A.R.: Beyond the Universe

“We can no longer wait,” says one of the Travelers. “We must act now.”

The four Travelers vanish. They have much to do.

One Traveler brings back large suns to be hurled at the Void, one after the other, all at the same location in space, directly in the Void’s path.

A second Traveler brings back smaller suns, on the verge of going supernova and exploding.

A third Traveler brings back black holes.

Alex brings with him the energy planet.

They must do what they can to slow the forward progress of the Void. A larger sun will be hurled at the Void. A smaller, pre-nova sun will then be hurled at the larger one. The idea is for the smaller sun to contact the larger one just is it goes critical and explodes, using the energy of the larger sun to intensify the explosion. If the timing is correct, the released energy will temporarily slow the progress of the Void.

The black holes will have two uses. First, they will be used as a shield. Their massive gravitational forces will absorb any released energy or radiation from the exploding suns that may be a threat to any star systems on this side of the barrier. Second, their gravitational wells will be used to help the barrier spread out, forming a wall of living energy that the Void cannot penetrate. The idea is to use the gravitational fields as cascading carriers for the barrier. The smaller fields will be placed closest to the formation point for the barrier: the energy planet, with the strongest fields furthest from the point where the barrier will begin to form. As the barrier grows in size, it will follow the gravitational fields of the black holes. When the barrier begins to get close to the gravity field of a black hole, the black hole is removed from the grid and transported to the Void as additional ammunition to slow down the Void’s advance toward the forming barrier.

Sara and Kate are ready to do their part. All they must do is handle and focus enough energy blasts powerful enough to wipe out several galaxies: planets, suns and everything else within them.

Three of the Travelers reappear with thousands of suns and black holes. The third Traveler has also brought something else: a super collector that was found abandoned. This ancient device was used when the barrier units and Travelers were distributed and placed throughout the space just after the creation of each space. It had been long suspected by the Travelers that the original system builders used them to generate power for a reality until that space had sufficiently formed its own ability to generate energy. These super collectors, which are thousands of miles long, gather energies from other, better-developed realities. Until now, they had been myth. No one had ever seen a collector, much less found one.

The collector’s on-board energy readings show that this one is still working, even after sitting idle for billions of years. One of the Travelers accesses the controls inside it and activates the hibernating system. A large field forms around of the collector. This is what the collector uses to attract and gather the energy. The Traveler directs it toward a reality he knows and waits. Soon, the collector’s field is glowing brightly, a sign that it is working, drawing energy from that alternate reality. Within it, the collector has its own massive energy storage units. Readouts in the collector show the system is working and has already started storing energy. The Traveler is surprised to learn the storage units in the collector still have over half of the original charge still inside them, left from when this reality was first created. This is a good thing because it means it will not take as long to build up a full charge.

Alex appears next. He has brought the energy planet he had seen earlier and is surprised to see the collector.

They have one last meeting before declaring war on the ominous intruder.

“We have done everything that we can do. Everything is set,” one Traveler says. “We now have the collector to use as a weapon, although we do not know what will happen when we use its energies on the Void”.

Alex turns to Sara. For a moment, she almost sees regret in his eyes.

“Worried?” she asks him.

“I wished that you weren’t here. This is too close to the Void. If this fails, we will not have a second chance; it will overtake us immediately. There is a lot I wanted us to do together, a lifetime of things to see and feel. Whatever the outcome, know that I love you. We will do everything we can to protect you and your sister, but this is a gamble. A calculated one, but still a gamble.”

He continues: “When the beams hit your sister, do not touch her. Keep your distance and use your mind to help her as much as you can. She’s the power source for the barrier; you are her control. You must never loose concentration or all is lost.”

“Kate, this will be the hardest thing that you have ever done. Every fiber in your being will scream to stop. You will experience pain that you never though could exist. You will feel like you are being torn apart from the inside out. You cannot listen. You must remain focused on your sister and the beam.”

He looks back at Sara. Even in her surreal form, she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen; she has become his heart and soul. For a moment, they touch. For a moment, they are once again back on Earth, walking on that deserted beach.

It is Kate who brings them back to reality. “Uh, guys, you want to wrap that up?” she asks them. “There’ll be plenty of time afterwards.”

Alex and Sara look at each other. “I’ll see you when this is over. We need to talk,” he tells her.

She looks back at him, wondering.

Alex turns and wills the energy planet into place, far from them and in the direct path of the advancing Void. Then he turns his attention to the black holes. They must be placed in the correct order of size and strength to help the barrier spread correctly. Any mistakes will result in a barrier that may not be solid or large enough to do its job.

The other Travelers take their positions. Timing must be precise.

At Alex’s signal, a large sun streaks toward the Void. Just before the Void can reach it, a massive explosion occurs. A smaller sun, already in the final stages of life and as compact as possible, has collided with the larger sun, creating a massive supernova. The wave of energy is immense. One Traveler has already moved an array of black holes in between them and the explosion. With the gravitational fields arranged, they are successful in absorbing the oncoming energy wave, protecting the inhabited space behind them.

Another large sun is sent toward the Void, and there is another massive explosion. Explosions occur one after another, seconds apart, until the scene in front of them is almost one continuous mass of exploding space.

Alex turns to Sara and Kate.

“Prepare yourself,” he says.

Then, from seemingly everywhere, beams of unimaginable amounts of energy hit Kate. For a moment, she is caught off guard, but only for a moment. She steadies herself as the energy beams rain upon her. Alex has ordered the beings on the suns to let loose their energy. The beams are coming from thousands of places, all pointed at one place: Kate.

She closes her eyes as the space around her begins to boil, becoming a raging inferno. Sara wonders if she is witnessing her sister’s death.

“Sara, get in there!” Alex commands.

She is fearful of going into a place that is the center of such tremendous and turbulent energy. But her love for her sister tells her otherwise. She closes her eyes, concentrates on Kate, and sends her mind into the inferno to Kate.

Once inside Kate’s mind, Sara sees the sphere. It is a brilliant white. Kate’s entire being is now absorbing what is being sent to her. Sara watches in amazement as she realizes what is happening to her sister, and how proud she is at that moment.

“Alex, tell me when!” Sara yells. She needs to know when Kate can release what she has stored.

“Not yet,” he tells her. “You’ll know when it is time. Just hang on to her. Don’t let her…”

“Alex!” screams Sara as she receives a feeling of terror from Alex. A small stream of the Void has somehow gotten to him. It was too close before he had noticed that it was there. The feeling of a thousand deaths hits him all at once.

And then Sara does something she had no idea she was going to do. She finds herself in Kate’s mind and in Alex’s. Once inside of him, she sees it is getting dark quickly. She has no idea what she is doing, but the darkness inside his mind begins to disappear. Soon, it is completely gone.

“Sara, what did you just do?” he asks.

“I don’t know. One minute I was with Kate, then the next I was in both places--you and Kate. I saw what was happening to you and it made me angry. I think I screamed something like, ‘Leave him alone!’ and I wished with everything that I had for it to go away, to leave you.”

“I don’t understand. Nothing has ever been able to withstand it other then the barrier,” Alex says.

“Kate…” Sara looks as though she is thinking. “It’s Kate. She’s in trouble.”

With Alex safe, Sara can concentrate on her sister. The sphere inside of Kate’s mind has grown. Sara watches as it expands beyond Kate’s mind and begins to encompass her being.

The amount of energy being thrown at Kate suddenly increases by ten-fold. Alex has started the control units, sending their massive beams of energy toward Kate. Even though she is only in Kate’s mind, Sara can feel the pain Kate is experiencing. It is like being thrown into a pool of molten steel. Everything in Kate’s body is screaming.

“Sara, calm her down. Let her know that you are there. Her natural instincts will kick in. They have to,” Alex says.

Sara thinks to Kate to let her know she is there, but Kate is in too much pain. Absorbing so much energy is more than she can stand.

Sara expands her mind to encompass Kate. She is not going to let her sister die.

Deep inside Kate’s mind, Sara locates the nerves sending the pain. She wills them closed, cutting off any sensation of pain. By doing so, the nerves jump from Kate and touch Sara. Instantly, Sara screams with pain. She is now experiencing everything Kate had been.

It was the solid voice of Kate’s that Sara hears. “I’m here. We will not let go!”

As at her mother’s funeral, Kate gives Sara the strength that she needs. Sara concentrates hard and solidly commands the pain to cease. As her control instincts begin to kick in, Sara can once again concentrate on her sister.

By now, the energy sphere that engulfs her is tremendous. Kate is in the middle that inferno, her eyes wide open and a look of determination on her face. Her ability to absorb energy expands to match what is being sent at her. The more energy that she receives, the more she can absorb. But she is also doing something else. She is changing the very essence of the energy she is absorbing. She is refining it, filtering it, and compressing it. What remains is liquid, living energy. It is energy in its purest form.

“Sara…NOW!” Alex yells in his thoughts.

Sara looks to the energy surrounding Kate. She cannot do what she needs to do from this distance and wills herself to Kate, passing through the energy inferno.

“Sara, NO!” Alex screams. “You won’t survive!”

Once beside Kate, Sara steadies herself for the release of Kate’s energy.

“Kate,” Sara tells her “…three…two…one…open it now!”

Sara reaches out, grabs Kate’s hand, and squeezes it tight. All that energy now begins to concentrate itself into one place: between Sara and Kate. Sara has to control all that energy. She has to will it to where it needs to go. Looking out, she tries to find her target, the energy planet, but cannot.

“Alex, where is it? The planet. I can’t find it!” cries Sara.

Alex immediately explodes a smaller sun close to the planet. The energy wave hits it and makes the energy planet glow.

“I see it!” Sara tells him.

She concentrates on the planet with all her will. The energy surrounding both the sisters starts to change shape into a swirling whirlpool, as if building up for something.

Then the beam leaves them. Even in all his time as a Traveler, Alex has never witnessed such raw power. Anything within a light year of the beam’s path ceases to exist.

Then Alex sees a second beam, also of great power. A Traveler is releasing the ancient collector’s stored energy in the form of a beam. While Sara’s beam is aimed at the planet to create the barrier, the collector’s beam is aimed at the Void, in hopes of further weakening it.

There is a definite reaction in the Void the moment the Collector’s beam hits it. The Void, normally placid looking, reacts violently. Massive black waves spew from what must be a wound. The Void appears to be trying to use the waves to protect it from its attacker, but the ancient collector is using a type of energy that is malevolent to it. Never had Alex thought that there would be anything that would be so successful in attacking the Void. He has been able to stop it but never to attack it. He watches in amazement as the beam continues to do its damage.

Then Sara’s beam hits the planet. It explodes into millions of brilliant flashes. What is left is a shimmering, floating sea of liquid energy. The energy starts to spread, being drawn by the gravity fields of the black holes Alex had arranged. The energy starts to spread, being drawn by the black holes; the barrier is forming. As planned, when the barrier begins to get too close to the intense pull of a black hole, Alex removes the black hole from the grid and hurls it towards the Void, close to the area where the collector’s beam is attacking it.

The barrier continues to fan out, being continuously drawn by the increasingly stronger gravitational fields of the black holes. What is left is a wall of solid, shimmering energy. Over and over, one by one, the black holes continue to attract and spread out the barrier before being hurled toward the Void, before they can have a negative impact on the barrier’s formation.

Alex yells to Sara that she and Kate can stop their beam. Sara relays the message and the intense beam ceases. The sisters almost collapse as they finally get to see what they have helped to create.

The barrier is now spreading close to the speed of light, separating them from the Void. The barrage of supernovas and black holes being thrown at the Void now cease. Even if they had continued to be used as weapons against the Void, it would have been useless. Once the barrier solidifies, it will repel any energy thrown at it, or maybe even absorb it. Alex is not sure. This barrier was made with energies he does not understand.

As the barrier begins to spread toward the collector’s beam, the Traveler turns off the beam, leaves the collector and joins the others to watch events unfold.

When it is over, the shimmering energy barrier stretches out for millions of light years.

They watch as the Void starts to move toward the barrier. Normally, when the Void encounters the barrier, it touches it once, backs away, and moves on. This time the Void’s reaction is violent as it touches the barrier. As the Void’s negative energy touches the barrier, massive explosions occur. When the light show ceases, Alex can see that the part of the Void which touched with the barrier is now gone, something Alex had never seen. Alex looks at the barrier and checks some readings inside the collector. The readings show no signs of damage or weakening to the barrier.

It is holding. Alex looks to see the last of the Void phasing out of sight, the way it moves from reality to reality.

He looks for the other three Travelers, but they cannot be located. His scans find nothing. He searches his mind, looking for a clue as to why.

“Alex, we did it!”

It is Sara and Kate, heading toward him. Sara wraps her wisps of translucent arms around him.

“If I could kiss you, I would!” she tells him. She knows that while in this form, they do not have corporal bodies. This would have to do until they get back to Earth.

“I cannot locate the others. Anyone know anything?” Alex asks them.

Sara has no idea. It is Kate who speaks.

“Yes,” she says slowly. “They were watching the light show. I saw something black come up from below them. Before I could say anything, they were gone. They just vanished. I think it got them before we could stop it.”

Alex is a Traveler. He is used to death. But those three had been with him for untold numbers of barrier creations. The last time he had lost anyone close to him was before he became a Traveler, when he was living on his home world and the Void came to his planet. That was when he watched everything and everyone vanish in front of him. That was the day he was saved by a Traveler and the day he became one.

They stare at the barrier and then at each other.

“Can we go home now?” Sara asks. She studies the barrier, satisfied at the results. Sara can tell Alex is clearly disappointed that the other three Travelers are gone.

“Before we can leave, I need to do a little cleaning up,” Alex tells her. Sara watches as Alex vanishes, and watches as the remaining black holes and suns vanish, one by one. Alex is sending them back to where they came from.

When Alex has finished his tasks, he returns to the sisters. Sara looks at Alex and then at Kate.

“I’m sorry about your companions, Alex” Sara tells him. He looks at Sara and then at Kate, who shares the same sentiment in her eyes.

“Home?” Sara asks. “And besides, I seem to remember something about you wanting to ask me something,” Sara says to Alex. Kate looks at Sara with surprise on her face, along with a little hint of a grin.

They vanish, leaving the now empty space to the shimmering barrier.