Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue
Chapter 13: Epilogue
A few months later Suzie and I were relaxing on a beach on Earth. Zuri and the Galahad had returned to their home to try and organize the survivors. Where Zuri went, the Myrddin followed. Diamond Stars and the crew of The Revenge returned home with the remnants of Black Sun to try and fix the harm they’d done. Captain Ng and the crew of the Warship Ennill had stayed to learn all they could from the various people.
The other speakers and people of the Sun fleet were given the chance to stay with a quarter of them doing so and the rest returning to their systems.
With all the technology we’d gained, travel between systems was going to be a regular thing now. The universe had shrunk significantly.
I was enjoying the feel of clear water on my toes when we got a call.
“I shouldn’t answer it,” I said.
“They won’t stop,” Suzie replied. She’d seen it was the Hey Sunny Too.
“What is it?” I asked into the coms.
“The Gate activated, get up here,” Adric replied and we had no choice but to get the shuttle and head back to our new ship.
The gate dated from the beginning of the universe and seemed to emit a kind of power we couldn’t recognize. Sol didn’t know what it was. Of course I installed it on my ship.
Once we were aboard, Adric said, “The gate activated and a crude robot came through, left this, and then went back in. The whole thing lasted less than a minute.”
He handed me a nicely embossed piece of paper that had a tree on it. As I stared, the words swam and formed, Yggdrasil Command Aether Earth. If your atmosphere is safe for us, we shall visit you in 24 hours. It was followed by a complex mathematical algorithm.
Adric anticipated my confusion and said, “It’s a formula for figuring out what their 24 hours means using the speed of light and the emission frequency of a hydrogen atom.” He stopped there and I gave him a quizzical look. “Oh. It’s close to our Earth but their day is roughly 80 milliseconds longer than ours which means they are probably from an alternate reality Earth that is further in the past.”
I blinked a few times and asked, “How do you get that from a simple calculation?”
“It wasn’t simple, and I also analyzed the note. It has massive quantities of microplastics and greenhouse gases which was typical of Old-Earth.”
I nodded and said, “I’m impressed. How long do we have?”
“Ten minutes. You really took your time.”
Suzie wanted us to greet them remotely but I figured if we’re going to meet interdimensional aliens, we should do it in person.
The gate lit up with blue energy that looked like waves, which was different from our jumpgates that just shimmered silver.
Two people walked through, a man and a woman in what looked like pseudo-military garb. He had dark skin, was tall, broad, and his long brown hair was streaked with grey and tied in a bun on the top of his head. The woman with him was also tall, but had white skin and blonde hair, just starting to turn white.
They didn’t look like any military I’d met and there was a strange power about them.
The man smiled and it was obvious from the creases in his face that he did it a lot. He moved forward and spoke gibberish.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you,” I said. I was surprised, we’d installed a translator designed by the Children of the Stars, and it was able to translate almost anything.
The woman said a few words, pointed at Suzie, and at Suzie’s sword.
“I think she wants you to talk about your sword?” I said.
“I don’t want to tell them about my sword,” Suzie said, sounding almost offended.
The man held his hand out for a handshake and said, “Thank you, our translations need two native speakers and a few sentences to parse the language. I am Agent Jason Johnson and this is Agent Kennedy Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook his muscular hand. “I’m Hal the Sun Speaker, this is Suzie, and this is Adric. You are on my ship in orbit around our Earth.”
The woman smiled broadly and said, “I love it when it’s a spaceship gate. It’s always so cool.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but why are you here and where did you come from?” These two were likeable, but seemed genuine and not fake.
“We’re from Aether Earth and we’re here with a warning. The Mulciber are coming.”
The word meant nothing to me, but it triggered a vision from Sol. I stood on a tall mountain on Mars and watched as a silver serpent of massive size decimated the Martian military.
At least it was less disgusting than the void-beasts, but it looked like I had another threat to prepare for.
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