Anthony DeCosmo - Fusion

The light dimmed in the slightest but still surrounded the players on center stage. The sour stench of Voggoth’s earthly lair faded; the feeling of swirling energy calmed.

The newcomers gave JB-still exhausted; still kneeling-a glance before drifting into a circle around Trevor. Their hands-the hands of children-reached and touched his skin as if ensuring the reality of his existence.

He eyed each of the six one by one. A Hivvan, a Duass. A Witiko without a trace of silver cosmetic. A Centurian with big black eyes; a Geryon lacking the leather armor Trevor had seen his people wear on the parallel Earth.

Trevor saw a familiar face as the hands stopped reaching and the children retreated into a ring round him. He dropped to a knee and greeted the Chaktaw girl-Alenna-at eye level, with a smile.

She returned his smile as she asked, “Do you know who we are? Do you know what we are?”

Trevor sighed as he replied, “You are an advanced evolution of each of your races. Probably from some-from some original universe. Did you create the eight parallel universes?”

The Hivvan boy said, “The original universe is older than you can imagine. Its creation resulted in echoes of itself; empty echoes. Identical but lacking in sentient life.”

“Like rings in water after a pebble has been dropped in a puddle,” the Duass spoke through a short bill.

The Geryon added, “An infinite number of echoes. You are aware of only eight because we chose to create bridges between only those eight.”

“And in the original universe,” Trevor’s words felt heavy on his lips. Heavy with disappointment. “In it, eight races. But an empty Earth. Humanity sprung to life on Sirius. The rest-each of you-on your own home worlds. And you evolved there, for eons.”

“Yes,” the Centurian confirmed. “Our races are far older than you can comprehend.”

The others added their voices one after another.

“We grew beyond the physical.”

“Our minds evolved.”

“A synergy of matter and energy; the energy of our intellect.”

“Our technology advanced in ways you would be unable to grasp, but our beings advanced even further.”

Trevor held his hands aloft and cringed as he filled in many of the blanks for himself, wishing with each word he were wrong but knowing otherwise.

“So you accessed a universe for each race, seeding the planets to mimic what your universe was like in the beginning. Each universe identical in almost every way, except for one way. Mankind living on Sirius in each, except for one. In one you moved my people here, to this Earth. You did the same for each of the races in one of the universes. I don’t understand. Why?”

The Witiko sneered as if the reason should be obvious to any creature of intelligence, “To maintain identical conditions. To ensure equality in the test.”

“Test? So, what-Earth offered an environment suitable for each of the races. You erased any advantages of position or geography or weather or anything you couldn’t control, and found equal ground. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to kill each other off.”

“You see, I told you he could not understand,” the Duass said.

“He is unable to grasp the complexities,” the Geryon admitted.

The Witiko grumbled a tirade, “There is no reason to share this information. His understanding is irrelevant. Contamination has occurred here, resulting in our reunification which was something to be avoided until the end of the challenge.”

Alenna spoke, “We must deal with the changing circumstances. The use of the parallel cosmos’ was intended to prevent such contamination. His actions here were a surprise. Our planning did not consider this possibility.”

“You screwed up.” Trevor voiced his accusation in a soft tone, but they reacted as if thunder had burst in their ears. Their eyes grew wide. Their children’s faces twisted into expressions of offense.

“You made a mistake,” Trevor repeated and found satisfaction in making them speechless. “Congratulations. It shows you’re human. Or, I guess, it shows you’re just people, just like me.”

“We are not just like you,” the Hivvan corrected. “Do not be deceived by our physical bodies.”

“Yes, yes,” Trevor waved a hand dismissing their pompous attitude. “You not only seeded the races on Earth, you seeded yourselves inside those races. You say you evolved beyond the physical? Well then, what-you split yourselves in two? You scrambled your physical beings-your genes-into the gene pool. And you waited. You waited for the combination to be put together again. That was the chain I was on, wasn’t it?”

Unlike the others, Alenna did not appear offended at Trevor’s rant. The faintest hint of a smile flickered on her Chaktaw lips as she nodded and answered, “Yes, Trevor Stone, we waited-and watched. And prepared.”

He glanced around at each of the young-looking ones and made eye contact as he continued, “You prepared. Because everything had to be equal. You recorded a collection of genetic memories so that a leader could fight on behalf of his entire people. You influenced everything so that when the war came each race would have the same starting point. A level playing field.”

The Witiko insisted, “It is the perfect design to test the worthiness of each race. To see which life pattern is strongest.”

“Is that what you tell yourself? Is it? Yes, of course,” Trevor lectured. “You are all so very evolved. You call it a challenge or a test. To you it is an experiment. A controlled experiment. Why don’t you call it what it is? Death. Misery. War. Destruction. You have no right to do this.”

The Centurian said, “On behalf of our races and in the interest of reaching our full potential, some sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

The Hivvan added, “Unfortunate in many ways, yes, but necessary for the benefit of all.”

The Witiko said, “It is the obligation of those with the power and intelligence to-”

“To make decisions for the rest?” Trevor interrupted. “To force your will upon others? You are playing god.”

The Duass quickly pointed out, “From your limited perspective, we are gods.”

Trevor erupted, “You are no such thing! Don’t fool yourself. You did not create life. You copied it and placed it on this empty world not because you should, but because you could. This isn’t just about fighting, it’s about showing off. Which of you first breached the dimensional barriers? Which of you re-created each race’s environment and genetic codes in the primordial soup of one Earth after another? Which of you hit upon the idea of separating apart your physical body and slipping it into this re-creation of evolution? If you wanted a war, then you should have fought it among yourself instead of dragging billions more into your game.”

“Distasteful.”

“Devastating.”

“A war between our evolved selves could have torn the fabric of existence to pieces.”

Trevor snapped, “And it’s so much more fun to watch the barbarians fight it out. Tell me, do you place side wagers? Have you bet on the outcome?”

The Geryon took offense, “Ridiculous! This is no sport but a challenge of evolution.”

The Duass said, “Even the universes are of finite existence, they will eventually collapse, leaving nothing but the void. The void is eternal. Through this challenge of evolution we will determine which race is worthy to exist there.”

Trevor said, “The void is where Voggoth comes from.”

The Hivvan agreed, “Our life patterns are all different. It is critical that we understand which is superior. For this answer, we chose to look at our roots. What we once were.”

Trevor shut his eyes and shook his head.