Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance (3 page)

“
Where is this?” Jason asked.

Granger smiled. “At the center of a distant asteroid.” He gestured for the three of them to follow as he stepped into the portal. Only Perkins hesitated, first looking toward Jason and Ricket, then quickly glancing back, as if contemplating whether or not he should return to the ship.

“
You’ll be fine,” Jason said to Perkins, somewhat irritated by his nervousness.

They crossed over through the somewhat illumined portal. It was the sheer immensity of space that struck Jason first. The plateau they stood upon was high above a cavern of immense dimensions. Jason calculated it to be twenty to thirty miles in circumference. On first impression, it reminded him of Grand Central Station in New York City, but on a much grander scale. Massive portal windows, hundreds of them, filled the walls across, below, to their sides, and even above them. Space vessels slowly moved from one portal to another. In the vacuum of space their powerful drives had an eerie soundlessness.

Jason spoke first. “These ships. They’re moving throughout the universe?”

It was Ricket who answered. “Not the universe, Captain. The multiverse.”

Granger smiled down at Ricket and nodded. “Continue, Ricket.”

“
We’ve discussed this before, Captain. But seeing it manifested like this is something else entirely … There are infinite layers or membranes of separate universes that exist and coexist in time and space simultaneously.”

Granger added, “Where we are standing is actually located in a multiverse membrane that depicts events in six dimensions, versus your three dimensions. What you’re looking at is a multiverse way station.”

“
So, you’re saying this isn’t actually the sixth dimension?”

Granger answered, “No, this is only a three dimensional representation of the sixth dimension. The sixth dimension takes place strictly in the realm of math, not physicality.”

Ricket nodded approvingly. “I take it those ships are Caldurian vessels moving between multiverse layers?”

“
That is correct.”

Jason’s brow furrowed. “Wait. There must be thousands of ships here. From what I understood, the Caldurians were all but destroyed hundreds of years ago by the Craing.” Granger smiled at this comment. Gesturing at what stood before them, he continued. “Does this look like an extinct civilization?”

“
No, it doesn’t,” Jason replied. “But why—”

“
For millennia, Caldurians have been plagued by other civilizations that desired their technology as well as their advances in the natural sciences. More and more resources were needed for defensive purposes to the point where our actions became no different than those of our aggressors. Then the breakthroughs started happening more frequently and, with those breakthroughs, the ability to travel the multiverse.”

A behemoth-sized ship was slowly making its way across the void below, crossing over to an adjacent portal on the far side. Jason shook his head: “That ship there … it’s massive.”

“
One of our newer vessels. We call it the Minian.”

Easily as big as a Craing Dreadnaught, it had similar visual characteristics to The Lilly.

“
So, I understand that you have progressed. Your civilization has risen above fighting petty turf wars and you live in different realms, perhaps more peaceful ones. What about you personally? Some sort of Caldurian emissary?” Jason asked, ready now to cut to the chase.

“
Yes, that would be a good analogy. This membrane, this particular slice of the multiverse, is our home. We care what happens here. We care how societies will eventually migrate into the multiverse themselves. We’ve been watching you closely, Jason.”

“
Really? How have you been watching me? I haven’t exactly been sitting around idly on Earth.”

Granger seemed to be contemplating how much he wanted to say, then continued, “Your ship, The Lilly, has tremendous capabilities, developed well after our society had made inroads into the physics of multiverse travel. The DeckPorts, the phase-shift capabilities, and the phase-synthesizer unit, which, by the way, is being far underutilized, all deal with facets of the multiverse. You’re protective of the technology. You keep it at arm’s length, even from your own government, realizing it could cause an imbalance of power on your planet, as well as in space.”

“
And how do you know these things?” Jason asked, feeling uncomfortable that this stranger knew so much about him and The Lilly.

“
Because I’ve walked beside you numerous times. Often as one of your less familiar crewmembers. I appear from any one of your DeckPorts, or the habitats, from an alternative multiverse location. I have an unlimited selection of whom, or what, I can represent myself to be.”

“
Seriously? Why the hell would you bother? You must have more important things to do than spy on what must seem to you to be a primitive race of people.”

“
How your society develops toward working with the multiverse will affect us all. We think of it more as an investment than as spying. With that said, I apologize for the subterfuge.”

“
So, what do you want from me? Again, what’s this really all about?”

“
You have a problem. You’re all going to die very shortly. Soon, the weaker of your crewmembers will find the pain unbearable. Some will resort to suicide. Some will lash out, perhaps even killing others.”

“
You’ve already made it clear you cannot repair the nano-devices in our heads. So what are you getting at?”

“
There are two primary factions of Caldurians. Those like myself who have embraced life living among the multiverses, and those who have set limits as to how far they will venture in that regard.”

Ricket had started to pace as he listened, then interrupted. “You die.”

Granger paused and assessed the small cyborg. “Yes, we’ve chosen to die. Many times.”

Now Jason was totally lost. “What do you mean, chosen to die?”

Ricket responded. “When you travel between DeckPorts, or phase-shift from one location to another, your physicality, the you part of the equation, for the most part, stays intact. What Granger and his faction of Caldurians routinely do is leave one existence for a nearly identical but completely new one as needed.”

“
So how does that work?”

“
You move through a portal,” Granger replied, “much like those vessels are doing now, and you walk out through another one feeling and looking as if nothing has changed.”

“
And the thousands of people we found dead within the Crystal City?”

“
That faction of our people, typically referred to as the originals, were not comfortable with the prospect of phase-shifting out of their original bodies.”

“
And your people?” Jason asked.

“
We’re referred to as progressives. For hundreds of years we’ve been perfecting the process. By utilizing interface constructs such as this, that speak to the multiverse via the sixth dimension, changing form has become a routine occurrence.”

Granger paused again, then spoke in a softer, more gentle voice. “Right now, somewhere within the multiverse, there is another Mollie. She’s lived an identical life in every way. She is exactly the same person with one exception. This other Mollie’s nano-devices are not defective. This other Mollie is not curled up in bed next to her mother, writhing in pain.”

“
So let me try to understand. You’re offering us this process. But the downside is we have to voluntarily die in order to carry on as a new person in another body?”

“
Both you and your counterpart walk into a portal at the same time. One person emerges.”

Jason, Perkins, and Ricket all took in this last bit of information, but it was Perkins who spoke up first.

“
I understand why our Mollie would want to walk into the portal, but what about that other Mollie? If she does not have the defective nano-devices, why would she even—”

“
The other Mollie has another, completely different reason to want to go through with the process. She too will leave that issue behind. The two Mollies come through as identically merged, with the sole exception that each has left behind an undesirable condition, or aspect of herself,” Granger answered.

“
There’s something you’re not telling us. What’s the downside? If there’s a faction of your society that opposes this technology but accepts all the other technological advances, there has to be a reason,” Jason said skeptically.

“
In the beginning, before the process had been perfected, there were anomalies. Very rarely, but with any new technological breakthrough there’s a learning curve. That should be expected. The originals were not comfortable with the early results. They broke away, choosing to take a different path.”

“
Could I use this process to revert back to looking human again?” Perkins asked.

“
Yes, possibly, but you have other options at your disposal,” Granger replied.

Jason watched the Caldurian. What Granger was saying made sense, but there was something else … Jason just didn’t know if he should trust him.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jason sat in the command chair reviewing the crew roster on his virtual tablet. He looked up and saw Orion at her station running battle simulations, while Ensign McBride at his station simply sat holding his head, both elbows resting on the console before him.

Gunny, looking frustrated, turned and addressed Jason. “We have to do something, Captain. I’m not unaccustomed to dealing with pain, pushing my body to its limits. But I’ve reached my limits. God knows how the rest of the crew deals with the pain. If you want my opinion, I say we undergo the procedure.”

McBride, head still in hands, nodded his approval.

Jason had spoken to most of the crewmembers earlier one on one. He wanted it to be an individual choice, but a unanimous decision would make things simpler. From the initial responses he’d received back, there was no question they were more than willing to undergo the procedure—anything was better than living like this. But hadn’t the inhabitants of the Crystal City had the same choice while dealing with the same pain?

Jason closed down his tablet and stood.

“
Made a decision, Cap?” Orion asked.

“
A partial one. I’ll test it on myself; if I’m found to be medically sound and have no adverse effects, then I’ll let others choose for themselves.”

As Jason headed for the DeckPort he noticed Granger, wearing a standard spacer’s jumpsuit, now walking in stride at his side.

“
Where do we set this thing up?” Jason asked.

“
I’ve taken the liberty of placing two portals within the ship’s forward hold area.”

“
You never had any doubt that I’d acquiesce to this, did you?”

“
Not really. When people are given the choice to live or die, most will opt for living. There’s no secret motive or agenda here, Captain. It is a good thing. Nothing more than another tool made available in an extraordinary, technologically-advanced age.”

Jason didn’t respond to that. He then stopped and looked at Granger. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Anything adverse happens to my crew or my family, and I’ll hold you personally responsible. You don’t want me as your enemy. And one more thing—you pop into my ship unannounced again, I’ll shoot you where you stand. Is that clear?”

“
Quite clear, Captain,” Granger replied with that same damn smile.

* * *

Both Ricket and Dira were waiting in the forward hold and turned as Jason and Granger entered. No one else had been informed why they’d come. Dira’s eyes brightened as Jason approached and she rushed forward and hugged him.

He felt her arms around his neck pulling him in close, and it felt good. She brought her lips up to his ear and said, “I don’t care if anyone sees us like this or not. I needed to be in your arms, Jason. If this is the last time I have to tell you—”

Jason gently pushed her away and looked into her eyes. “It won’t be, Dira. I promise.”