Machine Read online

  MACHINE

  Edward DeLaire

  MACHINE

  MIRAGE

  HOME IS WHERE THE SOUL IS

  THE MASQUERADE

  THE BEGINNING

  KEVIN'S RETURN

  THE VOID

  SOJOURN

  PSYCHEMANCER

  PERADRA

  THE RITUAL

  MERGING

  FATE, IN PERADRA

  DESTROY WHAT YOU ARE

  BY DESIGN

  OF ALL PLACES

  INFINITY

  DEAD RECKONING

  SHELLY'S BALLAD

  DARK SALVATION

  INTO THE SUNSET

  *THE MECHANISM OF FATE

  DAWNING

  THE MACHINE

  SYMBOLICA

  FUTURE'S PAST

  AMALGAM

  SHADOW GAINS FORM

  THE CALLING

  ATTEND

  A PATH WELL TRAVELED

  FOREVER

  NEARLY TRUTH

  JUXTAPOSITION

  THE SIBYLLINATE

  RESOLVE

  THE ROAD

  THE CATACOMBS

  THE LAST STOP

  THE BOUNDARY

  THE DAMOCLEAN GAMBLE

  SANCTITY OF PERSISTENCE

  EDGE MEETS STONE

  *THE OBSERVATION OF TRUTH

  EXISTENTIAL PARADIGM

  CHAPTER ONE

  MIRAGE

  It was the last hour of my journey, I tried to ignore the sensation of vertigo that came every time I looked into the endless expanses of the Void for any length of time. It was not like staring at a wall painted gray but a deceptive play on distance and perception. There was nothing at all to orient on past the control panel that framed the cockpit window; lined as it was with small monitors that were linked to armored cameras placed generously about the vehicle’s exterior. All of them showing and recording the same thing – endless gray.

  I am Eric Trayden; an astronaut by profession, though not in outer space. My venture was launched in a most unconventional manner – a method unique to all known life save for a single location secluded in the Panamint Desert, within a dilapidated hangar on an abandoned airfield.

  The accounts of my venture may read somewhat bizarre, that being the result of my original writings surviving in a language never spoken on Earth. That and the fact that the sum of the tale transpired in an alternate dimension. Place any knowledge you might have as the reader aside, as my own knowledge of how that is possible is limited to my own experiences – not the knowledge of scientists or astrophysists – with concepts like string theory or the origins of the universe. Science for me is significantly and unmistakenly different from those perceptions. Few share this perspective, and their accounts are included as well – as they were divulged to me prior to putting pen to pad.

  * * * *

  My eyes cast involuntarily into the Void as my mind replayed my first meeting with Alan Jerring, the mission administrator. I was at a lecture dealing with Deep Space Isolation and Sensory Deprivation. Alan was taking advantage of the common company; looking for pilots to join the Physical Probability Travel Project, or as we called it; “PPT”. He had me interested at first in the freedom a PPT pilot would have in planning the mission and designing the program. The fact that I was to pilot two unique vehicles simultaneously convinced me to accept the offer. The vehicles’ designs were incredible, their purpose was even more incredible.

  The Support Suit was capable of manipulating complex machinery through advanced programming and was designed to fully operate the Runner alone. The Runner would, among many tasks, propell me into the Void.

  Beside the chair I was magnetically joined to was another similar chair, where another Pilot would sit, magnetized into place in front of a similar panel – that seat was empty. It was decided at the last minute that I would be piloting the Runner solo. There were after all only two people in the world that could pilot the Runner. I reflected upon the endless gray why that was so.

  Piloting the Suit was like being a cyborg; my living tissues temporarily grafted with the machinery that was to be my tool. The catch is that the machine part was able to move by itself, in a programmed routine that was designed to operate the Void Runner better than a human alone could. It probably did, but I had my doubts about how it did so. The Suit moved at torturous speeds for hours at a time, manipulating dozens of systems simultaneously. It got real tough after the first couple of hours but after the first day of training I got used to the routine. I could order the Suit to stop at any time and had to do so only once. Whatever the suit was doing was synchronized with the time of re-entry and any cancelled action would have to be amended to compensate. So far everything was back on schedule and the time of re-entry was nearly upon me. Soon the Runner would be put to the test.

  My reverie ended when the re-entry message sounded. The gray landscape began to split open like a corona from out of the nothingness. A flash of blue light overloaded the sensors in the visor of my helmet and the glass went dark to protect my human eyes. The silence inside the Suit was complete, aside from my own breathing – and so it went for many thunderous heartbeats; in darkness and silence.

  When the visor became transparent again, I watched the landscape begin to melt into a twisted mirror-like vision of the world I hoped was home. Lightning began to thrash across the Static Field. Without the welcome feeling I anticipated, the physics of the corporeal took their hold fiercely and the Suit’s padding expanded to the contours of my body and head before things got too rough.

  It took hours to fully adjust to inertialess movement. Once in that state for a prolonged period of time, I discovered, that not only gravity and inertia returned with severe symptoms of disorientation but their irrelative translation to my starved nervous system was suprisingly severe. My head was spinning and my body went numb. Virtually paralyzed and aware only of conciousness, my Support Suit was moving about all the while moving my arms and legs nightmarishly.

  A distorted horizon began to form outside the impressive Static Field, its outer skin discharging chains of plasma. The silence rang like thunder in my head. The entire event made re-entry from space seem quite calm in comparison. Everything before me was a blur of abstract motion; slowly the image became less surreal as I began to recover from my distorted senses, taking in more of what was happening.

  A flat, mysterious runway materialised, its image lasted for about one second, then the Static-Field went opaque around the cameras; its swirling-copper color blocking my view.

  The Static Field was an experimental shield of frictionless energy that was designed to allow the continued existence of matter while in the void; an environmental barrier of sorts that sustained the necessary forces of three-dimensional reality.

  Being reintroduced to the tangible caused a change in the field density, the change provided a shell of sorts that kept the intangible Void from ripping the car apart particle by particle, with me inside. Hastily I ordered the Suit to allow view of the last armored monitor, upon mention of which blinked on obediently, unused until now. I did not want to miss my re-entry.

  I was speeding away at an impossible velocity, everything blurred by dramatically, drifting by and by; the feeling of momentum was perpetually increasing. The black and cloudless night sky was visible and a million stars shone like bright pinpoints, thin red smears trailed behind every star; the visual distortion that separates dimension zero from the higher second dimensional manifestation of the Void Field, and finally the third dimension and home.

  The effect of passing through the Veil was like a contoured sheath around the Runner’s streamlined exterior and stretching back to the Field. The monitor glowed a somber cyan from the energetic light that radiated from the Veil. The scene grew less di
storted as the Void Runner lagged back into normal space, plummeting to a complete stop in sheer moments. The monitors went blank and the Suit came back on. Nothing to do but go with the flow – literally.

  An empty silence shrouded my perception, my ears rang for only me to hear. Not a whisper could sneak through the Suits sealed interior. My human ears packed inside a thick mesh of padding and audio electronics. The dash lit up and was blinking a familiar pattern. The Suit began its routine check list. I moved with the Suit, again familiar with the process. The pattern lasted for five minutes.

  Once again the Suit began its haunting independence. First turning off the Static-field, revealing the outside. It was now daylight, easily past 1:00 p.m. The sky was full of billowing clouds and a storm on the Eastern horizon before me flashed distantly in its beautiful nature.

  The fact that it was now day troubled me. Mere minutes have passed and the night sky was lightless save for the stars. That temporal distortion was unexpected, possibly related to the spatial drag of the Veil on the Void Runner and its components. The thin Veil between three-dimensional space and the Void was pure energy. Now the Veil was closed behind me. The circular movie screen-sized field of energy was flashing outward, corona-like from a black sun center. The Field was flattened a third where it met the ground.

  Outside the Void Runner, there were many vehicles. I sat surrounded. Where did they all come from? I could not divine an explanation. Momentarily, a group of ground crew approached the vehicle, wearing safety suits, and they began to operate and remove external sensor equipment, retrieving confidential data chips and video disks. The Suit continued and de-pressurized the cabin, a soft vibration followed as the outside was pulled in. Then the main drive was deactivated; the Void Runner shuddered to stillness.

  The helmet comm hissed to life, the voice of Alan Jerring came in clearly. “Eric, this is Alan. How do you feel?” He was tired, I could tell by the way his words blended together.

  “Just fine… how are you all?” The tight padding held my jaw firmly, forcing my own words into constricted susurrations.

  “Good to hear ya' Eric.” Kevin Connor, my abrogated co-pilot declared from the background.

  “Eric,” Alan paused lethargically. “Fifty-five seconds to recovery. Great landing. Jerring out.” The signal stopped. Seconds later the Suit to seat magnetics circuit disengaged. The Suit popped free with a lurch. A polite computer voice announced full manual control.

  Completely separated from the Void Runner, my heart pounded in my ears. The moments passed as I moved freely. Without the seat magnetics to hold me steady, every movement became an exaggerated gesture. Even remaining still seemed to register movement from the servos that were designed to assist me. The cabin door swished away from me, above the vehicle.

  My muscles flexed and the servos reacted, I began to climb out of the Void Runner. Two of the suited men moved to assist me. I climbed out slowly and stood up, swaying in the arms of the crewmen. Alone they could never hold up the Suit, it weighed over nine hundred pounds with me inside, if I fell, one of them would’ve got smashed up bad.

  I remained standing and paused. Numbly I rotated my head. What was going on? The desert was empty. When I left there was a small two-story building and an old airplane hangar. Neither of which seemed to be there any longer. In their place was desert, the heat rising hard off the sun-baked sand. Light refracted off the rising heat causing the desert to be filled with illusory water. Inside the mirage the rippling heat danced about causing the scene to shift between desert and mirage.

  During this experience I realized that I was feeling dizzy, the Suits padding felt unnaturally tight. I tried to focus on the desert. The mirage slowly became circular in shape. Patterns began to form within the circle on the ground. The sun blazed overhead and I could feel its heat through the visor. I looked deeper into the mirage, spread out some three hundred metres or so to my left.

  There, complete with an elevator dipping out of sight, was a building. Many windows lined the interior, tinted to keep out the desert sun. I stepped forward taking in the scene. What used to be desert had become a circular subterranean complex of unfathomable size.

  I was in the Void for twenty-four hours. The runway was just not possible; the company was nearly broke. Eight years of PPT research with little practical success, until my pioneer mission. Now everything had changed a great deal.

  I remained numb. The servos seemed sluggish. My movements dampened to mere twitches of the Suit. I noticed a buzzing sound, as if someone was yelling at me from behind, but only inches away. I focused on my surroundings and concentrated on what was being said.

  “...Eric,” He repeated, taking time to ease my bewilderment, “What you are seeing will be explained – right now we have to prepare for immediate Suit lockdown.” His voice expressed a condition of emergency.

  The transmission ended, then the Suit lost all mobility. My every action locked. I wanted to call him back, to ask why, but I guessed it could wait. There left a lot to be explained since my arrival. So I waited, trapped inside the Suit.

  I wondered about the Void. The place wasn't there. Science would tell you that something with no boundary has no dimensions. Energy for example has no specific dimension according to size, but it can be measured just the same. The Void emitted no energy wave. Also the aspect of antimatter was ruled out. There is nothing in science what so ever that would imply that the Void existed at all.

  There was one problem with science. The Void was there, a hole in the air; the edge of the circle completely invisible. Principally, the hole is one dimensional, its image is two dimensional, and the world that viewed the image was three dimensional. There seemed to be logic behind that concept; I had no arguments. The correlation between the dimensional aspects of time and the Void seemed to be the first new data about the Void since I left.

  There were a great many fears associated with dimensional travel. Even with fear it may have appeared plausible that dimensional travel was more likely than transcending the speed of light. Because in doing so one might become light, with no way to slow down. Traveling instead toward a more fundamental convention of three dimensional physics; by separating the three and defining their individual parameters until the open end of the Void surfaced. Having it be that such a feat required only the space of the technology that was needed to enter and leave the Void meant that hiding the unusual dangers connected to said feat would be easily accomplished. That left me for one out in the cold. I was up to my chin in unknowns and it had never been done before.

  I woke with a start and looked around. I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep. I was no longer in the Suit. I lay in a bed with pressed white sheets, a fluorescent lamp above me on the wall, and the air was agreeably cool. I was in a hospital resting comfortably. Moments after my arousal a nurse walked in casually and kissed me full on the lips. I attempted to pull away but was too stunned to resist.

  “Lena...” I whispered my wife's name, asking for her.

  The nurse responded, “I'm here honey, your angel is here.” She held me tighter. Her perfume was unmistakable. I kissed her back.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HOME IS WHERE THE SOUL IS

  My long awaited reunion was made short and Lena left quietly, the joy still in her eyes. Alan sat, he had plenty to say and I was ravenous. Rudely I ordered dinner and breakfast was served instead. He waited patiently until the meal was complete, shuffling green and white striped computer printout and smiling at me as I glanced toward him. The doctor came in as I ate and reported me in fine condition and advised to exercise off those Void miles. The doctor snorted dryly and left the room.

  Those 'Void miles' wore heavily on my mind. When I was first informed in detail about the Void I had already test-piloted the Void Runner with the Suit successfully. The information was simple. The basic concept was the Void was apparently a dimension of absolute nothingness. A place where science as we understood it was useless. The Void would not support life of an
y sort, as revealed by countless tests run through a laboratory sized Void field. Entering the Void required little effort since there was nothing there to resist entry. Exiting the Void, on the other hand was quite difficult. The Veil between the Void field and three-dimensional space was extremely resilient, requiring forces that were not available in the Void. One must gain the force needed before entering the Void. The force was gained through acceleration. Once in the Void the speed would be maintained and would even grow in proportion due to the frictionless environment. There were tests run on inanimate objects as well. The more complex the item's metallic construction was, the more it was altered. The function would remain intact but the composition would be changed. For example, a digital watch was tested. When it was recovered it remained in working condition. When dissected it was found that most of its working circuits had been integrated as a single component.

  Attempts to record the alterations on video were tried but no visible changes could be recorded. Only when unrecorded control experiments were attempted did the composition change drastically enough to be openly visible.

  To send a human through meant to take a big chance. PPT was small enough to encourage a drastic mission into the Void and I was eager to be a pioneer.

  Alan was stoic. He began like this; “Eric, since you've left and returned again we've learned a lot about the Void that we didn't know before. The first thing was the theory about high tech machinery, when in contact with the Void, the circuitry would rearrange itself to a more complex form. We tested this theory with dummy circuits on the Runner. They show alteration along with countless system circuits.”

  “The Suit seems to have been affected in a very different way, by far the most complex machine in the mission.

  “There was a short in the console and we needed to shut down the Suit early, it was only supposed to be for a couple of minutes. Then the Suit animated on its own after shut down. We thought it was you at first but after another incident resulting in serious injuries, we learned all too quickly it was not. We guessed that the Suit malfunctioned and the padding around your neck and head were over inflated until you passed out. It didn't take long. Then the Suit nearly killed the whole recovery team.” He paused to let that sink in, his eyes cold but understanding beneath his furrowed eyebrows which made him look like he was frowning when he wasn't.