Chapter Three
Through The Looking Glass
As you probably guessed, I didn’t get scrambled; however I don’t remember the cross over experience. This time, as I slowly drifted back to consciousness, I was sure I made it to Heaven rather than Hell, as I was looking into the face of an angel. Not just any old angel, one that took my breath away and made me happy to be dead. She had jet black hair, sparkling green almond shaped eyes, and a flawless olive complexion. “Good morning Robert”, she said with an incredible smile. I was propped up in what seemed to be a hospital bed, in a very austere, stark white room, alone with this incredible woman dressed in a white tunic or labcoat. “My name is Myra” she said. “All of your vital signs are looking good. You were in pretty bad shape when you crossed over. We almost lost you. How do you feel?”
I suddenly realized that I not only had absolutely no pain, I also didn‘t feel a bit drugged or anesthetized. “I feel great. I thought I was a goner when the Forest Service was coming to ’rescue’ me. Where am I, and how long have I been here, and where is Ian? He was worried about the risk of a person from earth crossing over to your world.” She took my hand and said, “Calm down, you’re safely aboard one of Tora’s crossover stations. You were brought here yesterday. I will let Ian know that you are awake, and he should be here soon. I know you must be full of questions, and probably very hungry. Let me get you something to eat.”
“Please”, I said. “Just stay here for awhile” I can eat later. I really want to know more about you and this world I’ve been literally dragged into.” It’s amazing how a voracious appetite can disappear completely when an angel is holding your hand. As impressed as I had been with Ian’s perfect Nordic face and the calming effect of his piercing blue eyes, this angel was in a whole different league. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that any woman could affect me like this.
She turned her head slightly and said to an apparently empty room, “Please bring in some food for Mr. Smith.” Then looking back at me with those incredible eyes she said, “Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere. Just lay back, relax, and I’ll try to help you better understand the situation you have stumbled into.
First let me introduce myself. As I said, my Name is Myra. I am the Chief Science Officer on this crossover station. I want you to know that Ian’s concerns about bringing you here were very real, and you are definitely, not only the first human, but the first life form of any kind brought here from your planet.
There are very strict rules prohibiting this type of crossing. Due to the urgency of bringing you here because of your failing life signs, there was no time to go through the proper channels for permission. As a matter of fact, the reason Ian is not here with you now is because he is attending an emergency meeting to determine what to do with you now. As for the risk to your health, you were very fortunate. A group of scientists on this station had developed modifications to our crossing equipment that no one was aware of. The scientists who developed these modifications had anticipated a similar type of situation as yours. When they heard about you, they told me that they had an untested but operational prototype available. Unfortunately their work was secret and not approved by Tora’s governing body. It is possible that our government may quarantine this station until they decide what to do with you.
Everyone who has been involved in assisting with your crossing could be in serious trouble over this. The rules are very clear and have never been challenged. You will no doubt be quite the celebrity, and I hope this doesn’t turn into an unpleasant experience for you. Worst case, you’ll be sent back healthy, with no memory of what happened. Explaining your good health would be a big problem, however. It seems that the medical examiners on earth have determined from DNA testing at the site where you were mauled, that you are not just missing, but due to the amount of blood loss, no doubt dead. Since they didn’t find your body, or the mountain lion, they assume you were dragged away and might never be found.”
Before I could react to all of this information, a panel in the wall opened and the room filled with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee, toast, bacon, and eggs. Myra brought the food over and suddenly my appetite returned with a vengeance. My brain was on overload so I took advantage of this break to regroup and try my first Toran meal. “This food is wonderful; I had half expected some kind of strange looking alien snail or maybe worse.”
Myra said, “Ian filled us in on what you ordered in the campground café, so we thought this might be a good choice.” I was impressed. I ate like a starving wolf, and by the time I was finished, I felt like a new man. My mind was clear and full of questions. Some of Myra’s information was very disturbing, and my peaceful calm had disappeared.
“Don’t I have any say about what is done with me? And as far as your worst case scenario, Ian assured me that under no circumstances would my memory of all of this be erased!” “Listen”, Myra said, “Ian has risked far more than you have by bringing you here. He could have left you on earth to die. A lot of people have risked their jobs and reputations to help keep you alive. There may even be dire consequences for our entire planet. I would think you would be more thankful. And as far as Ian’s promise about your memory, he probably no longer has the power to keep that promise.”
Well, so much for my angel. She might look like an angel, but her emotions seemed very human. I took a deep breath and digested what she had said. “You’re absolutely right, and I apologize. I don’t understand the situation entirely yet, but I do see that this has put all of you in a very bad situation and I am truly sorry for that.” Regaining her composure Myra said, “I accept your apology. I know you can’t fully comprehend the consequences of this. Also, I can only imagine the stress of being dragged half dead into a strange world that you didn’t even know existed only two days ago.”
Suddenly I felt energized. There were problems to solve, and since I was a big part of the problem, I wanted to take part in the solution. Also, even if my memories were going to be erased, I still wanted to learn as much as possible about this unbelievable new view of the universe that had been revealed to me. I suddenly sat up, threw my legs over the side of the bed, and said, “OK, enough small talk, please, will you tell me what you can about this world of yours, and let’s find a way out of this mess.”
Before Myra could respond, the door opened and Ian strode in. “Well, you look recovered. How are you feeling?” “I’m feeling great, and I want to take a peak at this world of yours. Myra told me how serious this situation is for you. I really appreciate the risk you took bringing me here and if there is anything I can do to help, please let me. If taking me back and erasing my memory will help, I’ll let you off the hook. Myra explained that you might not be able to keep that promise anyway.”
“Myra’s right”, Ian said. “This is a very serious matter. The Inter-Dimensional Council is furious, and there could be severe consequences. However, they are also curious, and want to meet you. Fortunately there are council members sympathetic with our motives for bringing you here to save your life. This station is being Quarantined for the time being however until we are sure there is no chance that your crossing might have contaminated the station with earth born organisms that could be harmful to Torans. In the meantime we can show you around the station and I’m sure you’ll have more questions for us.”
I could tell Ian was trying to be upbeat, but his somewhat haggard look reflected the seriousness of the situation. He was definitely a very worried man. I was somewhat relieved to find out that Torans seemed to be real people, with real emotions, rather than the super race I had imagined. Maybe we earthlings weren’t inferior after all. Let’s face it, on Earth there have been geniuses and dolts in every period of history. Technology definitely hasn’t made people smarter, or better. War is a good example. We have just learned to kill people more efficiently. In any event I was ready to learn more about this other ‘dimension’. “I’m ready.” I said. Almost immediately a different panel opened in the wall. Behind the opening was a tray with clothes on it. Myra and Ian left the room while I got dressed, and we started my tour of the station.
The first stop was an observation deck, located at the very top of the station. The deck was a tiered platform resembling a huge wedding cake about fifty meters in diameter. Each of the half dozen or so tiers was wide enough to accommodate a variety of seating areas, with couches, tables, chairs, and dining booths. The entire platform was covered with a one piece, clear, glasslike dome. There were no people. Ian explained that this was normally a popular gathering place, however for security reasons it had been vacated for my tour. We entered the deck on a small circular lift which rose up the center of this huge wedding cake and terminated in the middle of the top tier. This tier was only a few meters in diameter. Unlike a conventional elevator this lift had no walls, so as to not block the panoramic view at the top. I had thought I was being taken to the top of a building, with a dome which would offer the view of a Toran city or some local landscape. Instead what I saw left me dumbfounded and speechless.
I’m not sure how long I stood there in awe-struck silence. Myra was the first to speak. “Beautiful isn’t it.” I didn’t know how to respond. Finally I spoke. “Beautiful is such an inadequate word for this sight that I don’t know what to say. They might be able to erase this memory from my mind, but I think it’s been imprinted on my soul as well.” “I know what you mean.” Ian said. I’ve been on many worlds, and seen them from all sorts of perspectives in space, yet I can’t remember a more inspirational sight.”
Nothing in the most elaborate computer generated special effects of a blockbuster movie, could have ever prepared me for this unbelievable panorama. We were standing on top of a floating city that appeared to be several hundred miles above the surface of Tora. It was mid day, and a surprisingly normal looking sun shone overhead. The sky was inky black except for the coronal band of Tora’s atmosphere along the curved edge of this spectacular brightly colored planet. Actually it looked similar to the views of Earth from space, except it was obviously more densely populated, as I could see what appeared to be massive cities covering most of the visible landscape. The sky near the surface was teaming with what looked like a wide variety of satellites, space stations, and other space/aircraft. There were two visible moons. One looked about the size of Earths moon, and the other one was much larger. Without Tora’s atmosphere to filter the Toran Sun’s reflected light, these moons shone brightly like gems in a black velvet case. The sky was also full of stars, and constellations which looked remarkably similar to those viewed from earth. On one side of this panoramic spectacle, there was a monstrous Saturn-like ringed planet. It loomed in the sky just above Tora’s horizon with an apparent size roughly a quarter that of Tora itself.
My mind was reeling and I felt disoriented. My entire belief system had been turned upside down, and I thought that maybe this was all some kind of fantastic dream. “Where are we?” I asked. “Is this a space station? I thought Earth and Tora occupied the same space, and that your crossover point was just a place on Tora to switch dimensions.”
Myra said, “You’re right, this is similar to one of Earth’s space stations; however it is not in an orbit around Tora. This station maneuvers to our desired crossover point, and is synchronized to move exactly with that point until crossover is completed. After the crossover we can position the station wherever we care to. At the present time we are directly above Tora’s capital city Elan. We have been ordered to remain in this position until the matter involving your crossing has been resolved. As to The location of Earth, it is only close to that of Tora. Each planet has its own period of rotation, solar orbit, etc. Large masses such as a star tend to be replicated through many separate dimensions. Both Earth’s and Tora’s suns are in the same location in space, and their planets are in the same plane. Earth and Tora are also each in orbits 93 million miles from their respective suns. This proximity to Earth and the similarity of our planetary environments and life forms are the main reasons your dimension has been of such interest to us. .”
Now, I knew I was dreaming. This was all too unbelievable. I said, “Considering the vastness of space how do you explain such close planetary positions and orbits.” “Myra responded. “If all this similarity seems too coincidental for you, consider that there are an infinite number of dimensions, and as I said, solar masses tend to pervade many dimensions. Tora belongs to an Inter-Dimensional Federation, consisting of planets, mostly from solar systems with their sun in the same replicated group as ours. The number of dimensions in this group is huge, and yet there is an extremely small percentage of planets within the group that are qualified to belong to the Federation. Also only a few percent of qualified planets have developed the science to verify the existence of other dimensions, let alone travel within them.”
All this was just way too unbelievable. It was about at this point that I made a major decision. Whether or not this was a dream, I decided to enjoy the adventure and to not worry about possible consequences. Real or not this was already the most incredible adventure of my life, and I couldn’t wait for more. “Where is Earth now?” I asked. I was starting to feel like a child that had run away from home, and yet didn’t want to get too far away. Ian pushed a button on the platform railing and a cylindrical pedestal rose from the floor. He withdrew three sets of what looked like large high tech safety glasses. “Put these on and you will see”, he said. All three of us donned the glasses and I looked in the direction that Ian pointed.
Miraculously there was Earth, or at least half of it. The other half seemed to be buried deep within the planet Tora, or visa versa. The overall effect was that of Siamese twins, or a huge double scoop of ice cream. Again I was dumbfounded, which was getting to be a perpetual state of mind for me lately. I didn’t even question the technology behind the glasses. I realized it would be far beyond my comprehension, and I was too busy taking in the scene before me. The glasses revealed Earth so clearly; it seemed as if it was part of the Toran dimension. It looked about the same size as Tora, and the clouds and coronal band looked similar; however the visible continents peeking out from under their protective cloud cover were unmistakably those of my good old planet Earth. Somehow even though it might have been impossibly inaccessible to me, it looked comfortingly close, unlike the feeling I thought I might have, had I been taken down a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy somewhere. So near, yet so far, I thought. OK enough maudlin thoughts. It was time to learn more. As if reading my mind, Ian said, “We had better get on with your tour, there are a lot of people waiting to use this deck, and I’m sure you must be anxious to see more of the station.” I hated to leave the observation deck, but Ian was right, I did want to see more of the station responsible for both saving my life and turning my world, or should I say universe, upside down.
Our next stop was the crossover room. This area was unoccupied as the observation deck had been, for security reasons. Room is hardly an adequate word to describe this space. It was enormous. It could have easily held the largest sports arena on Earth. Until entering this room I hadn’t really thought about how large the entire station was. When I got over the shock, I asked Ian, and he said the station was approximately four miles high, and three miles in diameter. By now I was getting used to hearing impossible things, so I took these facts in stride. At one end of this room was what appeared to be a huge ramped stage, filling the entire wall. On either side of this stage, recessed into the adjacent walls were many levels of open balconies full of desks and what appeared to be computers and other scientific equipment of all sizes and shapes. On the opposite end of the room from the stage, the entire wall seemed to be a huge doorway of some kind.
Myra began to explain the room design. “I can see that you are surprised by the size of our staging and crossover area. The reason for this size is that we need the capability of crossing over with large spacecraft and /or underwater craft. We can open the entire wall opposite the crossover stage to bring these large craft or other vehicles into this room. The station is positioned so that the stage wall intersects the crossover point, and as big a portion of the wall as is necessary becomes activated to achieve proper crossover conditions. Wearing glasses similar to the ones we used on the observation deck we can visually observe and position the crossover location as accurately as necessary.”
Ian said. “This is how we rescued you from the cave. The station position was locked onto the crossover position I used when you first saw me. We were ready to come across at that position when we saw that the Forest Service was organizing a rescue also. The only chance we had to get to you first without being seen was to reposition the station using the homing beacon of the crossover equipment in the backpack you found. We barely made it in time, and used the glasses to help locate the best position in the cave to get our crew in to you.”
I was about to ask why the equipment in the backpack was necessary to achieve a crossover point, rather than just using a GPS coordinate, when Myra said, “We’re being paged to come to the main conference room.”