Chapter Five
Quarantine
As the three of us were walking away from the conference room Ian said, “Robert, I know you must want to discuss the things that Andor addressed in the meeting, but first we have been instructed to show you to your quarters. You will be staying in a suite reserved for visiting dignitaries. I’m sure you will enjoy it. We’ll dine in your suite and then discuss the meeting and other matters. You’ll have a chance to relax and absorb some of the things you’ve experienced today. I’m sure you must be on overload by now“.
What an understatement! I was way beyond overload, plus I was beginning to feel responsible for a possible planetary disaster. Almost dying, being totally healed, meeting an Angel, and visiting a planet in a dimension no one on Earth even knew existed, had all taken there toll. As wound up and excited as I was, I was also exhausted. We took an elevator to the level where my quarters were. The elevator was located on the outer wall of the station. It was a one piece glass tube offering an amazing view similar to the observation deck. We descended two hundred levels before arriving at mine. I couldn’t begin to imagine the technology used to manufacture, and transport the huge glass like structures I had seen on this station, especially considering the strength require for the pressure differentials in space. I couldn’t get my mind around most of the Toran technology I had witnessed so far, and it was coming at me so fast I hadn’t had time to ponder any of it.
We arrived at my quarters and again I was amazed. Any Las Vegas VIP hotel suite would pale by comparison. It was huge, lavishly furnished, and decorated with lots of beautiful art objects and paintings. Much of the art looked like ancient artifacts. The most impressive thing was the dining/lounge area. This was a semicircular room about fifty feet in diameter, open to the rest of the suite on one side with the semicircle protruding through the station outer wall into space. There were no walls or ceiling. The entire room was enclosed within a huge glass bubble hemisphere attached to the station outside wall. There were soft leather like couches, a dining area, and the view! I had been planning to ask if I could just ride up and down in the elevator for a couple of days to enjoy the view from there. Now, I decided that if indeed this suite was possibly going to be my prison during the quarantine, I would be quite happy in this ‘room with a view‘. The glass bubble enclosure extended out about ten feet from the outer edge of the circular floor, which was encircled with a very short glass safety wall about two feet high. The bubble’s center was inline with the floor and the lower half continued down to provide this same amazing view to a bedroom below. This design allowed the view to be practically 180 degrees either left to right or up and down. It was like sitting on a flying carpet in open space.
I was being treated like a king. We had a wonderful dinner, but I was so busy staring out at the visible planets I have no Idea what food was served. After dinner we sat in a grouping of very comfortable overstuffed chairs facing the glass bubble and Ian said, “Watch this”. He picked up a small ordinary looking remote control from an end table next to the chair he was sitting in and pressed a button. The Earth appeared just as it had using the glasses on the observation deck. He explained that this was no ordinary glass bubble. It was multifunctional. It could be completely transparent, opaque, an inter-dimensional viewer, or the equivalent of a huge television/movie screen. When used as a TV/movie screen, the size and location of the viewing area could be controlled for viewing in one or more locations, such as the downstairs bedroom. All of a sudden my mind flashed to the fact that there were still people on Earth who thought our lunar landings were a fake, and were photographed from a huge sound stage in some secret place like Area 51. What if this was a big movie set with fake views of space projected on large opaque domes and bubbles. I guess my mind was just rebelling, coming to grips with the reality of all this.
Ian saved the best bubble function for last. All of the viewing functions had a computer like zoom capability. The remote had a track ball to position a cursor on the glass to the center of the area to be enlarged, and the press of a button gave the desired zoom enlargement. What was unbelievable was the ability to do this in the clear mode. Zooming in this mode seemed to turn the bubble into a giant telescope. The sun was low in the sky and the planet was had a slight orange cast. Ian put the cursor on a city directly below the station and zoomed in on it. “This is our capital city Elan, check it out”, he said, handing me the remote.
Talk about a great real time video game! I was able to zoom in close enough to fill the entire bubble with a spot on Tora the size of a dime. I stopped and asked how the bubble could possibly act as an optical telescope. The answer was simple, it couldn’t. I was relieved to hear this. There had to be some laws of physics I knew about that still applied, even here. As it turned out there were a number of more or less conventional telescopes aboard the station that could be remote controlled, and had extreme zoom capability. When linked with our bubble remote, the telescope became locked on our cursor to seamlessly switch from our clear glass optical view with no zoom, to a magnified video transmission view of the same exact portion of space. The image quality was so good, it was impossible to tell the difference when transitioning from the direct view through the glass to the transmitted image as the view was zoomed.
God I hoped they wouldn’t erase these new memories of mine. Maybe I could talk them into taking me home, tucking me in bed, and giving me suggestions that when I woke up this would just seem like a vivid dream. After all, I still thought it might really be one.
“OK boys you can play with the toys later“, Myra said, “Let’s discuss the meeting for awhile; and then, Robert you really need to get a good night’s sleep. We have healed you injuries, but your body still needs some time to recover fully. First, I would like to say something about one of Andor’s warnings. He mentioned the lie detector technology and warned you to tell the truth. From what I know about your culture, it must have seemed very invasive having this type of equipment in the room. I want to assure you that even though telling the truth is important here, we don’t ever use any type of device like that without announcing it to everyone. All surveillance is done with this type of warning. The warning today was a one time warning for that meeting alone. If someone is suspected of a crime, they are told that they will be watched. Then the gloves are off, and they are fair game for the use of any type of equipment the government chooses. Trust me, in this case, on our planet you couldn’t sneeze without them knowing about it.
We have many redundant checks and balances to monitor and interpret the surveillance data. Also when someone is being watched, their name is posted for viewing by the entire Toran population. This is so that if you choose to associate with someone being watched, you will be aware that when in their presence, or when communicating with them in any way, you will be watched as well. This procedure essentially isolates the suspect from all of their other criminal contacts. It’s good news, bad news. We can’t run covert operations like you do on Earth, however, when criminals are completely separated from each other they often stop their criminal behavior. Also if the suspect is not indicted within five years from the start of surveillance, they are taken off the list, and they are no longer a suspect. This happens much sooner if it is discovered that someone else committed the crime.
I’m telling you all of this so you can be assured that unless you are warned; you will not have any privacy invasion ever, while on our planet, or within our planet’s jurisdiction. The right to privacy is very important to all Torans. I also want you to know that there are no criminal suspects aboard this station, nor will there ever be, as it is off limits to them. After Andor’s investigation, if anyone becomes a suspect they will be returned to Tora immediately. The rules that have been broken to bring you here may or may not result in criminal charges. The ones most likely to be charged would be the scientists involved in developing the specialized crossover equipment; however anyone using the equipment or authorizing its use could be charged as well. You certainly will not be held responsible in any way. Now Ian, do you have anything to comment on. “Not right now Myra“, Robert you go ahead.”
“Alright, my main concern is this. I don’t know the scientists who made it possible to get me here safely, but I assume that they are very intelligent, as I know you two are. Don’t get me wrong now, because I’m happy to be alive. I just can’t imagine why an intelligent person familiar with your crossover rules, and knowing how serious a violation of these rules could be to the entire planet, would ever break them. This just doesn’t make sense to me, especially after Andor’s history lesson. Another thing, before I forget it. Who evaluates all of this surveillance data, and how do you know they are interpreting it correctly, and not just using it for their own special interests?”
“Those are two very understandable concerns," Ian said, "Let me start with the first one. I believe it was someone on Earth who said, “Rules are made to be broken”. Tora has been a member of the Interdimensional Federation for 13,000 years without breaking their rules. During that time we have grown so dependent on the Federation that it is unthinkable to most Torans to even question these rules. The prospect of being cut off by the Federation, and not being able to have access to other dimensions is unacceptable to them. That said, there are some who do question this absolute inflexibility, and I am one of them. Very few Torans spend much time on non-federation worlds like yours, where there is ignorance, poverty, disease, and war. People like me who do, are often torn between these rules and their own ethics. For example it is horrifying to watch genocide in real time, and not being able to step in and do anything about it. Sometimes the frustration is unbearable. It is even worse, when, due to circumstances beyond our control, a rapport is developed with people caught in terrible, dangerous situations. Examples you might relate to would be some of the many famous incidents on Earth in which military personnel have refused to carry out orders that conflicted with their own personal beliefs. There is no question that we need rules and laws, but unless flexibility and forgiveness can be built into these rules, we become automatons.
I was once in Venezuela, studying a primitive tribe near Angel Falls. I had played the part of a lost American missionary to establish a reason for being there. During the three plus months of my visit, I became the father figure to a beautiful five year old native girl named Nami who had been orphaned when she was only two. I knew that it was dangerous to become close to anyone when visiting planets like yours, but I couldn’t help myself. She was always underfoot and just adorable. One day she was mauled by a wild boar. My crossover point was very close to the village and I could have saved her life if our crossover hardware and software had been capable of bringing her here. I became bitter and depressed about our inability to ever bend the rules. I knew that it was well within our capability to make the necessary modifications allowing crossings of Earth’s life forms, but this was strictly forbidden. Nami’s death haunts me to this day.
When the mountain lion attacked you, it became obvious that you would die if left on Earth. I became overwhelmed with frustration, knowing that I couldn’t bring you here to be healed. The similarity to Nami’s mauling triggered a deep resentment. I had heard rumors of a Group of scientists here on this station that had secretly developed the modifications which might make it possible to bring you here. When I returned, I explained the situation to Myra and she told me that she did not know who these scientists were, but she had heard the same rumors. Myra and I have known each other for a long time. We share the belief that the crossover rules should be at least a little bit flexible, and she sympathized with your plight. We had a meeting with a few of the science department heads whom we suspected shared our views, and they admitted to the possession of these banned modifications. I told them that when I came back to retrieve the backpack I was going to have to leave you to die unless they could help get you here in one piece. They helped, and you know the rest. Perhaps is was foolish to bring you back, but it would have been worse having to face myself each day, knowing I had left you there to die.
Your other question about security data is simple. It is all instantly transmitted to various data bases and becomes public domain. As Myra told you, we don’t have covert operations. When a person is being watched anyone can view this data as soon as it is collected. Specialists from all sides of any issue have the right to have their own experts evaluate it. Very private audio and video is included in this data, and being in the public domain is another factor which isolates all criminal suspects.”
This was a lot of information to digest. I could tell that Ian was suffering greatly, and although I felt his pain, I also felt his passionate belief that he had done the right thing. “Ian, you said that no criminal suspects are allowed on this station. Why isn’t everyone involved in my rescue a criminal suspect?”
“You’re full of good questions, Robert”, Ian said. “As it turns out, crossover rules are those imposed by the Federation on member planets. Tora has no pertinent criminal laws that I know of, only guidelines. The Federation’s only response in this case will be at best, a warning to our government leaders to control their science personnel better, and at worst they may expel Tora from the Federation. If this happens it is unclear if we would have our crossover technology taken away. We might just be cut off from contact with Federation planets. To the best of my understanding, since bringing you here has neither endangered the Federation or Earth in any way, we may be forgiven, especially if Tora promises that this will never happen again. I know a few members of the Federation Council personally, who feel as I do, that these rules are far too rigid. The problem is that they have been in place for a long time, and are basic to Federation Membership policy.
The Federation was created several hundred thousand years ago, and as far as I know the rules were created at that time. Before the Federation was formed, my understanding is that there were a number of rogue planets using this technology to plunder and invade planets like Earth, whose civilization had no ability to protect themselves. Inhabitants of other offending planets just made big, unintentional blunders, and endangered their own planets and entire dimensions with strange organisms, diseases, space debris, and by turning entire habitable planets into mine pits, etc. There were interdimensional wars where entire solar systems were destroyed. Finally, a coalition of the most advanced planets from various dimensions formed the Federation. They established strict rules, and destroyed all of the planets that were a threat to the Federation. They spared the peaceful planets which were trying to be responsible in their own way, but chose not to be part of the Federation. There still exist independent planets in various dimensions with crossover ability that do not belong to the Federation. There is somewhat of a cold war type standoff between these groups. By mutual agreement, they just don’t enter each other’s dimensions. It is my hope that the worst case scenario in our present predicament would be that Tora can exist as an independent crossover planet. At the present time there are no other Federation planets in either Tora’s or Earth’s dimensions.
I can imagine that you are probably overwhelmed by the size and scope of all this. You need to understand that this entire drama is being played out mostly in a tiny portion of all of these dimensions, in the same general part of the universe as Earth, in one little arm of the galaxy you know as the milky way. Our entire Federation may be very large in its depth of dimensions, but it is not very big in the grand scheme of our apparently infinite universe.”
I suddenly felt very tired. I told Myra and Ian that I needed some sleep and time to reflect on all that I had learned today. Today! I couldn’t believe all my poor little mind had been exposed to in one day. Myra showed me around the rest of my suite, filled me in on the bath room and kitchen essentials, and she and Ian left. They said they would return in the morning, we would have breakfast together, and then plan the day.
I went down the large spiral staircase to my beautifully appointed bedroom and laid in bed for a few minutes looking out the bubble at Tora’s beautiful nighttime lightshow. It was spectacular. The entire visible planet was lit up like a Christmas tree. As amazing as the view was, I felt like a child trying to stay awake on Christmas Eve to see Santa Clause. I just couldn’t stay awake any longer.
The next few days went by in a blur. I toured much of the station, which I learned was named X-1, short for crossing one. Ian, Myra, and I were all personally interviewed by Andor, as were the science crew members involved in my rescue. It was determined that bringing me to X-1 was the only time the unauthorized crossing modifications were ever used, whereas the capability had existed for years. A number of Tora’s top scientists were involved in the development, and had been planning to come clean and plead their case to the Federation for the use of their modifications in certain specified emergencies similar to my own. Andor told them that if they ever had a chance for approval, which he doubted, getting it after the fact was much less likely. One of the senior scientists told me that he didn’t agree with Andor. He said that in his experience, you were more likely to be forgiven than to get permission. He admitted that this applied to more conventional development projects worked on ‘under the table’. In those instances, showing off a successful prototype of a needed useful product usually justified spending company time and money on the secret project. In this case however, obviously the Federation didn’t seem to consider the project useful.
I was sitting on my own little private telescope platform in a comfy chair with my remote zoom in hand when the doorbell rang. Yes, you heard right, doorbell. Other than mind blowing technology, things here on Tora were surprisingly similar to Earth. Admittedly it was a very high tech doorbell. The sound was a soothing one that seemed to come from nowhere in particular, but was equal in volume everywhere in my suite. This was also true for the sound system incorporated in all of the audio and video material available on my huge bubble TV. I controlled the volume, but the sound was everywhere with no visible speakers.
It was Ian at the door. He was very excited. He said hello and headed straight for the remote control, turning on Tora’s most popular news station. I watched in anticipation. I had been watching the news regularly, and I seemed to be the main topic of discussion. There was a great deal of public sympathy for Ian and the others who rescued me. It seemed that a lot more people than anyone had guessed felt that the crossover rules were too ridged, and not at all humanitarian. Chief Director Reznik of Tora was speaking. He acknowledged the huge public support for my rescue, and said that the meeting of the Federation Council in Elan had been rescheduled and would take place tommorrow morning. Apparently the news of this incident had spread throughout the Federation and was causing quite a stir. The Council was anxious to resolve the issue as soon as possible, so things could return to normal. He said the visitor from Earth would be accompanying the crew members responsible for my rescue, and that we would all be present at this meeting. This was a surprise to me. The meeting had been moved up four days, and originally, I had not been invited to attend. What was going on? Continuing Reznik said he wanted to assure the people of Tora, that while the Federation was going to try to resolve this issue, the final responsibility for dealing with the people and technology involved would be that of the planet Tora, and not the Federation. The meeting was to be broadcast throughout the Federation. Reznik ended by saying he was sure the matter would be resolved quickly. I could see why Ian was so excited. His cause had a lot more support than he had thought.