II. Where We Stand

I feel the rise of the storm

The silence won't go

A violence won't tell you

Lord, you miss, you will miss me

When I'm gone

-30 Seconds to Mars (RIDER)

_____________________________________

Trevor opens his eyes and notices he is now sitting in a captain's seat. The bridge is shaped like a pentagon with a point directly in-front of him and looks like a command center albeit devoid of anyone except for him. The captain's seat is in the center of the room. The seat seems like a throne with multiple control devices. In front of him are two dug-out stations that seem to seat two persons each. Behind him are two seats a little smaller than his but have the same controls. Around this area are ten paneled seats there are four in front of the dug-outs (two at each diagonal angle) which looks like large pods with something that looks like a motorcycle arcade console. The six left are smaller than the other four, but has the same design, they are placed on the alternating sides of the seats behind the captain's seat (Three on each diagonal side). Finally a box-shaped transport module that acts as an elevator is behind the captain's seat.

The captain's seat itself is somewhat weird. It has two orbs which act like ball bearings have buttons for each finger and two pedals that you need to step on to seat properly. Under the head rest is a port for some kind of tube. It has a helmet hanging on the head rest.

As he is confused and dumbfounded about the situation he decides to talk to the computer.

Trevor: DIANA?

DIANA: Yes captain Zupang?

Trevor: Sitrep?

DIANA: Vice Admiral Rerillion Gapes is KIA. We have lost one of four transit capsules. You are now Captain of the DJS ITALICA. The ITALICA is a wanted vessel in this universe cluster. You have one unviewed Video.

Trevor: *surprised* What Video?

DIANA: File name; "In case I don't make it.tuv"

Still confused and suffering with great grief Trevor wondered for a bit. He thinks he had just got delusional. He then decides to play the video.

Trevor: DIANA play video...

DIANA: Understood...

A large screen activates in front of Trevor... and the video plays

Rerillion: This thing on?

Rerillion hits the camera and adjusts it....

Rerillion: My name is Rerillion Gapes... I was a Vice Admiral in the Directive. A Pseudo Government of people who first discovered and reproduce the Multiverse Jump System.

He pauses for a bit...

Rerillion: DIANA, display the lateral map...

DIANA: Initializing....

A hologram of a cluster map appears... it looks like a Venn diagram...

Rerillion: If we are to map time we end up with a 2D image... A horizontal and a vertical line... The horizontal defines points in time as it moves forwards and backwards whiles the vertical creates a variation of turn points as effects of time events; we call a cluster. A largely defined point in the horizontal is called an Era. This is the multiplicity theory.

Rerillion stands up and walks away from the camera

Rerillion: Time travelers seek to travel in a diagonal manner... the displacement affecting multiple variations of vertical and horizontal points makes this harder... That is why time travel is only accessible to a minuscule number of worlds. These worlds will need a science library the size of a solar system to even start the basics of this exploit. But traveling vertically is much easier since the horizontal is set on a definite turn point only one dimension is needed to be crossed.

He then goes back to sit down

Rerillion: That is a Multiverse jump... That is what the Directive appears to police. Until I found out about Protocol 0; the Directive wants to control this Era's cluster to bring the multiverse to a singularity and further control other clusters to do the same. A singularity destroys humanity's choices or opportunities. That is the reason we wanted to build the Free Jumpers Association. A small group of people who came from different worlds, some of us versions of each other... I am your World 200 Version. And I hope I can get you to support us...

The video ends...

 Trevor exhales sharply.

Trevor: DIANA, I will need to know more about this... this whole deal before I continue... Start with the Ship Schematics...

DIANA: Affirmative....

The screen projects a hologram of the ship; complete with internal and cut-out views.

DIANA: You are the captain and owner of the DJS ITALICA. A battle cruiser class dimensional jump ship by tonnage. You have a crew of 1 of a possible 100 capacity. This ship is equipped with 20 Proximity Defense guns, 2 fore bearing plasma particle accelerating cannons, 6 heavy missile pods, 10 rocket barrage pods, 6 space torpedo pods, and lastly a 1050mm caliber 6500Mj fore bearing railgun that fire rounds made with tungsten iridium and graphite to form a unique kind of alloy carbide able to penetrate through 7 or 8 ships. We also have enough capacity to carry 4 civilian capsule boats and 10 drones. Currently we have 4 sentry drones, 2 surface scan drones, and 4 escort drones. We also have 3 civilian capsule boats. Our Hold can carry approximately 300000 tons s of cargo.

DIANA: I am your ship's AI interface; Dimensional Intelligence Aviation and Navigation Assistant, or simply DIANA. I support all non human functions of this ship. Basically if a computer is needed for a human to use that function I can replace the human to allow the function.

DIANA: We are currently in E-M L2 approximately 3000km away from the moon. Our force field is at a 100% defending us from space debris up to a nano-speck. Considering the loss of our capsule, all things seem nominal, other than you not wearing your space gear. We are generating gravity at 1g by spinning the internal centerline of the ship while we are stationary.

That was a lot of information to handle at once, even for Trevor. But he basically knows he is in space on the dark side of the moon. He is alone with an A.I. in a very large and heavily armed jump ship that can carry a lot of people.

Trevor: Ok... That kind of explains a good part of it... at least about the ship. I won't really mess with the science for now... I need to know what happened on the ground.

DIANA: I can transport you back to your original location after I make sure you are safe to be on the ground.... or if you want I can transport you to your home or at least the safest location to transport you if you can provide GPS coordinates.

Trevor: I knew my Google Maps coordinates will soon be useful.  Use this coordinates... 14.571605, 120.993737.

DIANA: Analyzing... adjusting minutely to transport you to a safe empty location on the surface.

Trevor: Wait how do we communicate?

DIANA: I have recorded your DNA signature... Please lean your head on the headrest; I will inject you with a nano communicator device.

Trevor: Will it hurt?

DIANA: You will not feel a thing...

Trevor: Ok

Trevor feels a slight painful poke on his nape

DIANA: All done!

Trevor: GRRR... you sly AI!

DIANA: Thank you for the complement. Energizing now!

Trevor disappears from the bridge. He suddenly appears in front of his house. Conflicting thoughts of worry and excitement fills him as he opens the door. The usual absence of human interaction from his family members meets him. He realizes he was worried for nothing. His absence will never matter, at least for the people in this house. He goes up to his casket.

Once inside his room he notices his stuff; scattered in a certain way, an orderly mess. He lays himself on his bed. He turns to his side looking at his computer. He figures maybe he can bring things that matter to him and a few clothes. Maybe a good luggage since he never knows if he will be able to return to this world.

Trevor: DIANA...

DIANA: Yes Captain?

Trevor: Any way I can bring my computer and a few stuff?

DIANA: The warp beam can only bring living creatures due to a DNA signature is required. However if you want I can send one of our boats in visual stealth.

Trevor: Is that not dangerous? I mean we are currently wanted?

DIANA: I do not believe The DJS Light of the Grey and its commanding officer will think of searching ground for now. They will probably look for the ITALICA as priority 1; since they do not know about the transfer of authority.

Trevor: That makes me wonder... How do you know who is chasing us?

DIANA: Vice Admiral Gapes is a proponent of the FJA, among 3 of your versions. He is the known as the soloist; he never crewed up his ship. He also is one of the first to desert the Directive. This caused uproar in the Dimensional Navy of the Directive. They assigned the next one in command under him to apprehend or kill him.

Diana: That is Commodore Yesha Romanov, a World 7 Purist who believes that the Directive should be run and manned by World 7 Citizens only.

Trevor: Let's deal with that once we are crossing that bridge.

DIANA: Which Bridge?

Trevor: Never mind. Just send the boat.

DIANA: Affirmative

Trevor stood up from the bed and gathered his stuff. He realized why Rerillion brought a boat; this was for him to bring stuff that mattered to him. He ponders on the fact that world versions think alike in a way. He now understands why Rerillion is a soloist, and why he became a proponent of the FJA.

Whilst gathering his stuff he spotted 2 boxes. The first one contains memorabilia from people who previously mattered to him. It has letters, pictures, pens, and even somebody's hairclip. The second one contains paperwork, dossiers of the people who became part of his past. Some kind of a failsafe he created after watching a bulk of spy movies. He realized there is a hard drive that contains all this information. He though he can safeguard this information from the directive as it might contain relevant information on people who might be targeted and be used against him and his other versions.

Trevor: DIANA...

DIANA: Captain?

Trevor: can you establish some sort of communication device from dimension to dimension?

DIANA: Yes, data is easier to send through the multiverse however they will make tremors on surface due to the energy fluctuations. I can drop a beacon here at E-M L2 and let it orbit the moon until it reaches L1, you can pick up a relay pod in the boat, and this will prevent the ground tremors.  The relay pod will synchronize with your local device via radio communications and will act as a codex that will convert the data to and from what is compatible to the data beacon and send it through dark speed. The beacon will receive the data and direct it to me via a Data Jump.

Trevor: Ok but wait Light travels at 1.6 seconds to the moon from here right? So why use dark speed? And don't they travel at the same speed?

DIANA: Dark speed sensors receive the information faster. While light sensitive sensors respond to the dark speed at the same time the difference is evidently efficient. Currently light communication uses different frequencies of light pulses to send data the difference is the time light travels through space which from earth to moon would take 1.6 seconds as you said earlier, a significant delay. The space is in a perfect state of vacuum and darkness so once a certain frequency of light disappear it completely disappear in an instant, the dark sensor records the phenomenon, in close proximity this doesn't matter but half a light year away this makes a big difference 1.6 seconds in light  is just approximately 1 second in the dark.

Trevor: So what you are saying is that our interplanetary communication problem is simply a reverse math problem. If what is positive is the negligible then reverse the equation so you get more of the positive?

DIANA: Correct.

DIANA: Reporting... Boat approaches in T-minus-5-minutes. Maintaining stealth and hovering 10 meters above warp destination.

Trevor sends a short message to his friends through his phone.

To: T-Lovers, Lee A., Kael R., Yang W., Ed M.

From: Trevor Zupang

Subject: I am off!

Hi Guys,

I will be gone for a while. I am sorry if I am not able to help you with the next few days. I am going to be outside the country. I hope you understand.

:-)

He heads down with his bag and packed up computer in a box. His mother and step-brother notice this.

Mother: So Where you off?

Step-Brother: Yeah... Where you going?

Trevor: Off world...

Without any delay Trevor leaves the house.

Trevor: Lower the boat to surface level and open the door.

DIANA: Understood

Trevor: Where is the relay?

DIANA: it should be to your right; in a small box.

Trevor enters the boat. The boat looks like a small freight ship. The door that opened is on the side. Another air locked door is parallel to it. Near the doors are stow away boxes and further in are seats, like the one you see on the inside of a Chinook helicopter with the same ports under the head rest as the captain's chair. Trevor stows his stuff on one of the empty boxes and starts looking for the relay,

Trevor: DIANA, I have been meaning to ask?

DIANA: How can I help, Captain?

Trevor: What are those ports under the head rest?

DIANA: Together with your space suit and space gear, the tubes' primary function is to supply Xing Juice to the body.

Trevor: Xing Juice?

DIANA: Yes, it's an intra-vein drug that mixes blood thinners, vein strengtheners, and versions of adrenalin shots to support human function in high-G maneuvers; it also helps prevent internal injuries and the "blackout". It was invented by Dr. Xing Lu Pan 2 years before he died.

Trevor: I see... Oh here is the relay. Raise the ships slowly to five meters off ground then move us laterally to the left 2 meters.

DIANA: executing.

Trevor: Continue please...

DIANA: Thank you... Its Secondary purpose is to supply needed medication and blood resupply as needed. Lastly the tube sends nano-bots to a recipient just like the communication implant I gave you. Some of our nano-bots act as surgeon bots that perform small scale wound and internal damage repair. They also prevent some cancer growth or slow down its effects.

While Diana is explaining, Trevor sets the relay on their roof.

Trevor: That is helpful... Ok! I have set the Relay and synced it with my mobile phone. Where do I find the space suit and gear?

DIANA: There should be a set behind the pilot's seat cabinet.

Trevor enters the cockpit. The cockpit of the boat looks the same as a helicopter's without the rise lever and the bank stick. The pilots' seats have helmets hanging on them connected to the seat via some umbilical cord. He takes a suit from the cabinet; the suit is very loose even for a man like him. Around the waist are some sorts of thrusters that can rotate. At the back is a hard shell with some kind of box type tank and thrusters. The suit comes with a pair of boots that has electromagnetic soles. The glove on each hand has a small joy stick near the thumb that controls the positions of the thrusters. Once he closed the air seal he tried moving around but the bulky suit prevents him.

Trevor: DIANA, I can't move in this.

DIANA: have you already equipped your space gear?

Trevor: I am wearing the suit! Boots and gloves included.

DIANA: Locate the horse shoe shaped yolk like device, this is the Space Gear. This will complete the seal on the neck area. Wear it.

Trevor found the device. It looks like a very complicated computer compacted to this size. He quickly wears it.

Trevor: It's on now. What next?

DIANA: Wait for it.

Suddenly the gear emits blinking red and yellow lights near both ends of the gear. The suit and gear started to adjust to a size that snuggly fits Trevor yet gives him enough space to move. The gear then emit blue continuous light on both sides

Trevor: Oh that's how it works!

DIANA: Magical...

Trevor pauses to somehow acknowledge the attempt at a joke made by DIANA. It made him smile.

Trevor: Okay Gear on! Suit on! Let's get this show on the road!

DIANA: Please sit down and wear the helmet attached to the pilot's seat and wear the seatbelts.

Trevor sits on the pilot seat. The seat has directional keypads on each side.

Trevor: Aye! Aye! AI! Thank you for flying Air Trevor, let's go!

DIANA: Initiating autopilot retrieve.