All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
(Node 4 Paradise Earth Year 4-1644)
Bright Lives
– Issue 6 – A Secret History
Sarah has never experienced technology like she experiences on the South Pole. The Ascendant are highly advanced beings who traveled through time from the end of the life of their universe to Sarah’s present and they had things, gadgets, inventions for things Sarah hadn’t considered technology could do. She was most impressed by the way the Ascendant controlled the temperature inside of their city. As the tram approached the city when she and Crone first arrived, everything was covered in ice and she had to wear her thick coat even inside the tram. But when they arrived to the city, there was no ice, no snow, and it was as green as the forest she had left. There were trees and other foliage, and more buildings than she had ever witnessed in her life. She was in awe as the tram moved through the spires of the stone buildings. It was the first city of its kind that Sarah witnessed firsthand; she was used to seeing others make homes in the trees that dominated the space, not a landscape dominated by buildings.
After a month in the hidden city of the Ascendant, the technology still impresses Sarah, but she is more used to it. She takes walks in the city among the intimidating Ascendant who are generally twice as tall as she is. The forest had taught her to be comfortable around things that dwarfed her, and the Ascendant reminded her of the deer and moose that she encountered in the forest. Not all of them were nice to her, and the vast majority didn’t even notice her, but the majority of the Ascendant she talked to were nice enough.
Sarah is in a park with Par-Cell 77 one afternoon Crone is busy in the Top building with Neu-Brosme 77 and the mysterious Ogi, who Sarah had yet to meet, though she’d heard her voice once she and Crone were leaving Neu-Brosme’s office in the Top building.
“Your power is an amplified version of the electric current that animates your body,” Par-Cell explains. She sits in the lush grass, and Sarah sits with her knees crossed on a large stone nearby that allows her to look Par-Cell in the eye. “You are a supercharged human, capable of generating electricity through your basic biological function. Your tissue, muscles, organs, skin, seem to have compensated for the expulsion of this electricity, and they serve as easy conductors rather than suffer any damage. I have not studied many humans of this planet since we arrived here, but you don’t seem typical. I have observed abilities like yours in beings of another planet of another galaxy of this universe. Were both of your parents human?”
Sarah shakes her head dubiously, “You’re not about to tell me my parents were aliens.”
“I know your father was not from this planet, I just didn’t know if he had you with a human or if he brought you with him from Rycoia. You were born on Earth?”
“Of course I was born on Earth,” Sarah says defiantly. “My parents were both born on Earth too. My father was not an alien.”
“Not after making his life here, for sure,” Par-Cell says. “He was an Earthling when he left the planet. I am sure he is eager to return. Are you not aware that your father is a Captain of the Rycoian Interstellar Fleet, who went missing in action and was able to hide out here on Earth for many years before he was recovered?”
“My father is dead.” Sarah says, mostly disbelieving Par-Cell’s words, though part of her is hopeful that she might be able to regain at least one of the family members she had lost. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up, the disappointment she would experience if this is all just a misunderstanding would crush her.
“He is imprisoned, but not dead,” Par-Cell says. “Crone must have told you? She knew your father very well. She greeted him when he landed on Earth to make sure he wasn’t a hostile visitor from the cosmos, or tainted like the Golem, and the two became friends over time. You must have grown up with Crone?”
“I didn’t,” Sarah says, shaking her head slowly. “I met her after my father died. I was alone until I met her. I knew that she knew my father, we talked about him, but she never mentioned that he was from another planet. He looked like a human.”
“Of course,” Par-Cell says. “The beings of this galaxy are descendants of ancient Rycoians who traveled the universe. Not all Rycoians are able to generate lightning, but it is also not uncommon. I wonder if there is a reason that Crone has not told you all of this? Maybe I should not have told you any of this. I wonder if Crone will be angry with me?”
Sarah nods her head slowly. “She will be. She obviously didn’t want me to know if she hasn’t told me by now. I had no idea.”
“I don’t think I should have been the one to tell you something so significant about your past,” Par-Cell says. She sounds concerned. “I apologize if I have caused you psychic trauma. We should talk to Crone and find out why she has not told you.”
“That is a good idea,” Sarah says. “Did you know my father?”
“I did, he was a good man. I know he was very happy to have a family and to have the life you all shared in the forest. There was a long time that I did not see him before he was recovered, but he told me about the daughter he was devastated to leave.”
“Can I see my father?” Sarah asks and she can’t stop the tears that fall. She is overcome with emotions, but still so curious.
“I am sorry to say that you cannot,” Par-Cell says and then her expression changes as she realizes that she has an epiphany. “Maybe that is why she did not tell you, because you would want to see him but he is imprisoned on Rycoia. Prisoners there are not allowed visitors. Crone is very wise, she saved you years of sadness. That I have completely shattered. I’m sorry, Sarah. This whole conversation has been a disaster, and I was so eager to get to know you. I hope that my insensitivity will not sour you on the idea of us spending more time together as friends in the future. I enjoy the break from all of the science and complex problem solving.”
“Don’t sweat it, Par-Cell. I appreciate that you are honest, and it doesn’t seem like you’re capable of lying, or you’d just be very bad at it, so I feel like I can trust you. You call this conversation a disaster, I call it the first of many. Thank you Par-Cell. Now tell me, how do I get to Rycoia? I will see my father again if it’s the last thing I do”
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