Two Steps Forward - One Step Back

[Maharg67]

0048: Of Tammy Tomkins, Tommy Tomkins and Others

 

"Unity, of this world, is trying to link up with Unity of other AlternateEarths." Eric Idol, who admitted he had been a quite famous comedian on the British Broadcasting Commission's television and radio channels, stood in a large concrete chamber that was functional but with some attempts to make it seem warmer and friendlier. There were banks of video monitors, a big computer mainframe with smart terminals, some desktop computers, desks, tables, chairs, racks of guns, lockers, some oil painting of the Australian Outback in fine wooden frames and some other features. "They have had difficulty even with our help but perhaps you can be of assistance."

 

Tammy sighed. "I do not know how I could be." She sat in a comfortable armchair with her eyes closed. "What of the little girl who came to talk to me?"

 

"Samantha Champagne." Eric responded. "She is special, of deeper Unity come earlier than it normally happens. She needs to be protected."

 

Tammy sighed, focused on feelings, on thoughts, that swirled inside herself. "Yes, she is strong and fragile at the same time. Yes, she needs protection."

 

With a sparkling shimmer the TransCube appeared as a part cube with a silvery square door facing into the chamber. Part of the cube was invisible except for a vague shimmering shape. She stood and walked to the silvery door and then vanished through it, ghost like. Nobody tried to follow for 'something' held them back from even trying to do so.

 

Tammy found herself in a big, mostly bare silvery cube shaped chamber and there, before her, was her twin brother Tommy Tomkins. Tommy turned and smiled at her. "Remember me!"

 

"Yes I do!" She frowned softly at him, walked over to him and slapped him hard across the face. Tommy winced and did not move, as he could have done, to avoid most of the pain. Then Tammy smiled. "You deserved that for those rather nasty words you spoke to me the last time we were together. It is all coming back to me now. So we dealt once and all with Sad-Hat, as you wanted us to."

 

Tommy rubbed his face with a rueful expression. She was as powerful as he was otherwise he would have felt no pain at all. "No, I did not want to deal with Sad-Hat the way that we ended up doing. He wanted me to do so. He grew tired of life, of endless rebirth and regeneration as ourselves. Of course he is not truly dead and will return but only after at least a thousand years of drifting peacefulness. As you probably know, time passes faster inside the TT-TransCube than it does outside. I suggest you stay for a time. I will get some useful resources together to take back with you to that other AlternateEarth. First, though, we need to meld-contact."

 

Tammy sighed, smiled, rubbed his face gently and then they placed their hands against each other, hands flat against hands, closed their eyes and apparently nothing happened. Except that much happened as they made strong melding-contact. Then they broke apart.

 

Tammy nodded with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Very clever indeed. I take it that a good deal of the resources of the TT-TransCube are tied up in this project."

 

"Yes, they are, and now there are the AltSliders with the false one hidden amongst them being one that is quite dangerous." Tommy replied. "I have come to realize that I was meant to pick up those AltSliders, was meant to take them into the TT-TransCube as I did. Some force has been trying to manipulate me and, to some extent, had succeeded in doing so."

 

Tammy shook her head. "A very dangerous game is being played. Take care! What of the Deep Unity girl that needs protecting?"

 

"She can come here, along with some others, after I have made some preparations." He shook his head. "As you now know, Unity is being a pain in Robertville or at least a large minority of Unity there is being so. Unity is awakening on all three of the AlternateEarths that the Great Sphere is now active on-in. Of course that is not surprising. Indications are that Unity has also arisen inside the Great Sphere, and that is surprising."

 

"Yes!" Tammy nodded. In some ways one gained too much knowledge from a melding-contact and had to have time to sort through it, to absorb it properly. "That is surprising. One of our people is in the Great Sphere, as you know! Has any linkage been managed with him or her or it?"

 

"No, though others and I have tried to do so." Tommy walked over to a big metallic boxy like device like a set of drawers combined with other elements. He opened a big drawer and it was full of useful items. "I can put this into a MiniTransCube that you can take with you."

 

She smiled. "Very good!"

 

They soon parted ways, Tammy returned to the AlternateEarth of the 1980s and Tommy going on with what he had been doing in the TT-TransCube.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0049: Of Tammy Tompkins and Others

 

Tammy returned to the bunker complex beneath the ecocommune of RainbowHeart, being a typical ecocommunist type name. She took with her the MiniTransCube but it was concealed. About twelve minutes had passed since she had gone to the TT-TransCube, having spent much more relative time in the TT-TransCube, much of it being in melding-contact with Tommy Tomkins. Eric Idol was there but also Lisa Evans, a couple of Communist guerrilla soldiers who were now of Unity, a few ecocommunists and the small girl, Samantha, who was of Deep Unity. Now Tammy could 'sense' it of the girl just as she was aware of a great deal more in other ways.

 

The TT-TransCube vanished as Tammy left it through the exotic silvery door.

 

Tammy spoke even as she sat on a metal chair. Samantha had taken over the comfortable armchair, was welcome to it. "I met with Tommy Tomkins, my brother! We exchanged information and I became more aware of my true nature. This world is in possible danger in many ways. The Great Sphere will grow in its first phase and then halt, leaving much of Australia uncovered and the rest of the world. The Great Sphere will be about two thirds underground. Then the Great Labyrinth will expand out from the Great Sphere, underground, going below the deepest oceans, and when it wraps the world in an underground fashion, it will evolve, will transform. Then the Great Sphere will engulf the world and absorb it. Tommy grew up on an AlternateEarth where the Great Sphere stopped growing about a decade ago and is now in its 2030s. He is now on another AlternateEarth where the Great Sphere stopped expanding over ten years ago and where it is now in the 1950s. The Great Labyrinth is expanding outwards inside both of them."

 

Eric sat on another metal chair but with some thin padding to it. "The AlternateEarth of the 2020s has some quite advanced technologies, by our standards."

 

Tammy frowned softly. "You would know because you are a UnitySublord and because of Unity making contacts with other unityfolk on that world. You should also know that the AlternateEarth of the 2030s suffered great damage of many kinds. From three and a half to four billion people vanished and then many more fell to plague, famine, war, climatic chaos and sheer chaos in many ways. Also many of their technologies are no more advanced than those of this world, partly because they have gone backwards in many ways, in some areas more than in others."

 

A woman spoke, being one of the former Communist guerrillas. "Why don't you just give us your very advanced technologies."

 

Eric frowned at the unityfolk woman. "We have already gone over that subject twice, Angelina. Our technologies are beyond human comprehension and ability to control, even early Unity humans. Having said that, there are some technologies that we intend to give over to you, including teaching and training in how they work and how to work them. We can advance our computers to 2030s elite standards. We can upgrade our machines. We can gain gravity-copters and gravity-hovercraft. Yet advanced technologies are not going to solve Unity's problems. For thousands of years we Lord Factions, and the Eternals, tried to stop the Great Sphere with the use of increasingly advanced technologies, except the HarmonyLords inside the Great Sphere; they started losing control of the Great Sphere and were fighting to hold onto control in the same way. We all failed in the long term though it seemed we would have success many times."

 

Tammy sighed. "A nice story, Eric, but not quite accurate. You Lord Factions spent a good deal of time and energy fighting each other, indulging yourselves and running away from the problem. You came from the same AlternateEarth that we did but you did not become Eternals as we did but only immortals, which is your blessing though too many of you have desired to become Eternals also with out realizing, or wanting to know, what a curse it actually is. We Eternals, falsely called EternalLords at times, have not done so well ourselves but that is something that I will not go into, at least not here and now. I need to ask your assistance."

 

The UnitySublord nodded. "Of course, you have it."

 

"You know of the Great Power Artifacts that our people produced way back on our Home AlternateEarth?" Tammy frowned in thought. "You know we Eternals have been tracking them, grabbing them and locking them away. Not even the worst of us has been foolish enough to try to use any of them except for the Damned Unnamed who vanished a long time ago."

 

Eric Idol looked troubled. "Are you asking if we have heard any whispers of them appearing on this AlternateEarth or even strong hints of that happening. Only one that I can speak of with any certainty. Ayers Rock City suffered a series of strange black outs and power surges, which could be blamed on the Great Sphere, but there were also sightings of fast floating spheres of yellow, green and blue glowing energies. Could it be a Great Elemental Test-Transformer on the loose on this AlternateEarth, drawn here by the appearance of the Great Sphere here?"

 

Ayers Rock City would one day be at the very edge of the Great Sphere but outside of it, along with Ayers Rock. The Aboriginal Peoples had their own names for the great rock. Ayers Rock City was a small corporation city with a bad reputation for violence, racism, corruption, organized crime and strange, disturbing events. It seemed fitting somehow that any strange elemental energy spheres would appear there as they could easily be drawn to dark psychic energies and states of mind.

 

Tammy sighed. "Lisa, I suppose the last thing you want to do is go to Ayers Rock City."

 

Lisa smiled and shook her head. "No, I really want to go there and then tell my friends, and family, back in Adelaide what great adventures I had there."

 

Tammy shook her head. "Okay, you can come with me but try at least to be sensible. Ayers Rock City is a very different metropolis than Adelaide is and I have heard it has got worse since the Great Sphere has appeared. What would Unity know about it?"

 

Angelina frowned. "Unity does what Communists and others have done and still do; we buy weapons, ammo, armor and other gear off organized crime scum and also information. We also buy other technologies through there, including restricted technologies including some TripleEmpire tech and copies of their tech."

 

Tammy frowned harder. "TripleEmpire technologies are tricky and often dangerous to use. Copies of their technologies are even more so. So you have contacts there."

 

"We have a whole outpost hidden there." Angelina frowned hard. "We do not want to but soon we are going to abandon this settlement, this ecocommune, except as a small outpost. We will say, honestly enough, that conditions have just become too dangerous for the people to stay in large numbers here. We will try to convince people that most of us have gone to Adelaide or other Australian cities. Some of us will be but most of us will be seeking new, better hidden, sites here in the Outback. I was planning to go to Ayers Rock City to gain some more valuable resources there to help with that move, including information. We could go together to the infamous metropolis."

 

Tammy nodded. "An excellent idea! I would have Eric show me around the bunker complex here.Samantha can come with us."

 

Angelica frowned softly. "She is a mere child! I do not see why you put so much stock in her and her supposedly being 'Deep Unity'." The former Communist stood up from her chair. "Still, you are wiser, more learned and experienced in such matters. Hopefully, soon, we can start upgrading many of our technologies to match the 2030s standards of that other AlternateEarth."

 

The guerrilla soldiers departed.

 

Tammy turned to Eric. "Do you trust her?"

 

"Not as far as I can spit her. She, and her cronies, her followers, are up to something but so far I have not found out what it is." Eric stood up and stretched. "Lets get this tour underway and we can do some talking away from Angelina and her people."

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0050: Of the OmniObserver and the Observed

 

The OmniObserver observed Tammy and Tommy Tomkins meeting together in the TT-TransCube, it noted the capsule trapped AltSliders of which one was a dangerous fraud, it noted that a great deal of the TT-TransCube resources were being utilized on one special project.

 

The AlternateEarth of the 1950s had suffered from wide spread attacks of green fog monsters, aggressive undead hordes and aggressive packs of damphirs. Humanity of that world had learned to deal with it, had become in many cases blase about dealing with such threats. That was changing as the threat came anew but with bigger numbers and in new kinds. The undead were destroyed in salt water but low floating glowing green fog could over come the obstacles of the seas and oceans. Fresh water immersion was damaging to the undead but less so than was salt water immersion so that zombies found rivers to be less of an obstacle and other creatures could over fly them. Zombers used boats or even aircraft. Of course there were bridges and other conventional ways of getting across water. The biggest threats were arising on the Australian continent itself.

 

Canberra was abandoned and government moved to the island of Tasmania, protected as it was by the Bass Straight from the Australian Mainland. This was not seen as a great move by most Australians or British Imperials living and working on the Australian Mainland.

 

Marshal Nelson, and his people, continued on in Cobber Paddy to fight against increasing threats, to take in refugees and to do what ever else needed to be done. Under pressure from London and the Australian Protectorate Government, Field-Marshal Alan Alderson sent more resources to Cobber Paddy including soldiers, vehicles and supplies. Yet he also sent some of the worst soldiers in the form of a punishment brigade. This did not impress either Marshal Nelson or the Field-Marshal's superiors.

 

In the town of Robertville the ANZAC androids, equipment and shells continued to materialize slowly and steadily. The smaller, less complex the items, the faster they materialized so the supply of cannon and howitzer shells was faster than was the supply of the cannons and battletanks. The uniformed androids were the slowest to materialize but, being very complicated of make, this was understandable. Unity in Robertville gained some cannons and howitzers, even more shells for them, but not any battletanks. More Unity, and nonUnity, refugees were getting to Robertville as other settlements that were being abandoned.

 

Tommy Tomkins was busy with the special project, with investigating the AltSliders, so he created another clone, one TT-Tom, to assist TT-Jane in her work in the settlement. The processing of friendly zombies and damphirs continued. The former shaperzae and shapenoids, now shaperfolk, were all transformed. Unity, in Robertville, ceased to pressure him but he had a careful eye kept on them anyway.

 

On the AlternateEarth of the 1980s the Great Sphere continued to expand. The TripleImperial and Australian Taskforce went on battling the forces of the DeathlessLords. The big spaceship was still being prepared, in low orbit, to be launched against the enemies on Luna. Unity, in Australia, began to abandon its ecocommunes except for small numbers to keep them functioning as outposts.

 

Tammy Tompkins set out for the infamous Ayers Rock City in a convoy of three LandRovers and a large AusiMotors truck. Soon Lisa was regretting her choice to go but the others had little sympathy for her.

 

The small, bright lights kept moving on the Lunar Surface, or just staying still, and it was assumed that the moonbase was destroyed, its people all dead. Then came amazing news; yes, the moonbase had been attacked by 'moon monsters' but help had come in the form of humans with exotic late 19^th Century style gear. Most of the moonbase people had survived, along with most equipment and supplies. The Lunar Humans called themselves the Brotish and they seemed to come from some kind of AlternateEarth where scientific and historical developments had gone differently in the late 19^th Century for a wide range of reasons including a big Martian Invasion in the form of heat-ray shooting tripod machines and other brutal threats. What was a science fiction novel on that world had been true on the other world, with some notable differences.

 

On the AlternateEarth of the 2030s the teleport-gates, and other True Illuminati technologies, came to be of interest to certain human factions. The New Utopians demanded that people stay away from True Illuminati sites and not use the teleport-gates but they were being ignored as various governments, corporations and other factions began to realize the potential of such things.

 

The fighting continued in Washington DC and in other places around the world thanks to the new DystopianLords, who were once UtopianLords. Two false invasions, and one true invasion, were being carried out by the DystopianLords so as it make it more difficult for others to know where they hoped to establish new colonies. It was turning out that the DystopianLord invasion of North America was most like the real one for far more resources were being used there, by the invaders, than anywhere else. The Union of America was fighting back but then the New Confederacy launched an invasion against the UA and the Union Americans were waging a war on two fronts. Why did the Conferate Americans invade at that moment? It later came out that the New Confederate Government made a deal with the DystopianLords but many of their own people did not like the idea and so matters were soon to change there. The UtopianLords, and Unity, were soon assisting the Union Americans, along with others around the world, to fight the DystopianLords.

 

Yet the fighting was diminished by one consistent factor; the lack of resources to wage war with, especially some vital resources.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0051: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

SamWaSam had gained much information, so much so that he had to absorb it properly, think it over and discuss it with others. He was given only keep up duties for a while as he had a series of talks with HarmonyGuardian specialists of different kinds including scientists, scholars and psychologists. He even spoke to some odd specializations such as psychospiritualists and paranormal physicists. It was soon clear to him that Unity was struggling to comprehend what was going on even as he was trying to relearn things.

 

More green fogs had appeared in the hidden sections of HarmonyCity but the real trouble was rising in the Undercity. SamWaSam had not spent as much time down in the great complexity of the Undercity as he had in the Overcity, HarmonyCity proper, or even the MiddleCity that was where much of the great service-support network-systems functions including the Harmony Subway Networks, which was but one name for them. SamWaSam was gaining, regaining, strength in old abilities and 'new' abilities.

 

SamWaSam was reunited with his comrades TelPoTae and RonStopBal, who he had been with at the start of the troubles at the big corpse recycling centre. They moved in assault power armor, threading along a big Undercity tunnel in the dim glow of cheap but ever lasting fluroslabs, past the huddled forms of muties clumped together for mutual protection, affection and warmth. SamWaSam wished strongly that he could do something for the muties, very strongly, and as he kept moving past groups of muties, he noticed that more and more they were watching him approach and then go past. The eyes that watched him gleamed with hope and surprise that he should care about them.

 

They left the muties behind and went through a defense security checkpoint guarded by HarmonyTroopers that were fighting infantry of the HarmonyArmy. There was only the army as the main force for there was no real need for an air force or a navy inside HarmonyCity. The HarmonyArmy had its aquatic, marine and air services where they were needed and could be used. The HarmonyArmy had not even existed a few decades back and now it was steadily expanding at a surprising rate as HarmonyCity became more and more troubled. Increasing in size were also the HarmonyGuardians and the HarmonyGuards that supported them along with the HarmonyPolice with its many branches. Other efforts were being put into place to try to improve matters but the crisis was slowly, steadily growing anyway.

 

The HarmonyTroopers were not of Unity, were typical programmed conditioned citizens who saw the HarmonyLords as living gods and goddesses. They did not question their orders, did not think much, if at all, beyond the restricted roles that they were placed in. The great majority of humans, and others in HarmonyCity, were like that.

 

After the defense security checkpoint they were in officially more dangerous territory. They had gone from a Yellow Zone into an Orange Zone. Officially one had to be wary but danger should not be too great. Trouble was that events had overtaken the rezoning took place every so often. Unofficially the Orange Zone had become an Amber Zone. Beyond that was Red and then Black, being abandoned. SamWaSam had learned, to his deep surprise, that there were five large Black Zones that the HarmonyLords did not even attempt to control. He had also learned of the so called DisharmonyLords, crazed and evil HarmonyLords exiled to the Black Zones. The Zone Color Codes went White, Green, Yellow, Orange, Amber, Red, Black. White Zones were those inhabited only by the HarmonyLords, HarmonySublords and HarmonyOnes.

 

The tunnel continued onwards and looked much the same but there were no more clumps of muties waiting patiently for Carekeepers to come along with welfare of food, blankets, some medical services and other stretched resources. Surprisingly this was not because of the indifference of the HarmonyLords but because nearly all resources of HarmonyCity were becoming stretched. The more SamWaSam learned about the situation, the more concerned that he became.

 

Why was he there? Because he could 'sense' things that others could not 'sense' and he had been drawn there. Yet he had to go in such a way as not to draw too much attention to himself. If he went with a small army guarding him, the HarmonyLords might start to wonder just why that was. The HarmonyLife Faction, and its allies, were not the concern; the HarmonyPurity Faction, and its allies, were. The moderate HarmonyBalance Factions were increasingly turning against the increasingly dark actions of the HarmonyPurity Faction that was losing most of its allies for the same reason.

 

SamWaSam halted suddenly and walked to where there was a curious burned patch on one wall. As he got closer, the more disturbing was the mark to him. It was a large splash mark but it was not a natural burn mark at all. It was left by some kind of undeathly energies. It was a deliberate act of something 'marking' its territories. SamWaSam frowned, felt anger, and there was a flash of yellow energies. The stain vanished. The two other HarmonyGuardians were impressed and a little fearful.

 

SamWaSam spoke. "Perhaps I should not have done that for it might warn the undead thing out there that something powerful is hunting it. Yet I could not let this mark go. Now I know why those muties, who are a lot tougher than they might appear to be, are not in this area. This is no longer an Orange Zone but an Amber Zone."

 

The other HarmonyGuardians were of Unity and the warning got passed on, in Unity's way. SamWaSam did not even pretend to understand Unity and Unity was the same way with him; thus some real understanding was arising anyway.

 

TelPoTae looked up along the tunnel in the direction they had been heading. "I have information from Unity: a HarmonyTrooper Platoon, on patrol, has failed to report in on schedule. This would not not normally be of critical concern except for the other disturbing reports that have gone into local HarmonyArmy HQ. A mound of strangely dessicated mutie corpses, drained of fluid and much flesh, have been found by HarmonyRangers."

 

HarmonyRangers were elite HarmonyTroopers. It was a sign of the troubles in the area that an elite unit would be sent in when such were under great demand. SamWaSam began to move again. Then he was running lightly, as were the others, partly carried along by their power armor suits. Something flickered ahead, something greyish and troubling. SamWaSam prepared his triplegun for firing, as did the others also in seconds, and the three of them fanned out. As far as combat skills went, HarmonyGuardians were elite of elite but they were cautious anyway. Over confidence was a very good reason for getting killed or worse.

 

The thing darted out into the open, grey skinned, undead, a zombie but it wore the standard infantry power armor of a HarmonyTrooper. It was an intelligent, aggressive zombie of the kind known as a zomber. Yet SamWaSam doubted that the former human had left the undeathly mark for it was not as powerful as that other one was. The undead HarmonyTrooper raised his triplegun and fired off a grenadeshell. The HarmonyGuardians utilized tech that no HarmonyTroopers got to use and which they only got to use some times; they threw up a deflector field forward of the three of them. The grenadeshell exploded ahead of the fast moving HarmonyGuardians, the shrapnel and concussive force being hurled back by the deflector shield. Then the three dropped the shield, a combination of three shields, so they could return fire. Three xolasergun pulsebeams struck the zomber and destroyed it so that it burned away with amazing speed as if with spontaneous combustion. The power armor, gun, and other equipment fell to the hard floor.

 

They checked the power armor and confirmed that the zomber was one of the missing HarmonyTroopers. SamWaSam was not pleased for he had 'sensed' that some kind of undeathly intelligent had been guiding, though not controlling, the zomber and that the intelligent zombie had been acting as a scout for that hidden intelligence. 'It' had become alerted to the threat of HarmonyGuardians in the area, a far greater threat to it than regular HarmonyTroopers were. They reported in the location of the destroyed zomber and its dropped gear so that, hopefully, a well protection investigation team might study what was there.

 

They continued deeper into the area, coming across a big hub-chamber half filled with big humming machines and intersecting a big utility tunnel along which ran large gurgling pipes full of water or other kinds of fluid. SamWaSam kept them moving in the same direction they had already been taking. He had little hope that any of the HarmonyTroopers had survived of the missing platoon.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0052: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

SamWaSam, and his two comrades, left the big tunnel and entered into a network of smaller, yet still fairly large, tunnels. These were more off different appearance, the layout being a three dimensional grid of grids, being dotted with utility chambers filled with autorobotic network-systems of service-support machinery serving HarmonyCity. Small to medium roboremotes hummed about the place being dumb-robots controlled by hidden, secured AI-supercomputers. They got into the grid-cube only by using special security codes but as they went through it, SamWaSam 'sensed' that which drew him had been there.

 

But what was drawing him, how and why? He 'sensed' no evil.

 

Then he was leading the three of them into a big curious chamber that was not a typical utility chamber in layout at all. There were colorful beanbags and cushioned heaped in one corner, all metal fittings and furnishings were padded with bright, warm colors, and there was a row of odd autodispensers along one wall. In another corner were heaped colorful toys, dollies, playing blocks, story books and much else of the kind. There were a series of colorful bathtubs, of different sizes, running along one wall along with what seemed to be toilets and wash-basins. Then there were three colored doors in yet another wall. His companions obviously 'sensed' something odd about the chamber but SamWaSam 'sensed' that there was something very unusual in that play, very powerful and oddly 'young'.

 

SamWaSam closed the door they had come through, put his triplegun on a big colorful table, along with his helmet. Then he looked around with a big smile and spoke quite loudly. "Wow, wow.... look at all of the wonderful toys! I could play here for ever and ever, I could. Wonderful little boys and girls must love it so very much. Gosh!"

 

With a flicker of motion the small baby boy figure, slim and with small sharply bright eyes, appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He was all of twenty-one centimetres tall, was dressed in a special jumpsuit with small boots, his skin was cool light blue green and his head was hairless, his eyes bright blue green and he studied the three HarmonyGuardians carefully but most of all he studied SamWaSam. Then he was gone with another flicker of motion. A small dolly vanished from the pile of items in that corner. SamWaSam looked curious and the other two looked amazed.

 

SamWaSam spoke matter of factly, as if such things happened all the time. "SpeediEe is his name and he is semiautonomous to the whole of a special Unity focused on a small, very young, living-goddess."

 

RonStopBal was clearly amused. "Looked something like a neobaby clone."

 

Neobabies were cloned to stay baby like all of their life for many purposes such as expensive pets, substitutes for normal children, actors in mass entertainment networks and other functions, some of them rather dark. In HarmonyCity the cloning of neobabies and other neoclones was heavily regulated and restricted so that normally they were only found in the White Zones with the HarmonyLords themselves. The HarmonyLife Faction was most ardent in its protection of such neoclones and the HarmonyPurity Faction judged neoclones as inferior lifeforms suitable for exploitation.

 

"What we saw was a current taken up shapeform and a reflection of our intrinsic expectations." SamWaSam responded calmly and then smiled. "Like Little Andy and Friends at 3DTV-012C4."

 

RonStopBal shook his head. "I prefer watching Baby Gladiators at 3DTV-128F2, myself."

 

TelPoTae snorted. "We need to focus on more practical matters; anyway I think Lillies of Sweetness is a much better neobaby show."

 

RonStopBal gave TelPoTae a fake look of disgust but then he shrugged. "Okay, back to business! Is this what you were drawn to, SamWaSam?"

 

"Yes, in a secondary manner, but no in a primary manner." SamWaSam shook his head in wonder. "SpeediEe gave me some information, in a most curious form of empathic-telepathy. The one is is linked to, that he serves, is powerful but fragile, clever but naive, has protection but is being hunted. This one is somehow linked to the creation of the Great Sphere, as are my people and myself. There is something very wrong here. A living-goddess baby should not be away from its kind. Yet it is but one aspect of a great deal of wrongness here in the Great Sphere but not just in the Great Sphere but beyond it. Before I became SamWaSam I lived outside of the Great Sphere for many centuries. Twice did I encounter true living gods and goddesses. Once they disdained me when I was arrogant and once did they accept me when I had become humble, or at least far more humble than I had been. Memories are returning of many world. In a 'straight relative sense' I am over three thousand years old. Never once have I heard of a baby living-god or living-goddess being away from its kind as this one seems to be. It must be protected and assistance is needed to do so."

 

The SWS-TransCube appeared out of mid air with a soft sparkling shimmer. SamWaSam turned and smiled at it and spoke. "Aaahhh, yes, it is in fine working condition. This is what is needed. Will one of you assist me to bring in half the toys, beanbags and other items from the corners, into the TransCube. The silvery door is there. As long as I wish it, you can just pass through it, ghost like. You can take turns to have a look inside but I need one of you out here, at least, in case the small one, or another, returns. The TransCube projects greater protection into the chamber, now."

 

SamWaSam went into the TransCube with TelPoTae first and they stopped in a large metallic silvery chamber that was fairly bare and hard looking. Except that is for one wall that was a great big brightly colored mural of a mishmash view of what seemed like an AlternateEarth. There was a forest, an active volcano, incredibly tall and elegant skyscrapers, floating domed cities, great floating luxury liners, huge statues that slowly moved and much else. The mural was 3D in appearance and steadily, slowly changed in many ways as new scenes replaced old scenes, as perspectives on scenes changed.

 

SamWaSam sighed. "Our original Home AlternateEarth, that is of the Eternals and the Lord Factions." He clicked his fingers and another wall shimmered, changing as storage alcoves formed in it along with five doors. "We put everything in the alcoves in the same order they were put into the corners, roughly speaking. Tell me about RonStopBal."

 

She gave him an odd look. "I have not known him much longer than you have. He is a quiet young man, a very good HaromyGuardian though not in your class. Very few are in your class. You earned the envy of most of us even in the start of HarmonyGuardian training. It does not surprise me that you are some kind of living god."

 

"No, Eternals are not living gods or goddesses, especially False Eternals as my people are, or as I fear we are." He put the stuff he had brought into one alcove as TelPoTae put her stuff into another. "Anything odd about him that is hard to explain, that is subtle?"

 

She shrugged. "He does not seem to be sexually attracted to women or to men. At first I thought he might be homosexual but homosexual men I talked to were quick to negate that idea. Some times, not very often, he says things that do not quite fit, that do not quite make sense. He will be wondering where we are."

 

SamWaSam sighed. "As I feared, he is not what he appears to be! I suggest strongly that you stay here while I go and have a talk with him outside of the TransCube. One of those doors leads to a small autodiner, another to a set of body-cubicles, a third to sleep-cubicles. There are adjoining doors between them. Time passes here in the TransCube more quickly than it does outside so he will not be wondering why we are taking too much time, at least not yet. The small one, SpeediEe, did not stop because he feared RonStopBal; not greatly but he did so. He liked you and was a little wary of me though he also liked me. The other two doors will open for you in an emergency, as will other doors inside the three chambers I have spoken of. I will see you soon."

 

She watched him, concerned, as he left the TransCube.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0053: Of SamWaSam and Others

 

RonStopBal was standing where he had been before, looking as he had been before, and he nodded at SamWaSam as he came out of the TransCube. "The TransCube will be a fine resource! Where is TelPoTae?"

 

SamWaSam sighed. "Where you can not hurt her, RonStopBal! Or should I say 'something' that is shapeformed as RonStopBal. What happened to the real RonStopBal? It was the real RonStopBal that I met and served with at the corpse recycling plant (in the Rejection Zone, also known as the Rejection Slums, of HarmonyCity). Then I was sent to do other duties away from the real RonStopBal. During that time you replaced him but... aaahhh, I 'sense' the truth now. You are one of the FactionLords. I suspect a HarmonyLord but of what Faction; are you HarmonyLife, HarmonyPurity, of the three HarmonyBalance Factions or of one of the Lesser Factions?"

 

The false RonStopBal grinned and changed with a sparkling shimmer to become a black armor clad humanoid showing a red-disk on the forehead with a glowing red crystal inserted into it and the skull behind it. All the rest was pitch black from head to foot and either smooth or finely scaled. The one spoke. "AntiEternal Assassin hunting down cursed scum like you who brought this curse upon us! Was the TruthLords who brought me to awareness of your crimes, as they have brought others to the same glorious awareness. RonStopBal is in good condition as he is not of the True Evil as you are."

 

SamWaSam sighed again. "Poor brain washed fool! You were captured, maltreated until too weak to resist and brain washed until you fell under the influence of the, falsely named, TruthLords."

 

The AntiEternal Assassin grinned some more. "No, I needed somebody to hate and I went looking to serve the TruthLords who provided me with all the reasons I need to hate and kill. I am not alone! We together will be enough to destroy you."

 

SamWaSam shook his head. "No, not really! That false TelPoTae is already inside a capture field gently, but firmly, holding her in status while the brain-washing program-conditioning is slowly, steadily erased from her mind. She will need much healing and she will be very angry with the TruthLords when she awakes, as will her Lord Faction, if she has one."

 

"Her?" The assassin grinned some more. "The power-gem infused into my mind, melded to my brain, makes me super powerful. There is also another out there, close. He will come soon."

 

SamWaSam shook his head. "Now I truly begin to comprehend what you are and I pity you. You are a FactionLordite, a cloned FactionLord of lesser immortality and exotic abilities. You have been program-conditioned to believe in many deep falsehoods. The brain-gem enhances your power but at the price of increasing mental instability and a greatly reduced life span."

 

With amazing speed and a scream of rage, the AntiEternal Assassin attacked, striking out with a pointed fist wrapped in sparkling energies. SamWaSam deflected away the blow with a quick, subtle strike and struck back. The two of them used minimal movement, motionless motion, effortless effort, flowing back and forth with incredible speed and agility. The assassin began to loose his cool, his empty mindedness, and made mistakes. SamWaSam struck him and the assassin fell.

 

SamWaSam carried him into the TransCube to place him into a healing status capsule identical to the one that held the false TelPoTae in another chamber. Two clones were soon tending to the captive LordClone, being young women in jumpsuits, slipboots and webbing of pouch dotted belts along with transparent bubble-helmets. They had already acknowledged SamWaSam's presence in an empathic-telepathic fashion as he had them. He could have simply killed the two assassins and would have been justified as far as the rather stark, and brutal, Compact-Coda went. SamWaSam had never much liked the Compact-Coda between Eternals and FactionLords and also between FactionLords. It allowed for too much brutality and lack of any real compassion.

 

The TruthLords lied about almost everything that was important. They even lied about their true purpose and history! As a Lord Faction they were relatively new and quite mysterious but it was generally known they had been created by a darker and more powerful Lord Faction or some other threat. SamWaSam wondered if they had been created by one of the dark factions of the False Eternals, his people. The very worst had been sent into the Great Nothingness a very long time ago.

 

SamWaSam took a MiniTransCube, full of useful items, from the TransCube and then made the TransCube vanish. Now he was just SamWaSam the HarmonyGuardian once more. He looked around the curious room with its colorful doors. What had RonStopBal tried to do there while SamWaSam was in the TransCube? What was there anyway?

Edited June 21, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0054: Of Others

 

Fringe departed from Washington DC, now being overwhelmed by the DystopianLords and their military forces, going into the cave system and then the hidden True Illuminati Complex where the teleport-gate was that had been used to take some of them all the way from Australia. Refugees, including soldiers, had been retreating steadily from the capital city. Gun fire could be heard at times and aircraft flew overhead now and then but it was generally accepted that the Union of America had suffered from a decisive defeat in that area. The Union Americans of New England, with assistance from the UtopianLords and Unity, had driven back an invasion force so the UA was still strong, had new industrial sectors in New England along with other newer technological resources there.

 

Walter and Astrid welcomed Peter, Olivia, Nina and the others into the True Illuminati Complex. The Fringe Agency would go to Australia and then try to find a way to open the teleport-gate there to the one near Boston. Union Americans could escape to Australia in hopes of also going to New England. The plans were hastily made for it was not hard to guess that the DystopianLords would know where the Washington DC True Illuminati Complex, and the teleport-gate, was hidden; they would be sending military forces to the cave system in the new future or so they figured.

 

But another decision was made. A small team would make its way across to New England, from Washington DC, in what ever way they could do so. Before the USA collapsed the traveling would have been a matter of driving a car or paying for an airline or railway ticket. The collapse, the vanishings, the chaos, had put and end to that to a great degree and the DystopianLord invasion would mean it would be a matter of stealth and speed.

 

Union Americans, along with a few foreigners who had been in Washington DC for many reasons, were busy going to the teleport-gate and taking with them what they could; that is equipment, supplies and other items along with such as livestock and pets. Though some tried to state otherwise, or believed so, most people there assumed that it would be extremely hard to take back Washington DC from the invaders.

 

A team set out for Boston with both Olivia and Peter along with their clone-daughter and the son of Scully and Mulder, who were actually in Boston. They had recently gotten there after coming in an airship from Eastern Canada. They moved with only light weaponry and body-armor concealed as much as possible by the local outdoors type gear they wore. They looked like hikers with their civilian type backpacks but carried military style automatic weapons. They passed through weather, and climate change, devastated rural areas where semiwilderness had reclaimed much of the old inhabited areas. As they kept on moving, they noted odd new plants growing in areas that none of them could seem to identify though most plants and animals were of the known kinds, both native and feral.

 

The others passed through the teleport-gate, moving as quickly as they could in a big column. They flooded into the big complex in far off Australia, taking people there by surprise and yet the refugees were soon being made as welcome as possible. When the last person had passed through, the last animal, the last object and anything needed, TT-John sealed up the teleport-gateway from the Australian side, the 'gateway' being the connection between the active two teleport-gates. The Tommy Tomkins clone worked with great speed and efficiency to make sure that nothing could force its way through from the teleport-gate in Washington DC.

 

Even as the team kept moving through plantations gone wild, they heard jet-aircraft fighting each other high overhead. It turned out that the DystopianLords had taken over the use of jet fighters that they had caught still on the ground, often still in their hangers, so quickly and suddenly had the invasion come. Yet somebody was still willing to fight them, that was evident, and had the power to do so. There was an explosion as a jet aircraft struck the ground not even a kilometre away from where the team was moving. The only good thing was that unseasonal rains had made it less likely that the explosion would cause a big forest fire.

 

They were avoiding the site of the jet crash, fearing it might draw the wrong kind of attention, when Olivia 'sensed' the presence of strange life that was not like the exotic globe dotted bushes that they had seen earlier. The twelve of them halted, fanned out a little, and became alert for trouble. Olivia stood there and tried to 'find' what she had 'sensed'. Then they appeared for just a moment, three humans in curious head to toe leathery armor and with exotic biological looking devices that Walter would classify as biomechanical, perhaps. Two were women, one a man, this being evident thanks to the tightness and relative thinness of the outfits.

 

Olivia shook her head in wonder. "They were humans, like us, once but they were transformed. They vanished from this world. They were amongst those that vanished into the white glowing mists. They were humans from our world..." She was understandably surprised looking. "I had some brief, very hard to describe, form of psychic linkage with them. They had not all the vanished went to the same place or experienced the same types of transformations but all were changed somehow. They say they were sent here to look around, to pick up samples of life and to plant seeds for the globe-bushes and other exotic plants. They do not know why they were requested, strongly, to plant the seeds but they have faith in the GlowingMist Entities that they sometimes call the Aeiou, being of many sub-kinds of the kind of entity. The relationship between the Aeiou, the GlowingMist and the transformed humans, along with others only hinted at, seems to be a quite exotic one quite unlike any human ones we are familiar with."

 

Jacko, the shapeshifter, nodded. "Nor perhaps like any that we non-humans are familiar with."

 

"My apologies, Jacko, for taking you for granted as human." Olivia sighed. "They warned me that strange, dangerous entities are moving towards us with body-armor and guns. I suggest we move."

 

So, smartly enough, they did so. As they kept going through the North American landscape, they came upon large globe-bushes dotted with many softly glowing, organic crystal looking spheres. Olivia took some and put them away, instructing the others to do the same. She did not know how or why but she 'sensed' it was important that they did so. The globe-bushes were put there partly to provide the globes to people but why? That she did not know. So each of the twelve took three of the bush-globes, as they came to be known simply because it made basic sense that such would come from globe-bushes.

 

Peter shook his head, looking around in wonder as they moved on. "This is no longer the America that I grew up in."

 

Olivia nodded. "No, either America!"

 

Peter grinned mildly. "Yes, true, I did grow up first on one AlternateEarth and then another. Most strange. I wonder what is happening on that other AlternateEarth."

 

It was a good question but there were no answers to be found, at least not yet.

[Maharg67]

0055: Of Others

 

Maryland was no longer really Maryland at all, was abandoned by humanity except for some small settlements and outposts in bigger metropolises. Climatic change had been abnormally quick and many said it was the same for flora and fauna as if more was happening to the world than was immediately obvious. Much flora and fauna had vanished, along with nearly half of humanity, and other life had become transformed. It appeared that humans had not been greatly effected until odd reports had come into various governments and strange stories had begun to generally circulate. The Fringe Agency had taken over the old FBI X-Files and had begun to extend them in various ways. They had tried to make contact with Scully, Mulder and the Lone Gunmen but had failed to do so; when the crisis came they had to focus on more immediate needs and challenges. Now they were with the grown up son of the infamously famous pair and had learned that he had younger twin sisters.

 

It was in Maryland that the team came across curious tracks, footprints that were normal except that they were much too large and quite bare. They had stopped by a small, fast flowing brook that bubbled merrily over stones, abandoned bicycles and human skulls. They gathered water and examined the skulls. They were each drilled neatly through the forehead with a neat round hole through the forehead.

 

Olivia carefully picked up a skull and then winced. "This was a zombie! Somebody killed the zombie and then, after removing the heads, left them out close to ant nests. When the last of the meat was gone, they took the skulls and brought them to the river. The one who did this is a huge man, a giant, who walks bare footed. He is amazingly tough but fast and quiet. Once he was a typical man who lived in a town not too far from this spot. He is standing fairly close to us and is watching us."

 

Kate, the supersoldier, had already spotted him as had the other three supersoldiers. They made up one third of the dozen that made up the team. Olivia carefully put the skull back where it had been, stood and turned to face the big man who came striding out of the trees with surprising quietness. He wore make-shift clothes and a hat designed for his size and shape. In one hand he held a weapon-tool thing that had a spike that could have been used to kill zombies in the past. He had light brown skin, smooth hairless kin and big, broad features.

 

The man calmly examined those there, sniffed the air and then spoke. "One could easily take you as a dozen normal humans but no, no, you are not so." He looked to the supersoldiers. "So deadly, perhaps each more deadly than I am." He looked to Jacko. "No like us at all though altered to look like us." He turned to Olivia and Peter. "Humans gone through things that no human should go through and changed." He looked then to the others. "Standard humans but all who have suffered, have been forced to change."

 

Olivia nodded, smiled. "I am Olivia Dunham? Who are you?"

 

"WildManPete of the Maryland Giants, not to be confused with the NewYork Giants." He grinned at his own joke. "WildManPete got the Z-Virus and started to die but then came the white glowing mist. I woke up one day and I was cured but changed. The glowing white mist took the pain away, cured me, but at a price. I knew then that I had to go out and kill zombies as mercifully as I could. Yes, there was an outbreak of zombies here in Maryland about five months ago but not many knew about it and most of those that did, perished either of the sickness or by being killed by the zombies. Then we killed the zombies! I brought the skulls here of my family, my wife, my children, my parents and an uncle. They all became zombies." The giant man sighed, looked sad for a moment, then he smiled. "Then I had another name but that name is meaningless now, the new name much better fits. Where do you go?"

 

"Boston, Massachusetts, of New England of the Union of America." Peter responded. "The DystopianLords have invaded and conquered Washington DC."

 

WildManPete frowned. "Not good! Explains sounds and sights we heard and saw from High Tower Hotel, a big fancy resort tower built just before the Great Sphere arose and the vanishings began. I was the architect who designed it; it was as good as I could make it with the foolishness of the investors and the owner trying to cut costs. We do not live there for it is too easy to spot but we have a small outpost there and, sometimes, we go up there to look around or to do other things. The rich people who moved into the hotel mostly died or fled in fear but there are some who remained like former rich folk, their former employees and hotel employees."

 

Olivia spoke. "Did a green glowing fog appear about the same time that the Z-Plague came to this area?"

 

"Yes, I saw it and some others." The big man shuddered. "Saw it, smelt it and did not like the feel of it at all. Animals ran or hid from it. It did not last for long but some people went into it, stupid arrogant young rich men who wanted to prove to themselves, and each other, how tough they were. They came out as zombies and there were strange, green creatures. Both helped spread the Z-Plague but many of the green creatures were eaten by local snakes. The reptiles do not seem to be easily turned into undead."

 

The shooting sounds began from the south, muffled by distance and geographical features. The gunfire was of automatic weapons. There were also some explosions. They also picked up some odd humming noises. It had begun as if just a skirmish but was quickly building to sound like a fair sized battle raging in the semiwilderness. Something shot overhead but they only got a glimpse of what looked to be an advanced supersonic multirole fighter jet. It was probably a F33 Super Raptor, a development of the more common F22 Raptors.

 

The big man looked none too pleased, for obviously good reasons. "Come with me! Not only will we be safer to go where I can take you but I think there is something there that you will want to see. Oh, have you run into the funny elemental humans planting strange plants like those globe-bushes and those sparkle-trees?"

 

Olivia nodded. "I made curious mind contact with them."

 

The big man grinned mildly. "Yes, you would do so and so did I! Elemental humans serve the Aeiou of the GlowingMist. Most curious, most curious indeed. The thing that I would show you is to do with them, I think. I am not very smart in all ways but perhaps you can help us work out what is going on."

 

They set out again, this time with their new companion. As they threaded through the landscape, they passed slowly decaying remnants of civilization, some in better repair than others. Wildlife was flourishing, both native and feral, was reclaiming the world as lost to humanity. They moved along a degrading highway where many motor vehicles had been on the move when the occupants had vanished, being not just humans. The vehicles had crashed dramatically into each other, leaving behind an amazing array of wreckage, some of it burned out. A few vehicles survived more intact than others. Then the big man took them away from the highway and along a small dirt road that was fairly well looked after.

 

[Maharg67]

0056: Of Others

 

The dirt road ended in a stockade surrounded settlement that had once been a camping grounds complete with ablution blocks with solar hot water systems, a small power station with solar power arrays, an office block, cabins, caravans, mobile-homes and some tents, along with some other buildings. Everything was reinforced and tied down as much as possible, the caravans and mobile-homes being up on blocks. Sandbag walls surrounded homes and buildings. A big wall mural showed naked people happily frolicking in the sunshine, indicating what people used the site for. Nobody there was naked now.

 

WildManPete led the others to what had been a visitor centre where they had probably been met by a clothed representative of the nudist place. It was now a cluttered multiple purpose place. On a big metal table, which was otherwise clear, lay a human figure that was exotic of nature being a woman who was translucent, yellow and glowed softly from within. She was breathing slowly and seemed to be okay. There were some locals there, mostly being human but three being exotic as WildManPete was.

 

The big surprise was that there was Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, John Doggett and Monica Reyes, along with some others, in grey green survival fatigues as sold by specialist survival shops, many of which still functioned. Paul Mulder Scully went forward to meet his parents, who welcomed him warmly. John and Monica clearly also knew him well. The other five with survival fatigues were a three women, who looked like identical triplets, and two men who looked like identical twins. The 'twins' and 'triplets' could have been siblings to each other.

 

There were some brief introductions all around and some brief explanations of what was happening with both groups. It turned out that Mulder and Scully had come to investigate sightings of elemental humans and elemental beasts. The sightings were all in that area of former Maryland. They had also come about stories of transformed humans, like WildManPete, and stories of zombies. Yet there was another reason for them going there.

 

Dana Scully, a doctor who had specialized in forensics medicine, sighed. "The solar elemental human was found only about three kilometres from here. I do not even understand how she functions, let alone how to fix her. She seems to be in a deep unconscious state but that might not be the case."

 

The USA had converted from the American Imperial measuring system to the metric measuring system in the late 2010s. Many had not liked it but pressures of advanced tech and economic globalization had forced it to happen.

 

Peter Bishop studied the glowing yellow figure. "We met some human physical elementals. They had some kind of brief empathic-telepathic link with Olivia."

 

Olivia nodded. "They have some kind of link with some entities called the Aeiou."

 

WildManPete nodded. "Yes, with the Aeiou of the GlowingMist! I want to show these people the Magic Wardrobe."

 

Scully smiled. "Yes, the strange artifact that was found out in the forest. It looks like a cube shaped wardrobe, heavy wooden and ornate, with the same layout on each of the four sides being a pair of mirrored doors, a set of shelves and nine evenly spaced square cupboards, three by three, with doors. The people brought it into the settlement with some difficulty. One main reason we came here was to look at the artifact because there were X-File stories on it, being linked to many strange events."

 

"Like the magical wardrobe in the novel called the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis." Olivia smiled. "A set of novels that I truly did enjoy."

 

Scully smiled. "Yes, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed reading the Narnia Novels. Are you testing us? I am the really Dana Scully and this is the real Fox Mulder."

 

"But like your son, here, you are not actually from this AlternateEarth. You flicker in a way that I have seen others do, before." Olivia shook her head just a little. "You come from the AlternateEarth where Walter Bishop was the State Secretary of the USA. The one that Peter Bishop, here, was actually born on. They have been gaining new rejuvenation treatments there. They closed down their version of the MassDynamic Corporation but kept on developing their special technologies. If you are here, what of those from the other Fringe?"

 

Scully shook her head. "We escaped from that other AlternateEarth after the development of stabilization between our two worlds enough for some real alternate gateways to be created between them. We escaped from there because something strange and terrible is happening on that world. They are not being invaded by the Great Sphere but by another threat that may be linked to it. That other Walter Bishop is now the President of the United States of America. They say he gained much of the secret knowledge of that world's MassDynamic Corporation and that with the new emergency powers he has a great deal of power, authority, wealth and influence. He has created many new shapeshifters and related creatures along with cyborgs, power armored soldiers, deadly roboremotes and much else. The military and paramilitary forces have many new technologies to use as do the civil services. When President Walter Bishop sent his people after us, we fled from that world to come to this one. Why? Because President Bishop is just as much a threat, in his own way, as is the force attacking that world."

 

She went on. "They appear out of nowhere as ground level moving 'clouds' of glowing green fog and from them come glowing green monsters. They first appeared in Central Australia but have emerged in North Africa, Central America, Mongolia and a few other places. Humans, and some animals, that die in them have a chance of becoming zombies or other monsters. Now we know that the same threat has been appearing here but with less frequency and less power, it seems. There have also been appearances of the glowing white mists that transform life, including humans. Official reports, and unofficial stories, speak of clashes of the glowing white mists and green glimmering fogs, strange battles of armies of creatures and great energy storms."

 

The yellow glowing, translucent woman opened her eyes and spoke. "There is much to tell you and yet I can only tell you so much. You need to take me to the 'Magic Wardrobe' that you spoke of but only after I get something from the exterior of the Magic Wardrobe." Then she closed her eyes again.

 

A group went to where the 'Magic Wardrobe' was held in an underground chamber, a basic survival shelter made by the long vanished owner of the nudist park. It had been changed to serve the whole community as part of an ever expanding, upgrading, underground network. The two metre high and wide cube was indeed a strange Late Victorian style heavy wooden wardrobe in appearance but with four sides looking like the same wardrobe front in layout.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0057: Of the LittleFatFamily and Others

 

They went into the 'Magic Wardrobe' through a set of the mirror faced doors and into a cube shaped room that looked like the exterior turned inside out. The ceiling was like the roof, the sides were like the outsides with the same layouts of mirrored double doors, sets of drawers and small cupboards. A small group fitted into the cubechamber with the solar elemental human on a stretcher. The others looked amazed around themselves, 'sensing' that appearances were deceptive, that despite seeming impossible that all the drawers and cupboards would open to show spaces going seeming where none should be. Peter Bishop closed the doors behind them and there was a soft sparkling shimmer that ran through the lot of them.

 

The softly glowing yellow woman climbed slowly to her feet, smiled at them and spoke. "Welcome to the LittleFatHome that is also known as the MagicWardrobe, the TransWardrobe and many other names. Its appearance as a wardrobe is for a mixture of disguise and convenience but it can take other appearances, even outer shapes and sizes. Wardrobes are actually quite practical a device and many types of beings use them, though by different names. Now to find out where to go next. The TransWardrobe is much bigger inside than out but also has many transdimensional layers and zones, sublayers and subzones, and so on. It is extremely ancient and the LittleFatFamily do not speak of it much. So, where next?"

 

One set of mirrored doors began to glow softly, as if from the mirror reversed realm. The doors then swung open and showed a huge cubechamber that stretched out into the distance at 64 metres high and wide. It was filled up with raised platforms, half-decks, rampways, walkways, statues, furniture, fittings, decorations, domed gardens, small robots of different kinds, curious looking animals and much else. Amazed, except for the elemental woman, they walked into that bigger chamber and the doors closed behind them, then the mirrored surfaces on that side stopped glowing. They stood looking around in amazement.

 

A big softly glowing, blue colored, winged ape like creature stopped above them, perched on a metallic stone beam, and then chattered in some language to the solar elemental woman. She replied back in the same language and then the entity took off.

 

She explained. "I am SolarElevia of the Solar Elementans of the Solar Elementors of the Elementals of Phase, Life, Solar and the Living of Mind, Body and Spirit. Each of the four general types of elementals is divided into humanoid tool using elementans and more animal elementars. There are about as twice as many elementars as there are elementans. We elementals do not know why this is so. The LittleFatWoman once told us that patterns can change but that this one suits us, here and now, at least until changes comes as needed. Often their answers lead only to more questions that they do not always answer or answer with answers that lead yet to more questions. It can be frustrating but they are tied by constraints of their own. They say, in their own ways, that they could easily do more harm than good so they must take care in what they do and say."

 

SolarElevia led them through the great cubechamber, past where floating globe-robots were busy tending to various bits of machinery, through a domed subtropical garden, up a gently sloping rampway from the floor level, along a wide walkway lined on one side with giant medieval suits of armor except that the armor glowed softly as did the shields and weapons. They came to overlooking a great dome and inside the great dome were arrayed beds. Sleeping in the big, comfortable beds were a small fat man, woman, boy, girl, two babies and some others less easy to describe. Around them, sleeping on mats or perches, were large animals and birds. There were also some small dragons, elegantly powerful looking, with folded wings, and some other mythological type creatures both known and unknown by the group.

 

SolarElevia sighed. "The dome is an illusion. There is far more than just a dome between us and them but this way their peoples can look upon them and be reassured for them and themselves. I find it reassuring to look upon them healthily sleeping, for them, for me and for the others. Are they really what they seem to be? We do not know and we do not care! They are one of the truly powerful positive forces in the MultipleEarth, of AlternateEarths, trying to serve and protect life against unleashed dangerous forces of immense power. We need them and they need us, it seems."

 

Peter Bishop spoke. "Can we help them in any way?"

 

The elemental woman replied. "Yes, by serving life, by trying to do the best you can to create a better future for humanity with less destruction and self-destruction to its nature." She sighed. "They fought a great battle on an AlternateEarth that they both won and lost, that they both lost and won, as they stated it before they began a long healing sleep. There are lesser avatars of them being busy, along with followers, all being 'family'. We do what we can while they regenerate, rejuvenate and gather energies. Not all elementals of our kind, being elementants, serve the LittleFatFamily or were created by them in various ways. I came to that AlternateEarth to investigate what elementants were doing there, why they were there, serving the Aeiou of the GlowingMist. While the Aeiou are not evil, they are not as wise or as brilliant as they consider themselves to be. They are not truly of the GlowingMist and dwell at its transdimensional edges, 'far away' from the GlowingFog at the core of the GlowingMist. They were once Lesser Eternals, some where between Eternals and FactionLords, on the same AlternateEarth that Tommy Tomkins comes from. I get the 'sense' that you know of him. This place has a way of influencing our knowledge in surprising ways."

 

Olivia Dunham spoke. "Tommy Tomkins is supposed to be over three thousand years old."

 

The elemental woman shook her head with a wry expression on her face. "Tommy Tomkins, and his kind, can say the truth in a misleading way. In 'straight relative terms' that is true but he is more like over 300,000 years of age. You be careful with him and his kind; some of them are far from evil but are driven by ancient, deep fear, guilt and pain. Many of these 'False Eternals' have been driven insane or into deep darkness or both. Tommy Tomkins has not been one of them and often fights his own kind along with the darker of the FactionLords. He would also be wary of the Aeiou though he would not consider them to be evil. He, and his twin sister, along with others, assisted the LittleFatFamily in the big battle and put themselves at risk in doing so. They also 'won and lost but lost and won'. We must leave now but we can use the outer most facilities of the TransWardrobe and the Outer Chamber, one of many, which we first entered for it has certain regenerative, rejuvenative and other special qualities."

Edited June 23, 2012 by Maharg67