good faith. Now the crew was just pissed, as was Annora, and it was a very long time before they could reach an agreement. And that agreement did not include anyone who was directly involved in the attack. They couldn’t be rewarded, and most of them were ultimately arrested for their part. As terrible as the whole ordeal was, it was a good lesson for the Durune to learn. Violence would no longer be tolerated, in any form. New laws were passed to prevent something like this happening again.