A.R.: Beyond the Universe

Sara leads Alex to the chute. At first, Alex thinks she had meant the same man-made beach they had walked on the previous day at the Complex. When the door of the chute slides open, Alex sees not the beach but what looks like a hangar bay. He sees different versions of the HC and several odd-looking craft floating at a dock on a small lake. When she heads one of the smaller water craft, Alex gives her a very questioning look.

“Just what are you up to?” he asks.

“You’ll see,” she says with a grin.

They walk down the dock and stop at a small, sleeker-looking craft. It reminds Alex of the fancy high-speed boats he used to see on Miami Vice, but it was completely enclosed and had no windows.

Alex watches as Sara touches several buttons on a touch pad on the top of the craft. Just like the doors at the main entrance to the Complex, Alex had no idea that there was a hatch there until it started opening. Sara climbs in, followed by a curious Alex.

As Sara sits at what Alex determines are the controls, the hatch above them closes and seals itself as a slight hissing sound is heard. Two screens light up in from of Sara as she takes a ball that slides out of the wall beside her. As she holds the ball in her right hand, on a lit pad slides out of the wall. As she places her left hand on the pad, Alex watches a monitor to see the dock moving away from them. They are backing up, moving away from the dock. As in the HC, Alex would have had no idea they were moving except by looking at the monitors. He determines that this thing must have the same inertia dampening system found in the HC and the chute. That’s why he has no feeling of motion or movement in the craft.

Alex watches the monitor to see water rising around them. This tells him they are sinking below the water.

“Sara, we’re in a sub? Just where are we going?”

Sara just sits there and smiles.

The small sub winds its way through narrow underwater passages until it reaches a wide, seemingly bottomless body of water. Alex can see in the monitor that there is now some form of light far above them.

“In case you’re curious, we are now in the Pacific Ocean,” she informs him.

“But we just left the Complex 10 minutes ago! How did we get here so fast?”

“This sub is equipped with a generator that creates a field which surrounds the craft and reduces friction between the sub and the water to almost zero. It moves through water like you move through air. We can attain speeds in the water that can surpass what most jets can do in the air, including the newer fighter jets.”

He lets out a long, low whistle. He had seen more in the last two days than most people will see in the next several hundred years.

It takes 10 more minutes for the small sub to reach its destination. When it surfaces, Sara opens the hatch and climbs up the short ladder, followed closed by Alex. As his eyes adjust to the bright sunlight, he sees that they are just offshore of a large beach covered with fine, black sand.

“Wow! What a view. Where are we?”

“That is a private island, owned by a company that is controlled by the Complex. It is used for getaways and vacations. So far, I’m the only one who uses it,” she tells him.

“And why is that? It looks like a great place to relax.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m the only one who knows that it is here,” she says with a sly grin.

“You’re a sneaky one. I can see I’m going to have to keep an eye on you.”

“Only one?” she asks.

“Maybe both,” he replies.

True to her word, they did indeed go for a long walk on a deserted beach, a very long beach. From what Alex sees, it looks as though goes on for miles. When they arrived, the sun was overhead, shining in a deep, blue sky. By the time they leave, it looks like there are millions of stars were overhead. Between the starlit night sky, the long walk on a soft sandy beach, the sounds of the waves, and the look in her eyes, Alex could not picture a more perfect evening.

It is well past midnight before Alex and Sara finally arrive back at his suite. When they come into the living room, he sees Lilly stretched out on the sofa, sound asleep. MacGuyver is stretched out on the floor just in front of her. As Alex walks over to check on Lilly, MacGuyver wakes up and looks at his master, as if to ask, “Did I do a good job watching her?”

Alex pets the dog and gently nudges Lilly on the shoulder to wake her up. She stirs and rubs her eyes.

“Hi, Mr. Rogers. Did everything go OK today?” Lilly asks.

“It started out a little rough, but things definitely improved as the evening progressed,” he says with a grin and looks over at Sara.

Lilly catches the look Alex gives Sara.

“OK, you two, just what have you been up to?” she asks.

“Lilly, earlier in the evening, I called your parents and told them we’d be late. They know where you are, but I suspect you ought to be heading home,” Sara tells the young girl.

She looks at Sara and then at Alex, then grins.

“OK, I know when I’m not wanted. You two behave yourselves. You’re not as young as you used to be.”

Sara opens her mouth and starts to say something to Lilly but hesitates.

“You know something?” she says to Alex. “She’s right. I’m not as young as I used to be.” She looks at Alex with an even bigger grin.

“Yeah, but that hasn’t stopped you yet, now has it?” he replies.

“Bye,” Lilly says as she goes out the front door wearing a bigger grin on her face.

“Alex, after what I saw happening to you earlier in the day, you’d better get some rest,” Sara tells Alex. “I still need to check on your exam results. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Alex wanted to ask her to spend the night.

As Sara turns to look at Alex, her eyes start to get bigger. There is a look of fear in her face.

Alex is glowing again from head to foot.

“Alex, we need to get you to the lab immediately,” she says. There is urgency in her voice that troubles Alex. He looks at a mirror and sees the same glow surrounding him that Sara had just seen. He looks back at Sara and everything he sees goes black. As he drops to the floor, not moving, the glowing slowly fades away.

Sara hurriedly calls Doc, who brings a medical team within minutes. When they bend down to pick him up, they notice that Alex has practically no weight. They put him on a gurney to take him to the second floor to the room.

They put Alex on a table and Doc tries to take his pulse. His hand goes through Alex’s wrist as if it is not there. Just as when it had happened earlier to Sara, Alex’s wrist and hand look as solid and normal as ever, but they cannot touch him. Alex is changing again.

Doc goes to a control station in the room and starts a series of machines that will scan Alex and record the data.

That is when Alex opens his eyes and bright ball of light comes out of Alex’s forehead. It rises up to about 4 feet above him and then stops. It hovers there, pulsating, as if waiting for something.

“Doc, what is it?” Sara asks. In the bright light emitted from the ball of energy, he can tell for the first time since meeting her that she is scared.

Digital readouts on all walls are now moving as sensors detect very powerful energy in the room. These digital readouts measure the massive amounts of energy converted by the power rods that go deep within the Earth’s molten mantle. Those same sensors are now detecting a massive energy surge in the room, greater than the energy stored in the earth. All the readouts show nines, a sign that the system’s energy sensors are not sufficient to measure the massive power surge it had just detected.

The light above Alex stops pulsating and sits there, hanging in the air above Alex. Then it shrinks to a point so small that all they see is a small dot of light so bright it hurts their eyes to look at it. It rises above them to 8 feet above the floor, as if waiting for something. A massive wave of energy emits from it, powerful enough to knock everyone in the room to the floor, and then it shoots up through the ceiling without leaving any damage to the structure. It quickly passes through the Complex and continues going straight up into space. Alarms are sounding all over the Complex, as if a massive emergency had just occurred. People all over the Complex stop what they are doing. Then all grows silent and dark throughout the Complex. The sensors no longer read any of the incredible energy surges that had just occurred. The alarms shut down and the lights come as the Complex restarts its systems.

As calls come into the main control room down the corridor, the staff tries to calm everyone. They tell them they have no idea what had just happened and will let them know as soon as they do.

As Sara begins to stand up, she looks at Alex. He is limp on the table and not breathing. She grabs Doc and runs to the table. Without remembering that he could not touch Alex earlier, Doc checks for a pulse and finds none. He is not breathing. They immediately act to try to revive him using CPR. Just before Doc gives Alex an injection of adrenalin in his heart, Sara sees that Alex is breathing again in very slow, long breaths. Doc holds on the injection, checks Alex’s wrist and finds a strong pulse. Alex has once again become solid and is breathing on his own.

For the next three days, Alex sleeps, not moving. He experiences nothing while asleep and has no dreams. It is as if something has drained him of everything he had to the point of death.

When Alex finally wakes up, the first thing he sees is Sara sleeping in a chair. He looks around to see that he is not in his bed but in what appears to be a hospital room. He starts to sit up, but it proves to be too painful. All his muscles start aching once he tries to use them. As he tries to move his head, he grabs it with both hands as if it were about to explode.

“Easy there, Alex. You’ve been through a lot.”

Alex looks up to see Doc coming into the room. He is followed by what appears to be a nurse in a white uniform, Dale, and another man Alex does not know.

The talking wakes Sara, who almost trips over her feet as she rushes to get up. She catches herself, hurries to Alex’s bed and looks down at him. His face is very pale and tired looking.

“You had me very worried,” she tells him in a low, quiet voice. She puts her hand on his forehead and moves the matted hair away from his face. Alex sees a look of both concern and relief on her face.

“Since we brought you in here, she’s never left your side. Hasn’t eaten a thing, either. We tried to get her to go and get something, but she wouldn’t hear of it,” Doc says.

Alex looks back at Sara. The look in her eyes is something he will never forget. Instead of the sadness he had seen earlier, he sees something more: compassion. Or maybe…

The strange man in the room breaks the silence.

“Mr. Rogers, do you have any idea what happened to you?” he asks.

Alex looks at the man to see if he can recognize him, but he has no luck.

“Alex,” Doc says. “This is Henry. He can sense other people’s emotions. He can usually tell us what is wrong with a patient before we can.”

“Hi, Alex. I know you’re not feeling well,” Henry tells him.

“Yeah, I’ve had better days. Does anyone here know what happened to me?” Alex asks pleadingly.

“Alex, do you remember anything after you blacked out at your place?” Henry asks him.

“No, it’s all a blank. Nothing there except a headache the size of Texas. Got any extra strength aspirin?”

“I think that we can do better than that,” Doc says. He walks to a tray on a table beside the bed and fills a syringe with a liquid from a small bottle. He turns to Alex and gives him the shot in his right arm.

The effect is almost immediate. There is a warming sensation in Alex’s muscles as the pain begins to subside.

“Why am I so sore? What happened?” Alex asks, hoping someone will answer.

They tell Alex everything that had happened. He has no memory of fainting or being on the second level. They tell him of the energy mass that appeared above him and how it went straight up through the ceiling and into space, but all they get from Alex is a confused look.

“Alex,” Doc explains, “when you blacked out at your place, Henry knew it. He was in his living room reading when he felt a wave of very powerful energy. He closed his eyes and concentrated to see if he could find out where it was coming from. Without knowing it, he gets up and starts walking toward his front door. His wife, who was getting ready for bed, sees him and asks where he is going. When he doesn’t answer, she sees in his face that he is in a trance and knows not to bother him. She follows him as he leaves their place on level 28 and takes the chute to level 3. As he gets off the chute, he sees us bringing you to level 2. When the energy mass appeared, Henry was mentally inside your mind.

“He has experience with such matters. He can enter a person’s mind when they seem to be completely out of it. He sees what is going on inside their minds and experiences what they do. However, he can detach himself from the person’s emotions and physical symptoms. If he ever tried it without detaching himself, he would go mad.

“He was inside your head after you started changing and when the energy mass appeared. He says that, while inside your mind, he saw millions of stars. He could hear voices and thoughts coming from every one of them. Then, in one faraway place, some of the stars began to disappear. Just before they disappeared, he felt shear terror coming from that part of space, and then nothing. That was the point when the energy mass appeared in the room above you.”

Henry continues, “Alex, what happened next was as if all that information, all those stars and thoughts, were somehow squeezed to one small piece of data. It was then that the energy mass seemingly left on its own.”

“We used the system’s deep-space sensors to try to track it. Once it left here, it headed for deep space very quickly. The system estimates that it approached the speed of light. Then it vanished, leaving an energy trail thousands of miles long. We suspect that it may have been some type of probe, storing and transmitting data.”

Alex lies there on the bed and tries to convince himself that all of this is real.

Then Doc drops the bombshell.

“We also made a very significant physical discovery inside of you. Do you know what DNA is?” he asks Alex.

“Sure, about everyone does now. It’s the stuff inside us that makes us what we are,” Alex says.

“Correct. It determines our height, weight, colors of eyes, etc. In other words, what we are. If abnormalities show up, we are susceptible to certain illnesses, such as cancer or leukemia. When you came here, do you remember a hair sample being taken? That was for the DNA scan. The hair was scanned, and your information was stored, along with everyone else’s. But as soon as that happened…”

“The system gave us a warning,” continues Dale, who walks into the room. “Alex, there is something different in your DNA significant enough for the System to detect. All we had to do was to figure out what it meant. When you did your little light show in the lab a couple of nights ago, the System picked up on it and started running an unknown program. That program started comparing the information in everyone’s DNA. We had no idea that it was running until it had completed its assigned task and gave us the notice that it had it had found a match.”

“A match, Dale? To what?” Sara asks.

“This is where I have to get some help. I know machines, programs, and computers. When our language people translated what the System was telling us, I went to our genetics people. They know stuff about DNA that I would never be able to understand. Allow me to introduce Dr. Susan Hiranimus, our local DNA expert.”

“Thanks, Dale,” Susan says. “We’ve long known about DNA, what it is and how it works. The differences between most people are insignificant compared to the total amount of data in DNA. But there are differences, no matter how slight. That is what makes us all different. If an abnormality is present, we become susceptible to certain illnesses. In Alex’s case, his DNA shows that he is normal, in terms of the content of his DNA. And the number of strands on his DNA is normal.”

“Well, I can officially tell my sister she is wrong. I really am normal,” announces Alex with a grin.

“You’re almost correct, Alex,” says Susan.

“Almost?” asks Sara.

“Yes. In your DNA, we found something that isn’t supposed to be there: an open slot for two more pairs of DNA strands. You have the normal count of strands, but your DNA seems to be set up to accept more DNA.”

“But I thought we could only have the certain number of strands on our DNA,” says Doc.

“Until now, so did we,” Susan responds. “We tried to add strands to DNA in the past but were never successful. Alex, however, seems to be proving us wrong. Here’s where it gets interesting. When the automatic DNA scanners started, it immediately identified two people in the Complex who also had similar abnormalities. These people each have an extra pair of DNA strands. The System did its analysis and notified us that it had found a match.”

“A match?” Doc asks. “For what?”

“A match for Alex’s missing DNA, Doc. It has located them in two people here in the complex. One pair in one person, the other pair in a second person.”

“Susan, what will happen to Alex when the missing DNA is added to his?” asks Doc.

“We have no idea. Sara, do you know why you have such a long, life span?”

“Yes, my father’s DNA was affected by the escaping energy from a loose conduit on one of the power converters,” she says.

“Correct. And your DNA came from him. When the energy bombarded him over a long period of time, it eventually altered his DNA. An extra pair of chromosomes developed as a result. When he had the two children, each received the extra chromosomes; that is why both Sara and her sister have very long, life spans. However, Sara, your extra chromosomes are not like your sister’s. They differ ever so slightly. When the System’s automatic DNA scanners came online, they immediately identified this difference. It also identified them as the match for Alex’s missing DNA strands.”

It takes a minute for what Susan is saying to sink in for everyone. Doc is the first one to speak.

“Can anyone here calculate the chances of this happening? Alex is missing two pairs of chromosomes. Those missing chromosomes are in people here in the Complex. They are here because of a faulty energy conduit connector.”

“As far as I can tell,” Dale says, “this was all supposed to happen. The System was designed to look for this. It was programmed to look for it. The original builder of this place knew that this was going to happen. That’s why the DNA scanners recognized the abnormalities in Alex’s DNA. It had been looking for him.”

“And,” says Susan, “we suspect that his abnormality is a direct result of genetic manipulation. It was artificially created.”

“But who could do something like that? Who can add extra blank spaces to his DNA? I did not think that was possible,” Doc says.

“As far as I know, no one on this planet has such knowledge. Here in the Complex, we’ve only known how to manipulate DNA for about 30 years. Manipulating the content of DNA is one thing, and adding spaces to DNA without filling them in is something entirely beyond our reach. We won’t be able to do something like that for probably several hundred years, if then. Without knowing what the extra chromosomes will be, the results would and probably will be disastrous. There are too many unknowns to even attempt the calculations, much less the actual experiments,” Susan states.

“Then who?” Doc says. “Who has the ability to do something like this?”

“I can think of only one explanation,” Susan begins. “Alex, have you been sick lately, had some tests or blood work done recently?”

“No, I haven’t been to see a doctor for several years now,” Alex answers. “If I’m not sick, I don’t go.”

“Then this was done to him without his knowledge,” Susan states. “The only thing that has been out of the ordinary for Alex recently is the fact that he has been having his dreams. In one of his dreams, he sees a boy who stares at him.”

“Correct,” Doc says. “Alex said that when he looked at the boy and the boy looked back at him, he felt as if his head was going to explode.”

“Does that mean that…the dream…the boy…that Alex’s DNA has been changed because the boy looked at him? Doc, that doesn’t make any sense. People just can’t dream their way to changing DNA. That just doesn’t happen,” Sara says.

“Does anyone else have an explanation for what has happened to Alex?” Susan asks, looking at everyone in the room. “We do not have the ability to do something like this. No one on this planet does.”

“So, if these extra chromosomes are added to Alex’s DNA, what will happen to him?” Doc asks Susan.

“I have no idea. None. The result cannot be determined, not by us. I do know that when Alex begins one of his changes, it almost looks as though there is a short circuit of some type happening within him. It’s like his system is trying to do something but is missing a set of instructions on what to do next.”

“And you think Sara and Kate’s extra chromosomes are the missing set of instructions?” Doc asks.

“Well, we know the System has identified their chromosomes as a match for Alex’s missing chromosomes. You tell me,” Susan replies.

“Sara, call your sister and have her come down here. We need to get to work. Each time Alex has one of his changes, it gets worse. He’s building up some type of energy inside of him that we cannot identify or measure. That is evident from his last change. Something has to be done or he may die, and it has to be done immediately. We have to start gene therapy to introduce the new chromosomes to his system,” Susan says. There is a very detectable tone of urgency in her voice.

Sara gets her PDA and calls Kate, who is in the middle of a date and eating lunch.

“Kate, I need you to get down here to Level Two. Do not go home first. Stop what you are doing and head for the chute now. I’ll fill you in on your way down,” Sara tells her sister.

Kate had learned a long time ago that Sara can be a little overbearing, even demanding. She has also learned to recognize when Sara is serious. And this is one of those times when Kate can tell something is wrong…very wrong. When Sara’s voice and attitude are like that, Kate knows not to ask questions. She quickly hangs up the call, excuses herself from the table, and heads for the nearest chute that will take her to Level Two.

After getting into the chute, Kate calls her sister back.

“OK. I’m in a chute heading down. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Alex. He’s in trouble. We’re on Level Two, room 22.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

Kate barely waits for the sliding door on the chute to open before she runs out and heads down the corridor. She finds the room and her sister, who quickly gets her caught up to speed.

Susan takes the sisters to her lab, where she uses a swab to obtain a fresh sample of DNA from their mouths. From there, Susan extracts the extra chromosomes and combines it to a DNA sample from Alex that she had taken while waiting for Kate to get there.

Susan and the sisters watch the monitor show the result as the missing chromosomes are combined with Alex’s DNA. Once the missing pairs are attached, Alex’s DNA begins to alter itself. It begins to glow just as Alex had before. Chromosomes begin to move, reorienting themselves as if they had just received the command to do so. Then Alex’s DNA sample vanishes.

The three women stare at the screen and then at each other. That is when Susan gets a call to get back to Alex immediately. He is changing again.

Susan grabs a syringe, puts the sister’s DNA sample into it and runs for the door. She rushes into the room to see Alex is limp and once again glowing. Doc tells her to hurry.

“When he changes like this, it is not long before he becomes translucent and then we cannot touch him”, Doc tells her.

Susan goes to Alex and injects his arm with the syringe’s contents and then steps back.

Alex’s reaction is almost immediate. As with his DNA sample, the glow around Alex gets brighter. The light and energy levels emitting from him are getting so strong that it forces almost everyone in the room to run into the corridor, leaving only Sara and Kate by Alex’s side. They seem to be immune to the energy waves Alex is producing.

As the sisters stand by, they watch as Alex’s transformation increases in intensity. There is a look of fear on Alex’s face. Then the look softens as if the fear is leaving him, as if Alex understands what is happening to him. The sisters watch as Alex turns his head and smiles at them. His eyes are no longer bright points of light; instead, they resemble faint, ghostly versions of what Sara is used to seeing when he was normal. His ghostly figure floats off the bed and floats next to the sisters.

“Thank you,” he says to them. His voice is different and ethereal. “Sara, you and your sister are the ones I have been waiting for, though I did not know it. Now I have a job to do, and I know what it is. Your suspicions about the Complex are correct. It is a defense weapon. It is one of many, and they must be started. But they are no longer strong enough to do the job they were designed to do. The Void has gotten too powerful. There are others like me who can help, and I must find them.”

Alex looks at Sara. She stands there staring at him with a look of disbelief on her face.

Then he tells her, “Don’t worry about me, Sara. I am coming back. After all, we have some unfinished business to take care of.”

As his image begins to fade, he bends down and kisses her. Though Sara sees him as a ghost, his kiss is very real.

The sisters watch as he looks at them and then at the ceiling. “It is time,” he says.

He starts floating up and then fades away, completely vanishing, leaving nothing but the sisters standing in a deserted room. The others run back into the room as soon as the bright light has left it, finding Kate staring at the empty room and a tear running down Sara’s cheek.