Chapter 7
Moving On
I stood there in shock watching security guards chase the man with the gun. There was a crowd gathering around my body which was lying motionless on the ground. Two medics rushed over and kneeled down to check my condition. One of them shook his head and said, “He’s gone. Look at the size of that hole. It looks like his entire heart was vaporized.” A baseball bat could have fit nicely through the hole in my chest. I stood there trying to gather my thoughts, while people in the crowd walked right through me as if I wasn’t there. I had never thought too much about life after death. I knew it couldn’t be proven, so why waste time thinking about it. Now, as I looked at my dead body, realizing that some part of me still existed, my mind was so tired and numb I almost wished that there was no life after death.
What now, I dimly thought. Heaven or Hell, which will it be. I noticed a man walking through the crowd [literally] toward me. He passed through people as easily as they passed through me. Since he wasn’t carrying a pitchfork I took that as a good sign. “Hello Robert”, he said. “Please come with me. I’ll explain what happened to you later. Don’t be afraid. You are safe now, but we must hurry.” What was that all about? I was dead now, not safe. I almost ran the other direction, but instead I just followed him like a good little ghost. We ran back into the meeting hall and followed three Federation members into a private conference room. They all seemed very nervous and on edge.
The first to speak was President Gambez. There was sweat on his brow and he spoke in a somber voice. “I just received word that Dr. Smith is dead. This is going to be a terrible setback for us. Hs sudden popularity was bad enough, and did you hear the applause following his and Dr. Vaslow’s comments about our misguided interpretations of the rules. It is imperative that we leave this planet immediately, before there are further complications. I’m sure they will capture whoever did this, and there had better not be a traceable connection to any Federation members who have accompanied us here for this meeting. I want you to make inquiries as to who is behind this foolish move. I had been planning to disgrace this upstart from Earth, and then have him disappear, not become a martyr for Dr. Vaslow’s cause.”
One of the other members spoke. “If we leave now, we’ll surely be blamed. There should be an announcement that we will do everything in our power to help bring those responsible for this to justice.” “You have a point”, Gambez said. “When the crowd disperses I’ll hold a Federation news conference, and then we’ll leave. We must formulate a new plan, including how to silence Dr. Vaslow. He has many friends in the federation, and I don’t want him to cause more trouble than he already has. It was my intention to get consensus to isolate Tora from the Federation, after dishonoring Dr. Smith. Now this agreement will be much more difficult to obtain, and we really can’t have Dr. Vaslow campaigning against us in the meantime.” With that, the Council members left.
My ‘spirit guide’, or whatever he was stayed in the room and spoke to me. “There is very little time for me to devise a plan of my own, so you will have to follow me again quickly. By the way, my name is Baylor.” We rushed out of the meeting hall and there was a very sleek looking vehicle waiting for us. A door opened and Baylor told me to get in. There was still a crowd, even though my body had been removed, and people seemed oblivious to our presence as well as to Baylor’s car/plane/whatever. In seconds we were high above Tora. There had been no feeling of acceleration whatsoever, and I assumed that was because spirits don’t have any mass. I realized that since I had died I had seemed to almost be floating without any feeling of gravity holding me down. I was in a daze contemplating this when Baylor said. “You have had way too many stressful experiences this last week. Try to relax and I will explain a few things to you. Most importantly, you are not dead. The body you saw was a clone created from your DNA collected on X-1.
We are now in a plane of existence between dimensions, inaccessible to the Federation. I am a member of a civilization which was banished from the Federation many thousands of years ago. We have since far surpassed them technologically, although our main focus is on spiritual rather than scientific development. We monitor our neighboring dimensions much like the Federation does. We are always looking for threats to our own survival and well being as well as the intimidation of others. When we were cast out of the Federation, we had become aware that it was because of the special interests of a very small but powerful minority of those in control. As it turned out we benefited by having the freedom to pursue our own destiny.
Recently there was a decision to help expose the dishonesty which has perpetuated the rigid inflexible Federation rules. We feel that the oppression caused by these policies is unconscionable. Very few planets ever question these regulations however, for fear of being exiled as we were. Even though the federation doesn’t enforce planetary laws, it rules by intimidation. There is much more that I want to share with you, but there is very little time, so I must ask you to follow me again. This will all begin to make sense to you very soon.”
I noticed that Baylor’s ship had pulled alongside the X-1. We were able to pass through the X-1’s bulkhead with no problem. Baylor took me to a conference room and caused us to fully enter Tora’s dimension. The only difference I noticed was the return of gravity. As we entered the room I saw Myra and the science crew gathered around a conference table. Myra ran over and hugged me. “Robert”, she said, “I’m so glad you are alright. We were sure that you were dead. I saw the hole in your chest. How could you possibly be alive; and who is this with you?” Before anyone else could speak, Ian strode into the room and said, “Robert, it is so good to see you alive and well! Baylor old friend, I don’t know how you did it, but thank you. I was afraid our plan was ruined, and that poor Robert was dead because of my arrogance. One of the science crew shouted, “Will someone please explain what this is all about; and who this man is?”
Ian explained to all of us that he had been contacted by Baylor Many years ago regarding the deceitfulness of some members of the Federation Council. He had been working with Baylor to devise a plan to expose this dishonesty. Ian had been selected not only because of his personal beliefs, but because he was widely known and respected throughout the Federation planetary systems. Bringing me here was not part of the plan, but they decided to use my presence to their advantage. Ian had not realized that in doing so my life would be endangered.
Baylor explained that he had become concerned about my safety, and that while we were on our way to the meeting on Tora, a plot to kill me had been uncovered. He had earlier arranged for the creation of a clone for use in just such a situation. There had been a large number of Baylor’s associates at the meeting to help assure my safety. One of them had followed me invisibly with the clone. He was able to transfer me into his plane of existence, while simultaneously moving the clone to the Toran dimension, just as the shooter fired. How this was accomplished was well beyond everyone in the room, especially me. Baylor assured us that the cloning technology involved resulted in a duplicate of me that had never been actually alive or aware in any way, so there was no need to feel that someone else’s life had been lost to save mine.
Questions, there were so many questions, but one stood out in my mind. I asked Baylor, “Would you please explain what this treachery is all about, and why it has existed for so many thousands of years?” “It is a motive as old as human existence”, he said, “greed. We didn’t know the details until we developed the ability to travel invisibly between the distinctly separate dimensions. With the resulting invisibility we have been able to attend secret meetings, access planetary records, etc., without anyone’s knowledge.
We learned that shortly after the creation of the Federation, a small group of powerful Council members had retained the specialized banned equipment for bringing back goods from planets with no crossover technology of their own. They wanted to be the only ones to use this equipment so that they alone could amass fortunes in precious metals, gems, and other materials which were both very desirable, and in short supply on Federation planets. They felt that unless this ban was enforced very strictly, others like themselves would do the same thing, and chaos would return, resulting in the Federation’s demise. Methods were devised to bring this wealth into their own private company inventories, without creating suspicion. With their vast wealth these people essentially bought controlling positions on the Council. This greed and wealth along with the dishonesty has been passed on throughout countless generations to the present time. The current corrupt Council members are afraid that the crossing equipment modifications allowing humanitarian crossings could be further altered, allowing others to do as they have.”
“Isn’t that a good point?” I said, “Why wouldn’t things revert to chaos? I would imagine that the prospect of untold wealth would tempt a lot of people.” “We believe that most Federation rulers are wise enough to realize these risks” Ian said, “and we feel they would maintain controls to prevent this from happening.”
“President Gambez is planning to silence Ian”, Baylor said. “I’m not sure how, but I wouldn’t put anything past him. He will probably at least try to influence Director Reznik to place you all under house arrest until the Council has decided how to handle the situation. This could happen very soon. If he succeeds, you will be extremely vulnerable to other dangers. I need to confer with my superiors as soon as possible. I believe the only way to assure the safety of everyone in this room is to take you all to my home planet for the time being. You should bring your crossover modification plans and prototype as well; otherwise they very well might be confiscated.” Everyone agreed, and we decided to meet back in the conference room in one hour, prepared to leave. I was to accompany Baylor while he made preparations for the trip. Suddenly the conference room doors burst open, and Andor appeared with a contingent of armed men.