A.R.: Beyond the Universe
Chapter 23 - An Alternate Dale

As the lights begin to come back on in the Ark, Sara is in her chair on the bridge with Alex and Kate standing next to her. She asks for a check on the status of both crew and ship.

Sara’s PDA buzzes – she has a private call coming in. She sets the PDA for EYES ONLY mode, which does not show a hologram but an image on the screen that only her eyes can see. She touches her earpiece so that the sound comes in it instead of the speaker on the PDA.

“Sara, this is the morgue. We have a problem. I suggest you get down here as soon as possible.”

“What’s up?” Sara asks.

“Just get down here” he responds. His voice is serious.

“Will do” she as she hangs up the call. “First Office Baker to the Bridge, please” she says to the mic attached to her headset.

A moment later, she receives a call on her PDA. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Sara, this is Baker. Get one a private link”. She repeats the process she went through with the morgue’s call.

“Ok, Baker, I’m on a private line. What’s going on?” she tells him.

“I’m on the Complex, level 3. We have two bodies here.”

“Level 3? Where?”

“It’s yours and Alex’s quarters”.

“I’m on my way” she tells him. “Alex, come with me. We have a problem.”

“Problem?” he asks.

She pulls him close and whispers “there are two bodies on our quarters.”

“Our quarters? Lilly was there, watching MacGuyver. She ok?”

“They didn’t say. Take me there, now.”

Alex glows brightly and takes Sara’s hand. Before Alex can move them, Sara turns to her sister. “Kate, you’ve got the bridge” and the two vanish.

They reappear in their living room, to find several security guards. On the floor are two dead men, a pool of blood visible beside their heads. The coroner is taking notes on his PDA.

“What happened” Sara asks. “Where’s Lilly and MacGuyver?”

“They’re safe. They’ve been at her place all day. As for these two, they are techs who work in research” Baker tells her.

Baker is a tall man, mid-forties, slightly graying short hair. He has the look and mannerisms of an experienced police detective.

“Research? Which section?” she asks him.

“They were studying how the cannons and their targeting system work” he says. “I checked with the system for confirmation.”

“How did they die” Alex asks.

“Each was shot in the back of the head, execution-style” the coroner tells her. “Based on the wound diameter, I’d say a 38 was used but we’ll know more when we get them back to the lab.”

“When were they found?” Sara asks.

“About 10 minutes ago. Security got a warning from the system that two people’s life functions were no longer operating: the system’s way of saying that two people just died. Security gets here 3 minutes later and finds the bodies” Baker tells her.

“Was anyone seen in the corridor?” Alex asks.

“No sir” a guard responds.

“And you are…?” Alex asks.

“Sergeant Anderson, Security. I got here at 2:45pm, followed closely by these two. He points to the two guards standing next to the bodies. When we got here, the door to your place was closed and locked. On my authorization, the system let us in. We entered, found the two bodies and called it in. Detective Baker came in 5 minutes later, checked the bodies, called the coroner, then you.”

“Sara, if no one is allowed access to our quarters except approved people, who could have gotten in here and why are did they leave two bodies in our living room?” Alex asks.

“That’s what we intend to find out” Baker says. “Alex, where were you when we made the jump?”

“I was on the Ark’s bridge with Sara.”

“You can confirm this?” he asks Sara.

“Yes, he was with me” Sara tells him. “He never left the bridge while I was there.”

“And how long was that?” Baker asks.

“From the time we came back to the bridge from meeting with the Alterains. Kate was also with us” she tells him.

“That should rule out you two” Baker tells Alex and Sara. “I have a hunch I need to check out but we need to move quickly. Alex, can you take me and Sara to Security, level 16?”

“Sure…hang on”. Alex glows brightly, grabs both Sara and Baker by the arms and the three vanish.

They reappear in Level 16, central control for the Complex’s Security. It is a room about 20 feet square. Two rows of monitors sit on counters that go around the room, except where the door is. Above the monitors are digital video recorders, recording all the monitors show.

“Baker, what are you thinking?” Sara asks him.

“If you two were on the bridge, the only ones that the system will give access to your place are those who have security clearances.”

“You think someone in security did this?” Sara asks.

“Makes sense. I’m going to access the recordings to the corridor at your place and see if anyone shows up.”

He sits down at a consol and types in a few commands, then speaks to a microphone: “System, show me the corridor outside room 325, level 3, starting 2:30 pm, 3x speed.”

On the monitor, they watch a screen as it shows the corridor in front of their suite. At 2:34pm, a shadow can be seen at the bottom of the page, growing larger. Then the screen goes blank, until 2:38pm.

“Does this mean the security video was erased?” Sara asks.

“Looks that way. System, retrieve backup video, same time frames for missing data” Baker says to a microphone attached to the counter.

They watch the same monitor and see the same shadow growing from the bottom of the screen, then the image gets very grainy as if someone had tried to erase the data but were unsuccessful. They can see what appears to be a man, dragging another person to their door. The door opens, and the man drags in the person on the floor. He comes back out and drags in the other person and leaves as the door closes.

“Whoever did this, they had security clearance. Only higher security has access to the backup video. I wonder…”

He types in a few more commands. The scene on the monitor changes to the living room. The digital counter shows that it is 2:34pm. They watch as the door to their suite slides open. There is a man carrying a body over his shoulder. He carefully lays it on the floor, leaves and comes back in a moment, carrying a second body, which he places on floor next to the first body. All the time, his face is kept pointed down, as if trying to avoid the camera.

“Looks like he knew about the camera in your place.”

“You had a camera in our living room?” Alex asks.

“Relax” Sara tells him. “It’s standard procedure for someone new here whose life is in danger. So, we have no way to know who he is?”

“Let’s try something else” Baker says. He types in a few more commands on the keyboard. “I’ve told the system to tell me who was at your place on 2:34pm. The system keeps up with everyone’s locations at any given moment.”

They watch as a name and photo show on the monitor: William Marrows, age 29, ID no. 239763WM.

“System, locate ID no. 239763AWM.”

A moment later, a computerized voice is heard: “ID no. 239763WM can be found in the morgue, level 28, room 12.”

“Wait a minute…I got a call from the morgue just before you called. They wanted me there as soon as possible” Sara says.

Sara gets her PDA and places a call to the morgue. A hologram of a man in a white gown appears.

“Do you have a man there, a William Morrows?” she asks.

“Yes, that is why we called you. He was found in a storage locker on Level 5.”

“This is Baker, Security. What can you tell me?”

“We got a call right after the jump was completed that a dead body had been found and we were to pick it up immediately.”

“Who called it in?” Baker asks.

“Ummm…you did, Mr. Baker. I thought I was talking to you.”

“Are you saying that I told you there was a dead body?” Baker asks.

“Definitely. He looked like you and the call came from Security.”

“We’ll be down in a minute. Don’t go anywhere and don’t let that body out of your sight” Baker tells him.

“Ok, folks, we have a problem. There is someone onboard who can and is posing as me. From the video edits, looks like he also has security clearances. The first thing I’ll have to do is reset my clearances, so he can’t get access anymore. Then we need to see if the System can find him” Baker tells them.

“Alex” Sara says. “We went back in time to my mother’s funeral. Can’t we do that here? Can’t we go back in time to see who it was at the locker?”

“I can’t see any reason why not. Baker, we’re going to try something. Reset your clearances and head up to the locker to see if your team can find something. We’ll be back soon.”

“You’re going to do what?” Baker says as he watches Alex and Sara glow brightly and they vanish in front of him.

It is 2:40pm. Alex and Sara have reappeared on level 5. They hear footsteps coming from the direction of a chute and move quickly into a closet with a view of the locker. The watch as a man walks up to the locker, carrying what appears to be a body.

“Alex, I just saw…that’s Morrows he is carrying” Sara whispers.

They watch as the man opens the locker and tosses the body into it and slams the door shut. He picks up a PDA from his belt clip and calls the morgue, telling them to pick up a body found and its location. He turns and walks past the slightly open door, not seeing that Sara and Alex are hiding behind it. As he walks by, both Sara and Alex get a look at the man’s face. He does indeed look exactly like Baker. However, just before he goes out of view, his face starts to become distorted, just like a picture on a TV screen that is losing its signal. A vague image of a scar can be seen coming from the man’s chin going down his neck.

“What on Earth just happened to his face?” Alex asks.

“He was using a digital facial mask. It projects a hologram of anyone it has data on and covers the person’s face with the projected image. We use it when we’re on missions.”

“Who has access to something like that?”

“Anyone with the correct clearances. There are at least 30 people who have used them, along with those in research who made it. If it is being worn by someone in the Clan, that’ll be the first time I know of that they have been able to infiltrate us.”

“The Clan? Who are they?”

“Remember the night we took you from your home? Remember the ones who shot at you there and at the airfield when you got into the HC?”

“It’s a little hard not to forget something like that.”

“That was the Clan. They were sent there to get what you know or kill you if necessary. You know what I think happened? I think one of our agents was somehow found out and the Clan substituted him with one of their own. I think, once in here, he started gathering data and found out things about us and our operations. It is possible he not alone and snuck in more of his people. I’ll bet that’s where the explosive came from that we found on Level One. We need to get back to security and see if the system can identify him for who hr really is.”

“Or…” says Alex, “we can follow him and see what he is up to”.

“No, if he’s capable of killing like that, I want security involved. Let them track him down.”

“Ok, you win. I’ll take us back.”

They vanish from the closet and reappear in Security, where they see Baker typing away at the keyboard. He turns around to see Alex and Sara standing there.

“You two weren’t gone long. Find out anything?”

“Yeah, plenty” Sara tells him. “He was wearing a digital facial mask to hide his face. Let’s see if we can find out who was at that locker at 2:40pm.”

“He was wearing one? Are you sure?”

“Positive. See who it was” Sara tells him.

Baker types in more commands. A name and photo come on the screen: Richard Neeley, Cook, ID No. 642553RN

“He’s a cook?” Alex asks.

The computer screen displays Neeley’s photo and lists personal information, including security clearances of the highest level.

“That doesn’t make sense. What’s he doing with that kind of clearances? We need to find him fast and see what else he’s been up to.” Sara asks.

“Got him!” Baker exclaims. “He’s…he’s in Level 2. What’s he doing there? Hold it…that’s classified equipment where’s he at!”

Baker taps his PDA and issues an arrest warrant for Neeley and gives the location. He tells them Neely is suspected of sabotage. They are to approach him quietly and wait until he gets there.

“Alex, can you go down there and see what he is doing without him seeing you?” Baker asks him.

“I think I have a way. Remember how Travelers look in their natural state? I can look like a piece of fog. If I spread myself out and hang at the ceiling, he should never see me.”

“Alex, whatever you do, be careful. This man has already killed once. Who knows what he’s capable of doing” Sara tells him.

“Sara, you know as well as I do, when I’m in the form of a Traveler, there’s nothing that any man can do to hurt me. Just hang back a little until I see what he is up to. OK?”

“Will do” Sara tells him and watches as Alex’s body fades into what appears to be a small piece of fog. Then it vanishes completely as Alex travels to where Neeley is.

When Alex moves to the room where Neeley is, Alex sees that it is a lab filled with DNA information. He watches Neeley sitting at a computer terminal, searching through file after file, until Neeley has a definite reaction.

“Got it!” Neeley says quietly. Neeley is a slim man, medium height, short black hair and a long scar on his face, starting his lower lip and going down his neck.

“Yep, that’s him – scar and all” Alex thinks to himself.

Alex watches as the man takes out a small flash drive and inserts it into a slot on the side of the terminal. Before he can press the key to start the copy process, Alex changes to his transparent human version and floats down behind him, to see what files he is trying to copy.

“That’s stealing, you know” Alex whispers in the man’s right ear.

Alex did not anticipate Neely turning around as quickly as he did. It was lucky for Alex that he was a Traveler. When Neeley turns around, he pulls a knife out and tries a quick slashing motion with it. But the knife simply passes through Alex’s ghostly figure. Neely tries to make a run for it, racing to the door. But as he reaches for the door knob, it begins turning. Baker and his team have arrived and are opening the door.

There is a look of anger in Neeley’s face, which turns to a grin as he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small remote-control unit. As he moves to press a button on the remote with his thumb, Alex sees what is happening and envelopes Neeley and the remote.

Baker has barely opened the door when he sees a muffled flash coming from the room. They do not even have time to jump back into the corridor when the bright flash in the room suddenly vanishes.

Inside the room, Baker sees nothing out of order, no evidence of any kind of explosion. Then he sees a wisp of fog appear and it changes to Alex’s human form.

“What happened in here?” Baker asks Alex.

“Seems Neeley did not want to be taken alive. After he tried to stab me with a knife, he made a run for the door. When he saw the door starting to open, he took something out of his pocket. I saw the beginnings of a flash inside his shirt and knew he was going to blow himself up, taking you with him. So, I traveled outside the ship taking him with me and let the explosion take care of Mr. Neeley.

“You know, Alex, having you as a Traveler might not be such a bad thing after all. Would have been nice to have him here for questioning, though. Oh, by the way, thanks for saving our lives. Any idea what he was after” Baker asks him.

“I saw the screen just before he tried to attack me. He was after my DNA files.”

“Your files? What would he want with them?”

“I suspect that he thought they would be useful if he ever got back to Earth and gave the information to his boss.”

“Too bad we did not get the chance to ask him some questions. I wanted to know if there was anyone else here he was working with.”

“I can tell you that.”

They turn around to see Dale holding a small woman very firmly. His large body and massive arms are having no problems holding the young woman, even though it is obvious she is not being very cooperative. Behind them, Alex sees Sara and Kate.

“This is the one you want” Sara tells them. “She’s their boss. Seems they’ve been working for the other side all this time and we didn’t even know they were here. Go ahead…repeat what you told us or Kate will give you another sample of what she’s really capable of doing.”

“Ok, you three. What have you been up to” Alex asks.

“Well” starts Sara, “when we left the locker and went back to Security, you two took off to see what you could find. I on the other hand, got hold of Dale and asked him to use the system to backtrack the movements of Mr. Neeley for the last couple of weeks. He kept seeing this same person in various places, sometime right under our noses or in the same lunchroom. Seems Mr. Neeley is working with Ms. Jones here. Dale checked her out – she’s been able to slip through some security cracks in the system and snuck in here without us knowing it. The system had no way of knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be here. With her in custody, we can find out how she did it. Now, tell these nice people what you told us.”

“Ok, I’ll tell you, so long as you keep her (her eyes turn to Kate) away from me” Ms. Jones say.

Alex looks at Kate. “Kate, just what did you do?” he asks her.

“Buddy boy, you don’t want to know” Dale cuts in.

“I am an independent contractor working for a group of people who want what you have. They introduced themselves on my last visit home and made some very nice financial contributions to my personal banking accounts. It was my job to pass on information when something new was discovered or made here. Since I work in research and have access to classified areas, I already had the security clearances. All I had to do was to get their information tech in here to up my security clearances. When I accidentally ran across Alex’s file showing what happened to him, I forwarded to my superiors that I had found something very important. They in turn asked me to make sure the data was destroyed after I got it so that they could be the only ones who have it. After all, the research about you was pretty amazing and was worth a fortune.”

“Do you know what they were going to do with it?” Baker asks her.

“I think they were going to try and figure out how you did it and try to reproduce the changes that turned you into a Traveler. With almost unlimited power like that, they could have gotten into this place and taken anything they wanted to” she tells him.

“But we’re not even on Earth anymore…we’re not even in our own reality. Why were you still trying to sabotage us?” Sara asks.

“Because they did not want you to come back. Once they had the information, they wanted to make sure you never returned to Earth.”

“What information on Alex did you give them” Baker asks.

“I did not have the time to get them anything. We were supposed to have several months before leaving Earth. I was supposed to have plenty of time. But after the stunt the Alex pulled on us by leaving Earth so unexpectedly, I thought it was a good idea to get the data anyway. That way, if we did go back home, I would already have it. That is what the man whom Alex just dispatched was trying to do.”

“Did you plant the explosive we found on Level One” Baker asks.

“No, that was someone else.”

“You mean there are more of you on board?” Sara asks.

“Guess what? I’m not saying!” she tells Sara with a glint of dislike in her eyes and tried to grab a gun from one of the guards. But Dale’s hold on her was like steel – her attempts to escape were in vain. She glares back at Dale with a look of disgust. Dale just grins.

“Guys, I say you let Kate and I have a go at her” Sara says.

There is a firm, almost cold sound to her voice. “I think we can get her to talk.”

Kate looks at her. A grin appears on Kate’s face as her eyes begin to glow a bright red. Ms. Jones sees this. Her eyes grow wide and she begins to reconsider her answer.

“Wait, wait, wait a minute. If you promise to keep her away from me, I’ll tell you what I know, but there isn’t much.”

“Alright, sister” Kate tells her. “Start talking before I do something you’re going to regret.”

Kate’s eyes are glowing brightly, as if on fire. Ms. Jones tries to hide behind Dale’s large frame. Dale, on the other hand, has no intentions of letting this Ms. Jones get off that easy and purposely turns her towards Kate, whose face now shows an even bigger grin now.

“Ok”, she says. Her shoulders slump forward as if she knew it was over. “There are four others onboard…”

Ms. Jones, in real fear for her life from Kate, starts talking and tells them who the four others are. They are quickly rounded up and thrown in the brig. Still, Sara wonders to herself if there are others onboard they do not know about. Maybe a group separate from this one?

With the murder and spies caught, Sara and Alex can get back to business. That evening while doing some paperwork in her office, she asks what had happened in the previous reality and why they had to leave without creating the barrier.

“Alex, what happened? Why did we have to leave without establishing the barrier? Now that reality will be destroyed,” Sara says.

“Yes, I know,” he answers her. “We could not start creating the barrier because someone had sabotaged the control units. If they had received the command to initiate the startup sequence to begin transmitting the energies from the defense units, they would have stopped working, one after the other, until they were all dead. Without them, I was not sure if you and Kate would have been able to create the barrier. All we needed was one slip-up and the Void would have overtaken us.”

“But we just can’t leave that reality to the Void, can we? We must go back and see if there is anything that we can do! There are all those people there who have to be saved!” she replies. Alex knew from the look in her eyes that she did not want to let the Void win. Life is too precious to her. It is apparent that she is getting to hate the Void almost as much as he does.

“We have to go back and find a way to stop it!”

“No, we cannot, that reality is gone by now. There will be no reality to go back to. It has won that battle, but not the war. And we may have achieved a small victory in the process,” Alex tells her.

“And just what do you call a victory? We just let an entire reality be destroyed.”

“Perhaps, but I was successful in doing what I needed to do, even with the price that was paid.”

Sara turns around to see who is talking.

“Hello, Sara. It’s been a while,” Dale says.

“What do mean by been a while? And what are you talking about when you say that you were successful?” she asks him.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” says another voice from behind Dale. She sees Dale walking into the room. She looks to see another Dale in different clothes standing in front of her.

“If someone doesn’t tell me what the hell is going on, I’m going to start hurting people!” Sara yells. “Why am I seeing two Dales?”

“Calm down,” Alex tells her. “No, you are not seeing double. I thought I was losing it out there when this one,” pointing to the first Dale in the room, “floats out of a ship that just appears out of nowhere. And he is glowing just like a Traveler. He told me that… Dale, you tell them.”

“Me? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dale says. “All I know is that you give clearance for a ship to dock with the Ark that I have no knowledge of, not to mention that this ship was already setup to allow that ship to dock with it. I didn’t do a thing; it was all automatic for the Ark.”

“OK, my turn,” says the other Dale. “In case you haven’t noticed, yes, I look like Dale, because I am Dale, but from my reality, not yours.”

“You’re really Dale?” Sara asks him.

“One hundred percent. If you’ll check our DNA, you’ll see that I am telling the truth. If I am correct, Alex has already done that. Correct?” and he looks at Alex.

“He’s correct. I did check his DNA, and he is Dale, but a different one,” Alex tells them.

“If you’re Dale and you’re from another reality, what are you doing here?” Sara asks him.

At that time, Kate walks into the room, sees the alternate Dale and gives him a kiss.

“Uh, honey, I’m over here,” Dale says.

Kate turns around to see who is talking and sees another Dale standing behind her. She turns around to look at the Dale she just kissed. “Would someone kindly let me know what is going on before I start frying people?” Fire was starting to spark out of her eyes.

“Calm down, Kate. That is your Dale,” Alex says and points to the one behind her.

“Then who the hell did I just kiss and why does he look like Dale? And for that matter, why does he kiss the same?”

“As I was saying before I was so very pleasantly interrupted,” Dale continues, “yes, I am Dale, but from my reality, not yours. I always wondered if I would ever run into another me out here. Guess I have my answer now. At any rate, in my reality, we have always known of the Void. We have spent thousands of generations figuring out ways to not only stop it but to destroy it.”

“As far as us Travelers know, that cannot be done,” Alex says.

“As far as you know. But we have been around longer than the Travelers. It was the ancients in my reality who started the Travelers. They were the ones who created the barrier. Once they figured out what type of energy to use to stop it, they set about finding ways to hurt it. In the mean time, they received information about other realities and how the Void was a danger to them also. Once they figured out how to move from reality to reality, they set about planting Travelers in all the realities they could find. Their hope was that if they could stop the Void in enough realities, it would cease to be, just disappear. But that has not happened. If anything, it has gotten stronger and faster. We had to start concentrating on how to kill it, not just stop it. It finally dawned on someone the only way to stop was from within: a virus. After generations of experiments, we finally came up with something that will weaken it. If we can plant enough of these viruses in it in enough realities, we think we can stop it. We have used it thousands of times on the Void and thought we were seeing it starting to get weaker. The Void creates a field that can be detected, if you know what to look for. All collectors, including your Ark and the control units can pick up on it; that’s how they know the Void is in that reality.”

“I looked at your ship out there. I thought the Ark was advanced, but yours…wow!” Dale tells him.

“Thanks. It was one of the leftovers from colonizing the realities with Travelers. My Alex, Sara, and Kate left in our Ark, but they left us with the Raven. It’s not a collector like your Ark. The Raven is strictly for defense and transport. The hull plating is made of a material that can withstand a direct encounter with the Void. I’ve been using it to transport the virus to the Void in as many realities as I can. In a twenty-four-hour period, I can attack it every 5 minutes or so. I appear in the reality, jump to the Void, release the virus, and jump to the next one.”

“How many people are on board the Raven?” Sara asks.

“No one. It’s designed to be commanded and operated by one person. I set it up that way. I knew I’d need as little distraction as possible, so I set it up to be operated by one person. It repairs itself when damaged and automatically makes another batch of virus once a load is released. I have enough of the virus with me to attach the Void at least one thousand more times before I run out of base materials to make it from. When that happens, I’ll jet back to my reality, load up on more materials, and continue on.”

“What is the virus? What does it do?” Sara asks.

“We know what the Void is made of. That’s why my ancestors could make the barrier to stop it. But it was an accident we they saw what we did in space when we were studying the Void after it began its attack on a reality. It tried to take this one planet, just the one. When it came in direct contact with that planet, the Void stopped. It actually hesitated. The part of the Void that encountered the planet changed from a dead black to an almost white. That change seemed spread quickly inside the Void, almost like it was attacking it. You could see the main part of the Void separating away from the effected area, as if trying to stop the infection from spreading further. Whatever was on that planet was deadly to the Void. We took the planet back to our reality and started studying it. Our people tried for many generations to figure out what it was, but with no success. The planet seemed to be normal in material. We finally figured out that it was the core of the planet was doing the damage to the Void. The core was producing a type of energy wave we have never seen before. Knowing that the Void is entirely made of energy, we deduced that this new type of energy could be a weapon used to neutralize it. The core is made up of a material that, if it meets the energy used in the Void, the core produces a specific wave of energy. We’ve finally been able to duplicate it and install small wave generators inside a vapor that is appealing to the Void. The Void takes the vapor like a sugar pill. The vapor fades away, leaving the generator. Since the generator, is made of the same material as the Raven is coated with, the Void cannot cancel it out. When the Generator senses no vapor, it turns on and releases the energy wave inside the Void. It not only stops the Void in its tracks, it also hurts it and forces it to release the infected areas. Then it flees the reality.”

“Does that mean the Alterains we have on board still have a home to go back to?” Kate asks.

“By all means,” says Dale. “Once the virus is released inside the Void, the effect is almost immediate. I had run across you in a previous reality. After scanning your ship, I knew who you were, where you were going and why. I knew that you would set up the barrier as soon as possible once you detected the Void. I got here first to make the changes to the control units in that reality. That’s why I was late getting to you. Otherwise, I would have already released the generator at the Void. If I would have done that first, you may have been successful in creating a barrier that would have prevented the generator from getting to the Void.”

“You did that? All of them?” asks Alex.

“No, not all of them. Having locations where they all were certainly helped. I simply selected the ones closest to where you were going to set up the barrier. I had to make sure that you would not interfere with planting the virus. It’s proven much more effective in stopping the Void than the barrier.”

“But we have been able to generate a barrier that also hurts it,” Sara tells him.

“A barrier that can hurt it? How?” asks Dale.

Alex explains about Kate’s ability to covert energy and Sara’s ability to control and guide it.

“Then that explains it,” says Dale.

“Explains what?” asks Alex.

“In my reality, Kate could absorb the energy, but the energy that she produced was no different, only concentrated. Your Kate can do this?” he asks.

“Yes” answers Alex.

“We’ve been sensing a change in the Void lately” the alternate Dale tells them. “We knew the virus was working, but we could not figure out why there was more of a change in the Void than the virus could account for. I have a suspicion, but I’ll need your Kate and Sara to confirm something. Would they be willing to do a little test for me?”

Alex looks at Sara and then at Kate. “It’s up to them,” he says.

“What’s involved? Anything dangerous?” Sara says.

“No, nothing like that. All I need is a sample of the energy that Kate creates. I can then compare it to the virus. If I am correct, the two are similar in makeup. Both are types of energy. I just need to confirm that they are either the same or something similar.”

“And if they are not?” Alex asks.

“Then we may have a one-two punch to throw at it. The first, from the barrier created by your Kate, will hurt it. The virus can then be sent at the Void while it’s not at full strength. That means the Void will be occupied with the barrier and we can send in more of the virus than we’ve been able to before,” Dale says.

“And if they are similar or the same?” Alex asks.

“Then we’ll have a very lethal weapon capable of causing significant damage to it,” Dale tells him. “With the combination of our virus and Kate’s ability to filter it even more, we can really come up with something that will put a major hurt on it.”

Alex looks at Kate and Sara. “Well, do you want to give it a try?” he asks.

The sisters look at each other then at Alex and the Dales. Kate shrugs her shoulders and says, “I vote we go ahead and see what happens.”

“Can’t hurt. I’m willing,” Sara says.

“Good. Can you come with me back to the Raven? I have the equipment there to run the analysis on the energy produced by Kate and compare it to the virus.”

Everyone agrees to go ahead with the experiment. In a few minutes, everyone has convened on the Raven to await the test and the results.

“Kate, I need a sample of your altered energy. Can you target the box in front of you with her energy? It is loaded with sensors. I understand that you gather and refine the energy while Sara is the control for it. If you two will give me a sample, we can see if I can combine the two types of energy or not. I’ll also be able to see if Kate can refine the energy used in the virus. Everyone ready?” Dale asks them.

“Ready, Kate?” Sara asks.

“Always,” responds Kate. “Go ahead and come on in, sis.”

“How’s your energy reserve, Kate?” Alex asks.

“I think I’m still at about ninety percent. I’ve got enough to vaporize the Ark and the Raven in one shot. A little beam like this won’t even make a dent.”

Kate closes her eyes and concentrates on the energy orb inside her mind. She knows Sara is already in there, because she has already cut off all feeling to that part of her mind, a precaution Sara uses whenever she works with the energy orb in Kate’s mind.

Sara has indeed entered Kate’s mind and has taken control of the orb. It is now safe for Kate to create a small opening in the orb to release some of the energy, which Sara will guide to the target box.

“OK, Kate. Open the orb,” Sara tells here.

Kate creates the small round opening at the subatomic level. A small amount of pure energy immediately begins to shoot through the opening. Sara instantly forces the energy into a beam hundreds of times smaller than the opening in the orb, forcing the energy into a very concentrated beam that could not even be seen without the aid of equipment designed to detect it. She focuses on the box and sends the beam to it.

Immediately, there is a reaction from the equipment on the Raven.

“OK, Kate, you can shut it down. I have what I need.”

“When will you know the result?” Sara asks him.

“I already know,” says Dale. “As I suspected, the type of energy produced by Kate is very much like the energy in the virus. The next step is to see if Kate can filter and refine the virus. Her energy is potent, but it’s lacking energy on one missing wavelength. Kate, how do you absorb the energy, and how much can you absorb?”

“No idea. Alex, can you explain it?” Kate asks him.

“Kate can absorb the energy from every control unit in a reality, all at once,” Alex tells him. “Does that help?”

Dale’s eyes start to get very big as he lets out a long whistle. “All of them, all at once?”

“Yes.”

“I had no idea any living thing could stand a punch like that,” Dale says. “That’s enough energy to wipe out everything in several galaxies. Well, I’m guessing you may not even feel this one. I’m going to fire a sample of the energy used by the virus. Let me know if you feel anything off or if something is going wrong. Do you need Sara’s help with this?”

“No, she’s the control. I’m the collector and processor. Shoot when ready.”

Dale walks over to a wall and commands the controls for the virus equipment to appear. From a blank wall, several monitors appear, along with several digital control knobs and readouts.

“Give me a minute to get it ready,” he says. “Kate, I understand you store your energy in some type of orb or sphere in your mind?”

“Correct.”

“Are you able to separate the energy I will be sending to you from what you already have stored?” he asks her.

“Don’t know, never tried. I’m not even sure how to.”

“Sara,” Alex says. “Can you help her?”

“I’m not sure what I’ll need to do.”

“Kate, where does the orb come from?” Dale asks.

“I have no idea. I think it’s always there. I’ve never felt it disappear and then reappear when needed.”

“Kate, I need you to concentrate to see if another orb will appear inside your mind. Sara, go in there and see if your presence will help,” Dale tells them.

Kate closes her eyes and pictures the orb inside her mind. She also senses Sara. Sara thinks to Kate, letting her know she is there in case she is needed. Kate continues to concentrate, trying to picture a second orb floating beside the first one. Slowly, a small spark begins to appear beside the orb. It is small, barely visible to Sara’s mind probe, but it is there. Sara goes forward and wraps her mind around the spark, hoping that she can help it to take shape. Ever so slowly, the spark begins to glow, eventually taking the shape of a small ball.

“I think that I have it,” announces Kate.

“Sara, I am going to turn on the beam and shoot it at Kate. Keep an eye on her. I want the energy from this beam to go into the second orb,” Dale says.

Dale turns on the generators that create the various types of energies used in the virus. Those energies are sent to storage cells where the energies are combined into the single wavelength used by the virus. The combined energy is in the beam now being shot at Kate. As far beams go, this is a very small one, not much bigger than the one that Kate and Sara shot at Dale’s box of sensors. Dale asks if she can take more, and Kate gives a thumbs-up sign. As Dale increases the output of the energy being sent to Kate, he watches the output gages of his beam.

“Kate, can you direct the energy now hitting you into the new orb?” Dale asks her. “Sara, stay with her and help if you can.”

Sara studies the smaller orb to see if there is any change. “Dale, I can see the orb, but I don’t see much of a change. I think Kate’s not getting enough of your energy. Try boosting it up more. I’ll let you know what’s happening.”

Dale does as Sara asks and turns up the output of his storage cells. The beam that is hitting Kate becomes clearly visible. The feeling of static electricity in the air lets everyone know the beam is there and getting stronger.

“Dale, you need to send more to her. She’s barely feeling it,” Sara tells him.

Dale is not used to someone who can live through such an energy stream, let alone absorb it. He turns up the output until his equipment is at its maximum output.

“That’s as much as I can send. Shall I leave it running for a minute or two?” he asks Kate.

“You’ll have to. At this rate, it’ll take me several minutes to filter yours and create enough altered energy to send out one small beam,” she informs him.

“I never thought anything like this would be possible,” he tells Alex. “Where did you find her?”

“When the Traveler inside me awoke, I could sense something was different in both Sara and Kate, but I did not have any idea she would be capable to what they can do. I am still amazed at what they can do when they work together.”

“Any idea why you became a Traveler? Normally, Travelers convert completely, with no residual of the previous host. I do not ever remember hearing anything like this happening before with any Traveler.”

“As best as I can tell, it was probably the dream I had. Something about a little boy on an orange planet who seemed to be playing with some balls that kept changing colors, sizes and shapes” Alex tells him.

“You had a dream about a boy? Can you tell me about it?” Dale asks him.

Alex recites his dream about flying in space, the silvery cord, the strange planet, the odd-looking buildings, and the boy.

“Are you sure it was a boy? Did he have blonde hair and bright blue eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Was he standing or sitting on the floor?”

“He was standing, but not on the floor. He was just sort of floating there.”

“Please describe the two balls.”

“Just balls. One was bigger than the other. He’d toss them out in front of him, he’d touch the bigger one and it would change color and shape. He’d then push them together and they would sort-of merge into a single ball, but smaller than the first two.”

“He’s back!” whispers Dale.

“Who?”

“After all this time, he’s come back. I wonder why?” Dale asks himself.

Alex and everyone else clearly want to know what Dale is talking about.

“Dale, who’s back?” Sara asks.

“Alex, have you ever wondered where everything came from?” asks Dale.

“Sure. We all have. What’s that got to do with the dream I had?”

“If I am correct, you did not have a dream,” Dale tells him.

“Yeh, that’s what Doc was trying to tell me. What’s makes you so sure?”

“Because what you just described is in our ancient history. That was how the Entity would communicate to our ancestors; that is how they knew what to do in each reality.”

“Are you saying your people were taking orders from someone else out there, this Entity?”

“Yes. They did for many, many realities, for thousands of years. The Entity would send for one of us. That person would come back and communicate what needed to be done next. Then, all at once, it all stopped. No more communications. We kept going. When we find a reality, we work on it. It was its ideas, warnings, and thoughts which allowed us to create the barrier, the collectors, the defense and control units, and the Travelers. And now he’s back, after all this time.”

“How long has it been since he first contacted you?”

“Many millions of your years.”

Alex just stands there. He knows the Travelers have been around for a long time. Finding out that the ones who had created the Travelers had done so by receiving orders from someone or something else was real news, even for a Traveler.

Sara informs Dale that she has enough filtered energy in it to send the sample beam.

“Ready to receive?” Sara asks.

“Ready,” Dale replies.

Sara watches the second orb and tells Kate to open the little sphere, just a little. As she does, Sara forms a narrow beam out of the energy being released and sends it toward the target box of sensors.

There is a very bright flash as the beam hits the box and vaporizes it. If Sara had not shut down the beam, it would have gone through the walls of the Raven and left a hole in the hull.

“Well?” Alex asks. Sara and Kate are also wondering what the result is.

“Give me a minute,” Dale says.

He studies the digital readouts for several minutes, entering equation after equation on his system. It takes him over five minutes before he announces his findings.

“Once again, I must announce that what I am seeing I did not think was possible,” Dale tells them.

“Would you please tell us?” Kate asks. It is easy to see she is getting impatient and wants to know what the results of Kate’s tests are.

“Sorry for taking so long. I had to check it three times to make sure.”

“And what did you find out?” Alex asks.

“That the modified virus energy Kate produces is almost pure, down to the thousandth decimal place.”

“And that means what?” Kate asks.

“It means you have succeeded in creating an energy that is the equivalent of an anti-Void.”

“And that means what?” Kate asks him.

“That means any part of the Void that your energy touches cease to exist. It’s like bringing together matter and antimatter--they cease to exist. The net result is a massive vacuum created where the matter was.”

“Like a black hole?” Alex asks.

“Sort of, but infinitely much more. When Kate’s energy hits the Void, it’ll create something that will draw in and destroy anything it was created from--in this case, the Void.”

“How much of it?” Alex asks.

“Don’t know. We’re dealing with all new stuff here. I suggest we all go back to my reality and get some help. This is something my people need to know. They’ll have a better idea of how to handle this,” Dale says.

“You mean we get to meet the ones who helped create the barrier system and the Travelers?”

“Yes, and it should be as soon as possible.”

“OK, Dale, it’s your reality. Lead the way,” Sara says. “We’ll go back to the Ark. Let us know when you’re ready to go. What do we need to know to follow you?”

“Nothing,” Dale tells her. “I’ll leave the Raven docked with the Ark. The Raven is newer and more advanced. Its reality generators are more than capable of sending both the Raven and the Ark back to my reality.”

“Let us know when you’re ready so we can let our people know before we do the move,” Sara tells him.

“Will do,” Dale responds.

Alex, Sara, Kate, and their people head back to the Ark and wait for Dale’s message, which comes as soon as Sara is seated in her command chair on the bridge.

“Dale, give me two minutes,” Sara sends to the Raven.

She grabs a mic and tells the people on the Ark they are about to move to another reality and to prepare themselves.

“OK, Dale, go,” Sara sends.

Dale sends the command to the Raven’s reality generator and waits, but nothing happens.

“Dale? We’re ready,” Sara tells him.

“Give me a minute,” Dale sands back.

After a ten-minute wait, she sends another message to the Raven but gets no response. She tries again with the same result.

“Alex, something is wrong on the Raven. Take me and Kate there now,” Sara tells him.

Alex pictures the bridge of the Raven in his mind and appears there with Sara and Kate.

They find the alternate Dale standing there with a look of confusion on his face. Sara could almost see a tear running down his cheek.

“Dale? What is it? Why haven’t we moved?” Sara asks. “Dale, what’s wrong?”

“The Raven’s reality generators engaged but could not lock onto my reality,” Dale tells them. There was a look on Dale’s face that says one thing--he is very scared.

“Dale, why couldn’t they lock onto your reality?” Sara asks.

“There is only one reason for not being able to lock onto a targeted reality,” Dale says.

“And that is?” Alex asks.

“That the target reality no longer exists. And there is only one thing that can do that,” Dales says.

“NO! You can’t mean…” Sara says.

“My reality, with all its people, with all its advanced Void defenses, is gone. The Void has somehow found a way to get through the barrier. It has won.”

“No, it hasn’t.”

The deep voice comes from seemingly everywhere. Dale goes to his controls and tries to track where the voice is coming from.

“Your equipment cannot track me,” the voice says. “It cannot locate what it has not been programmed to find.”

Alex looks at Dale, who looks back to nod his head in agreement. “I’ve checked every scanner; they can’t find anything.”

“OK,” Dale says to the empty-looking space in the room. “You have our attention. Who are you and why do you say the Void has not won? With my reality gone, we were the only thing standing between the remaining realities and the Void. If it has found a way to defeat the barrier, we cannot stop it.”

“You are correct. Your reality is lost. I regret this. But time is short, and everything is now set to stop the Void once and for all,” the voice tells them.

“Everything is set?” Dale asks. “Set for what? How can we stop the Void without a barrier? Just who are you and what do you know that we do not?”

“I know that the energy Kate generates can stop it. You four are the singular results of an infinite number of experiments and generations with the sole purpose of stopping the Void. With some final alterations and a source of the correct energy, you four can stop the Void and put an end to it.”

“Again, I ask,” Dale says. “Who are you?”

“I created the Void. I realized my mistake when it got out of hand and I could no longer control it. I am the one that instructed your people long ago in creating and setting up the barrier network. I am contacting you to tell you that you were successful in slowing the Void’s advance until this one point in time and space could be reached.”

“WHO ARE YOU?” Dale yells.

“I am the one you call the Entity.”

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