Chapter Four
Enter the Dragon
“What is the explanation for the apparent identical development of humans on Earth, and Tora?" I asked Ian, as we were making our way to the conference room. "Even the interior designs and furnishings of this station look as if they could have been designed by someone on Earth.”
“There isn’t time to explain this properly right now”, Ian said, “but simply put, there are beings in the universe responsible for life form design. Apparently the human design happens to be the most practical and widely used for higher life forms. This intelligent design doesn’t invalidate all of your concepts of evolution; it’s just that evolution is part of each life form’s design. This way a particular species can change and adapt according to changes in the planet’s environment, without the original designers having to constantly monitor that environment and make all of these changes themselves. Living organisms automatically change and adapt according to their basic initial design parameters. The process is similar to the change you call metamorphous, only much slower. When time and conditions are right, a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. This change is preprogrammed into the organism’s basic design, just as evolution is. On Earth, the current thinking is that the simplest explanation for a process or problem is most likely the correct or best one, and in this case many people have come to believe that evolution explains the existence of life. This is not so. To believe that life just happen, starting with single cells, and evolves from there to higher life forms such as humans, without intelligent design, is definitely not the simplest explanation. This process would be infinitely more complex, time consuming, and random. As far as interior design, that is simply a function of practical usage for a particular life form design, and it is also an indication of cultural background and technology available. For example bird nests are all fairly similar due to the basic design of birds.”
At this point in Ian’s explanation we arrived at the conference room, so there was no time for further questions, and I didn’t have time to digest what I had been told. Upon entering the room however I considered the truth in Ian’s last remark. A conference room, is a conference room, is a conference room. There are only so many ways to design one for the comfort and practical use of humans. Like the hospital room this space was very austere and business like, although the chairs looked extremely comfortable. A large highly polished oval table dominated the room. The top appeared to be one piece with an extremely beautiful grain unlike anything I had seen on earth. At the far end of the table sat a contingent of half a dozen or so rather stern looking men. By their dress and demeanor, I could only guess that these men were the ones who would decide what to do with me, and the situation in general. Others at the table were dressed in white tunics similar to Myra and Ian’s. We sat at the near end of the table. A man at the center of what must have been the head of the table spoke first.
“I believe you all know who I am, except our visitor from Earth. Robert, my name is Ishael, and I am the Chief Magistrate for our capital city Elan, and a director of the planetary government of Tora. I and my associates”, he gestured to his contingency, “are here to assess the problems associated with your crossover. I believe that you have been made roughly aware of the seriousness of the situation, however at this point no one can predict the far ranging consequences. It is imperative that we learn all the facts as soon as possible, as I need to prepare for an emergency meeting of the Inter-dimensional Council. For your benefit we will all speak English in this meeting. Don’t be surprised. In case you haven’t already been told, most Torans speak English. Due to its proximity we have been studying the Earth for a long time, and are familiar with Earth’s most popular languages."
"Now Robert If you would be so kind, I would like to start the meeting with you telling us a little bit about yourself, and from your own perspective, how you came to be here. Also before you start, would you tell us if you have been coached in any way as to what to say in this meeting? I must tell you that there is technology in this room to detect any lies or even slight prevarications with absolute certainty, so please be candid with us.”
This man really made me nervous, mostly because on Earth we are so suspicious of those in power, and the motives behind their actions. I had no problem with the truth however. It was refreshing to think that no one in this meeting could tell a lie without it being detected. I wondered, however, who reviewed the data to look for possible lies. I made a mental note to ask Ian about this later.
I said that I hadn’t been coached, and repeated basically the same story about myself that I had told Ian. I then recounted the events that had led to my rescue. I emphasized the fact that had I not discovered the backpack with the crossover equipment in it when I did, the Forest Service rescue crew or other volunteers would probably have found it the next morning. If it had been found by a volunteer, who knows where this equipment would have ended up. These people no doubt knew that I would have died if left on earth, so I didn’t belabor that point, nor did I mention Ian’s promise not to erase my memory. I felt that Ian was in enough trouble, and didn’t want to make matters worse for him. After I finished my version of the events prior to the crossing, Isheal resumed speaking.
“Thank you for your interesting account Robert. I am pleased that it corresponds so closely to Ian’s. Robert, speaking for everyone on Tora I would like to thank you for your part in the retrieval of this equipment. It could have been very problematic if it had gotten into the wrong hands. Ian has informed me that whether or not you are returned to Earth, he promised not to erase your memory. I want you to know that we take promises very seriously here on Tora, and I will try my best to help Ian honor this one. If it turns out that this is not possible, I would like you to better understand why that could be the case, and why the crossover rule which was broken is so serious. At the risk of boring the others present here, as they all know the rules very well, I will give you a short version of the history leading to the establishment of these rules. In light of this recent infraction it might be a good idea for everyone to pay close attention.
Our civilization here on Tora is an ancient one compared to those on Earth. We have been through all of the periods of war, disease, famine, etc., that you have on Earth. We finally resolved most of these issues and developed a world government that worked very well. With worldwide peace and prosperity came better education for all and a focus on the arts, science, and technology. About 20,000 years ago our scientists discovered the multi-dimensional aspect of the universe. First they learned how to crudely view some of these dimensions, and then 18,000 years ago the first crossover technology was developed, and it was to be tested by sending animals across into an area of empty space in the target dimension.
"A week before this scheduled test, our world leaders were visited by a small group of people who just appeared out of nowhere at a high level council meeting. Security guards appeared on the scene immediately, however these strangers were able to generate personal force fields which prevented any attempts to remove them from the council hall. They told our leaders that they represented a coalition called the Inter -dimensional Federation. They explained that this coalition’s main purpose was to monitor planets which were becoming technically advanced enough to develop the technology for traveling to other dimensions. They explained the dangers of this ability, both for the dimensions being visited, and for the visitors. An analogy for you would be Earth’s discovery of other continents by England, France and Spain. When different cultures are thrown together, there can be power struggles, wars, disease etc., even when the ‘discoverers’ are peaceful and well meaning. Our leaders were told that our planet had been tentatively approved for admission into the Federation, however prior to any crossovers, there would be a need for extensive education concerning the risks involved. Also the federation had strict guidelines and rules for the crossover protocol. These rules were created to protect the safety and rights of life forms in all dimensions where crossovers take place. Minimal planetary intervention was the number one rule.
"This Federation group said that they would be available as long as necessary to answer questions and explain the rules in detail. Our council told the visitors to please leave for a few weeks to give all the leaders of Tora a chance to meet and discuss these new events. The visitors left and the meetings were held. By a slim majority our Toran government decided to go forward with the crossover tests, on our own, and not to be intimidated by the Federation’s warnings, and ‘tentative approval’. Who were they to tell us what we could or could not do?
The day before we were scheduled to conduct our first test, all of the crossover equipment, design data, and scientific personnel that had been working on the project, just disappeared. This crushed our dreams of visiting other dimensions, and every time we tried to redevelop this technology, the hardware and personnel would magically disappear. Eventually we gave up trying and abandoned the idea.
In spite of this setback our civilization flourished, and became more advanced in every way. 5,000 years passed, and the dream of Inter-dimensional travel was just a dim memory. Then one day, out of the blue, a new group of visitors appeared and met with our government’s leaders, who were much more cooperative this time. We were accepted into the Federation and given back the crossover technology. Tora has been a member of this Federation for 13,000 years and has not once knowingly broken any of the crossover rules until now. Our world has benefited enormously from this membership. Many other dimensions contain numerous Federation planets with civilizations far older and more advanced than ours. We have learned so much from them, since the non-intervention rule does not apply to Federation member planets.
Next week there will be a Federation council meeting on Tora to discuss this rule violation. I want you all to know that the results of this meeting could possibly result in Tora loosing Federation membership, including all crossover privileges. We know that there are Federation planets far more advanced than ours, with the capability of easily enforcing this exile. Surely, most of you here in this room must realize what that would be like. And as for you Robert, I know that you can’t fully appreciate the effect of loosing that which you never had, so imagine what it would be like if your state of California were suddenly Quarantined with no outside contact of any kind. I’m sure you get the picture. Now picture being cut off from the contact with many hundreds of worlds far more advanced than your own. This would be devastating.
Let me elaborate. The first step an advanced world usually makes towards contact with other advanced civilizations is using space flight in their own dimension. Tora has explored both our own and other star systems. We have learned that the distances and travel time involved make this a very difficult way to find other intelligent life, let alone benefit from the contact. Although there are many Space Federations in the universe this travel time is a huge problem for most of them. Earth’s current baby steps into space can give you an idea of the difficulties that lie ahead. All of the Inter-dimensional planets have started with space exploration, but most have switched their focus to other dimensions. We can travel to thousands of interesting worlds with intelligent life, and in general the travel times are no more that yours are to travel to distant places on your own planet.
Believe it or not, to my dismay, there are people who live right here on Tora, that don’t fully appreciate how privileged we are, and I’m afraid that there might be some of these people in this very room.
I want you all to know that I will be interviewing each of you separately this week, and I expect your full cooperation. This station is now fully quarantined until further notice. Robert, I will try to make your stay here as pleasant as possible under the circumstances, and for the time being both Ian and Myra will be assigned to you as your guides and tutors. This meeting is adjourned.”
Everyone got up and with minimal conversation left the room. I walked in silence for a while with Ian and Myra, contemplating the meeting, or should I say Ishael’s monolog. After the history lesson I could certainly see why this was such a serious problem. I couldn’t believe that Ian and the others involved in my rescue would have broken such an important rule. Why would they risk so much to save one life. Had I been put in a similar situation I didn‘t know if I would have been so altruistic. As a matter of fact considering the possible consequences for the entire planet of Tora, I wasn’t sure altruism was even the correct word. Stupidity seemed more like it. And since I didn’t believe that either Ian or Myra were stupid, there had to be a lot more to this issue than meets the eye and I was determined to find out what that was.