Aurora Wolf

The Next Stage

by

Charles R. Richard

They had finally found what they needed. At the center of the Solange trinary star system, was the entrance to a passage through time, a wormhole. They knew that they would have to make use of it soon, since it was likely to destabilize or collapse in the not too distant future. Fortunately, they were well prepared and able to get their two vessels underway quickly.

Not long after an eclipse of the S(olange) 1 star by the dimmer S3 star, there was a bright flash when one of the vessels they sent, the unmanned one, entered the wormhole. Once on the other side, it set course for a destination many light years away, the Earth of the present. Its companion vessel did not follow, but waited.

Upon entering the Sol star system, the unmanned vessel decelerated to just under light speed. The power setting for the onboard Lorenz compensator was increased, and as an added safety precaution, a sophisticated camouflage system was activated.  They thought that these measures would be sufficient to assure the vessel and its activities would not be detected and that the time line would not be noticeably altered.

The quarry was a certain man on Earth that they had carefully selected. He had been asleep for only a few minutes when the vessel began its orbit.

As soon as the man was located, a transport system on the vessel was activated for his retrieval. He was placed in a stasis chamber aboard. 

Once the man was secured, the vessel left orbit. It rapidly accelerated and headed back to the Solange system. 

The vessel reached the Solange wormhole as the very bright, giant S2 star was eclipsed by the much paler S1 and S3 stars.  It was as if twilight had fallen in this region of space.

Soon after the kidnap vessel entered the wormhole, there was a bright flash in the eclipse twilight. The second vessel, a twin of the other, emerged for balance; Lorenz compensation alone could only go so far in stabilizing the time line. This twin vessel had a passenger, who wished the captive bon voyage and meant it very literally. A real danger existed that the wormhole would soon destabilize or collapse entirely.

In a seeming instant, the kidnap vessel flashed out on the other side of the wormhole.  A few days passed before it stopped at its destination, a great city in space, floating high above a once beautiful planet.

#

The captive lay on an examining table in a laboratory inside the floating city. Several of the city’s inhabitants entered. They looked human on first glance, but a closer inspection would have shown them to be a sort of very sophisticated android.  Still, there was something very alive about them.

One of the group, a female, took their captive out of stasis, but left him in a state near sleep.  She touched the Earthman at his temples and established telepathic contact.

The man could hear her “voice” in his head. Welcome, she said. You are our guest here in the city of the Alphans. She then made him sleep soundly.

They had brought him there to help them get to the Next Stage, but he would not understand, so he was not told this. Their name derived from that of alpha brain waves which note calm reflection, so different from their usual state before their earlier transition, but he was not told this either.

The woman who made contact with the man was fairly confident now that their plan would work. She had sensed while in contact with him that the reptilian brain elements were very strong in the man as they had suspected they would be.

This contact showed her something else, and it really surprised her. As expected, she could see his passion and emotion for things that he loved and for things that he hated. What surprised her was their intensity – and that she had forgotten how intense they could be. She, like the rest of them, had been aware that they would lose some of this intensity on transition, but she had not realized how much had been lost until now. They had told themselves that losing some intensity was for the best, after where this sort of thing had led them before, but she now wondered if they had been right.

She let the others know of her findings and conclusion on the brain elements. However, she decided to keep the rest to herself, for the time being at least.

They were all pleased with what she shared with them. Finally, they could move forward. The war that had nearly destroyed the world below them had caused enough delay.

#

The man awoke in a comfortable bed in the bedroom of a small suite of rooms filled with exotic plants and done up in what to him resembled the Frank Lloyd Wright style – one he had always greatly admired. He was not afraid. His earlier contact with the woman had a very calming effect.

He got out of bed and went to one of the windows.  The planet below was bright blue and white and seemed to glow. It looked vaguely familiar to him. He could not see the devastation that still remained from the great war of so long ago. For some reason, it never occurred to him that it was strange to be looking out at a planet from orbit.

A chill passed through him, and then he realized that he was naked. They had decided to leave his clothes behind to minimize any time line distortions. He noticed a black robe on a chair. Apparently, it had been laid out for him to wear.  He put it on and went through a frosted glass door into a living room.

Skylights above his head let in weak light.  He really liked the room and felt very much at home. On the coffee table, a wonderful breakfast had been set out.  Hungry, he sat down and started to eat. All of his favorite morning foods were there. Everything seemed natural to him.

After eating, he sat back into the very comfortable sofa and looked out the large window in front of him. He began to wonder why the planet below looked so familiar, but the thought went away immediately.

A female “voice” spoke to him in his head – the same one as before, he realized.  Please hurry and get dressed. There is much work to do today.

For a split second, he felt fear. Then he experienced a complete calm and felt that everything was as it should be.

The man rose and went into the bathroom and showered. All the articles that he needed were there.

Returning to the bedroom, he found the bed neatly made, with new clothes laid out on top.  Looking around, he wondered how he hadn’t heard anyone come in, but then he was unconcerned.

The clothing turned out to be his favorite style and the right size for him. Although he realized this, he did not stop to consider how it was possible.

Entering the living room, he saw that the breakfast things were gone, but again he had not heard anyone come in. Any feelings of concern he had about these unusual occurrences disappeared as soon as he began to notice them.

He stood still for a moment not knowing where he should go, and then he heard her again in his head. Please go out into the corridor. I am almost there. He then found himself opening a door and stepped out of the living room. He saw her coming.

She appeared to be a human woman, but somehow he knew this wasn’t the case. He knew that she was the one who had welcomed him here earlier, and the one who had “spoken” to him this morning, yet, she seemed familiar for another reason as well. He felt only mild surprise that none of what was happening to him seemed seriously alarming, and then he became unconcerned.

He heard her in his head as she reached him. Hello again. Please come with me.

#

The intensity she felt in him previously was now even stronger. She could not quite meet his eyes, because she was afraid that his intensity might overwhelm her otherwise. As if it was contagious, being this close to so much intensity made her more aware of everything, but this awareness included how great a the loss their reduced intensity really was. She had no such basis of comparison before then.

She put these thoughts out of her mind as well as she could, then the two of them proceeded down the corridor in the direction she came from. After a while, she indicated that they should stop, and they did in front of a door with writing on it in a language that the man could just not quite understand.

#

He started to ask about this, but then forgot his question. She opened the door, and they entered a sparsely furnished room.

Inside, they sat across from each other at a small table. He heard the woman’s “voice” again in his head. Place your hands on the pads. She pointed at two white pads attached to the table just in front of him. Without any fear or hesitation, he did as she asked, or perhaps more accurately as she thought to him, since there was no oral exchange between them.

She then asked him many strange questions.  He gathered that his answers were taken from his mind by her. She appeared to be keeping handwritten notes. He could not actually understand the writing, but after looking at it a while, it seemed somehow very similar to English. He wondered if it was in the same language as the writing on the door, but the thought vanished as soon as he had it.

#

Well before he was aware of any of his reactions, she detected that his anxiety level was trending upwards as the questioning proceeded and spiked on certain questions. The pads that he had his hands on were part of a telepathic amplifier that allowed her to have this advanced information. It was important that she stay ahead of him in this process, so this was a valuable enhancement; the indications of anxiety helped guide her in the questioning.

#

He soon suspected that she was after something very particular, but anytime he thought to stop her to ask about this, the thought was replaced by his feeling too curious about what would happen next to risk interrupting. He did not notice that curiosity might not have been the most appropriate reaction to have here, yet deep down, just barley beyond the reach of his consciousness, he grew very afraid.

#

She sensed his suspicions and still subconscious fear growing. He must not be allowed to avoid remembering what she needed. She had to be firm with him.

It was very important not to rush him, but she could read thoughts of warning from several of the others being sent to her. The wormhole stability is starting to noticeably decline. You must hurry. 

#

After a few moments more, while thinking about what his answer was to one question, the man realized his fear. The questioning brought back memories of a very, very bad experience. With some hesitation, he revealed that he had nearly died from drowning in the ocean as a teenager.

He became very agitated. This was not something he wanted to remember. He had kept the memory about it almost totally suppressed for a long time. 

The man could tell that the woman was intensely interested in this experience of his, and somehow he knew that she had expected to find this and also that he would be reluctant to remember it.  He could not understand how she could have known all this, but he just knew that she did. These thoughts of his would go away, but then he would have them again.

#

Her next questions came quickly and drew him away from these thoughts and back to that time when things had almost ended for him. It was very frightening for the man, and it made her feel bad to put him through this, but it had to be done. She needed every detail of the struggle to stay alive in that water to come back to him. He could see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, and taste it, and he relived all the emotions that had gone with this. He was there!

With some difficulty, she drew out of him several things more about his experience, especially about the fear and his struggle.

#

He then found himself back in the room with her. It took him a few moments to get re-oriented, but he felt very relieved.

The woman smiled at him. He heard her in his head again. Well done. Thank you.

#

The man had provided what she needed with his reliving his near death episode and details on how to proceed were coming rapidly to her.

She and the other Alphans realized for quite a while that their bodies were slowly failing and none of their experiments with second physical transitions had worked. It was the Next Stage or death.

How else could they have justified taking the risk of bringing the man here and having him go through his near death struggle to the required degree of intensity? The time line might have been seriously distorted, the man’s mental state could have been seriously compromised or both.

Fortunately, things had gone well – at least so far. None of them dared consider that the Next Stage might not be any improvement over the alternative, however. There was no way to be sure in advance.

She used her “voice” again to place her thoughts in his head. Come. I will take you to see something that I am sure you will really like.

Upon realizing that there would be a delay, the others sent protesting thoughts to the woman. The wormhole will not hold out much longer, and the man and the one of us that we sent as balance to the man’s time will be stuck – or worse.

Still, she insisted on the detour to be sure the man was well over the trauma of his memories.

The man followed her as got up and left the room. He started to ask about the purpose of what they had just done, but she suppressed the thought away.

After a short walk, they stopped before a glass door. It was the entrance to a greenhouse.  She perceived the man was very impressed by what he saw inside.  There were groupings of what must have been thousands of different plants that were carefully arranged, yet somehow “naturally” laid out. 

After a while, she prompted him. I am sorry, but we must go now.

#

He would have liked to linger, since it felt so good to be around so much growing life. He began to wonder how she had known that he would like to see this. The question then left his mind.

The two were soon back at the suite where he had slept. As they entered, he could hear her in his head again. You are thirsty. I’ll make you a drink. He was glad, because he felt very thirsty, but he did not wonder how she could have known this.

As he drank, they looked out at the planet below from the living room sofa.  He wondered what planet this was. It was so familiar to him somehow. She was very familiar to him somehow as well. He started to bring this up, but then he became distracted by a trace of blue on the planet.

#

She had to block his thoughts, even though she really wanted to let him know why on both counts, but she restrained herself. Otherwise, things would get too hard to bear for them both.

#

He suddenly felt very tired, and then he heard her in his head again.  Why don’t you lie down for a while?

He got up and went into the bedroom. It had been turned down for him while he had been out. He did not consider by whom and lay down on the bed.

#

Soon after he had fallen asleep, the woman went into the bedroom. She knew that others were on the way, but there was still a little time. She looked at the man’s face for a while, then bent and kissed him on the forehead and thought to him in his sleep, I’ve missed you … as you were. I am sorry that you have to go back so soon.

Even in his sleep, she could feel his intensity. She sighed.

For a brief moment, she thought that she felt a tear rolling down her right cheek, but knew it wasn’t there, since she could not cry; since their transition, none of them could.  They could smile and even laugh, but they could not cry; this was thought best. She had wondered about whether it really was on many an occasion.

Others arrived to take the man away.  They were worried about the wormhole. The man was soon headed home via the Solange system.

#

As the kidnap vessel passed through the middle of the Solange wormhole, it passed its twin. The occupant of the twin bade the man a farewell. It seemed ironic to him in a way after he had done it. Then he knew that it really wasn’t. Things had changed that much.

The twin vessel flashed back into its own time to witness the final stages of the Solange eclipse. The beauty of the system momentarily distracted his attention from the com. Until, a shockwave pummeled the ship and tossed him side to side at his station.

#

Reaching the floating city, the twin vessel discharged its passenger.  The woman waited. She knew that both vessels had cleared the wormhole before it had collapsed, but she was still unsettled given how close a call it had been.

Upon safely returning to Earth, the man had been returned directly to his bed.  Arranged, so that he was gone for only a split second, and his absence completely unnoticed – or as far as they could tell from the ship.

She wondered what the man would think of his “dream” when he woke up, and how this would play out with the passenger coming towards her now. Time travel was very confusing in many ways, but especially under circumstances like those involved in this exchange. They would have to find a way to dispose of the ship that carried the man back, now that the wormhole had collapsed.

As the arriving passenger approached her, the woman sent thoughts to him. The project appears to have succeeded.

He smiled at her. This is good news.

Their understanding the man’s fear of death and his associated will to survive, as recounted to her by him, had quickly led them to the discovery of the method they had been hoping to find. Using this method, a few of them had already made it to the Next Stage.

The Alphans had no deep fear of death generally, nor had they previously experienced any great anxiety when their own individual survival was actually threatened. They had theorized that on transition, they had lost the reptilian brain reactions of humans and developed a complacency that had trapped them. Unfortunately, they had not seen that this would be a problem before they had made their previous transition.

She wondered if they would recover some of the intensity they once had as humans when they entered the Next Stage. Something had made her keep her thoughts on the intensity of the experience to herself, and it was still at work in her. As the one returning drew closer, this strange feeling grew stronger.

I think that he recognized me, thought the woman to the returning traveler.

You mean, I did, don’t you? answered her husband.

The two both smiled at the strangeness of that reality and then embraced. Her smile hid her thought that he was not really the same, but she hoped that some of what was lost might soon return in the Next Stage. Even after transition, she was still an optimist.

What is the Next Stage like? he asked as they separated.

I went to the edge and looked into it. What I saw is hard to describe. The thoughts we were able to read from the two volunteers who went first were faint and hard to interpret. There is a risk, but we will have to take it. It is a one-way trip, and there really is no alternative.

May I see?

She allowed him to see her relevant thoughts.

I see what you mean.

The two then went to meet the others.

–

Charles R. Richard is a patent attorney and attorney-at-law based in Washington, DC.
He is originally from Lafayette, LA, and yes, he is a Cajun. Previously, he has been
published on patents and trade secrets, as well as nanotechnology, but this is his
first science fiction to be published. He wrote the original version of this story
in 1993, but it was only recently (and these are his words) that he was able to find
a patient editor willing to help him revise it so that it would really work for
publication. Readers are encouraged to comment upon his story.