TRAVELER

CHAPTER 6

I--Stephano--took the lead and ducked into the crack beneath the snow. My boots rang on cold steel as I stood inside smooth walls and a short corridor that ended at a door. A flying seahorse emblem adorned the entrance, a testament to some type of ancient civilization.

"What did you find?" This from Incia, who naturally assumed control at the same time as Stephano.

"It's some kind of underground structure." I knew it was her by the shrill bite in her voice that was an octave higher. "Come on, it looks like there's power." I fumbled at the small panel with a few lights and soon a grinding of rusty gears as it slid open under protest. There was a light puff of air which I took as a good sign, prompting me to move forward.

I-Cokker-lurked below Stephano's subconscious, waiting for my chance. My wife's slender hands grabbed me from behind, turning me with a strength I didn't remember. Airibell! Her face was close. Somehow she had overpowered Incia. "You have no idea what you're getting into, we need Cokker right now. This is way more dangerous than we thought."

"I knew it! You two have an agenda you're not telling us about."

"And you don't?" She dug in my rucksack and came out with a laser knife and small blaster the size of a pen.

"Holy crap, we agreed, no violence."

"It's purely protection," she said as she held the knife in his face. "Fifteen minutes, then you let him out." I grabbed my girlfriend behind the head and kissed her hard, only letting up after a long few seconds.

"Hey!" She said

"Deal," I--Stephano--said. Now, what do you make of this medallion" She turned up the knife and it lit the way like a blow torch.

"It looks like a company logo, perhaps an old research center." I let her go first, thankful we had life insurance. Not only could the others get their personalities back in their original bodies, but we had Cloning insurance. In case of an accident, they would simply grow a new body for our personalities, minus the trip.

The adrenalin was addicting and my mind raced at what might lie ahead. Around the next corner we came upon another door that opened readily enough, but beyond that everything changed. The steel grey of the old structure turned to white porcelain, immaculate and clean, with strange markings and a multiplex of control stations. We were inside a spaceship, unlike anything I had ever seen. The room was long with five pedestals at one end. We approached slowly until we could see they were display cases with an arching base and a single book in each one.

I felt something and turned to see a solitary figure in strange clothes. He stood caught in mid stride like he was coming to open the door but froze on the way.

**

The inhabitants of the Milpath Galaxy were a young race when the first humans from New Earth pressed out of the Milky way for the first time. Far reach voyager ships sporting Cryogenic technology was the flavor of the day. Infinite gyroscopes allowed for apparent mass reduction which was the key to acceleration. They were one way trips; traveling faster than communications could reach back to earth. Astronauts who would never see or hear from anyone they had known again. Within months of leaving, their velocity would preserve their age as those left behind withered to dust. These ships were meant as an exodus of enlightenment. Arcs bent on sharing the esoteric knowledge of the human race with other Galaxies. No one knew what became of them to this day, lost in the vastness of intergalactic deep space.

He was one of the many astronauts sent out from the Milky Way to satisfy man's unquenchable desire to know what was over the next hill. He volunteered because someone had to go; man's restless heart would never be appeased. He arrived here in Milpath Galaxy as the sole survivor of ten in cryogenic-stasis. He had only been here a few days and was unable to reconcile seasons passing in the blink of an eye; so he hunkered down, afraid that if he set foot outside he would be torn from his own time line and destroyed.

He had made a record in the log. "Day one, marooned on an unknown planet in the Galaxy M-109. Sensors outside show a time differential I am unable to come to grips with." This on top of the fact his other nine crewmen were dead. Thankfully they were all strangers so he had no emotional connection, except he needed them! "Damn."

The flight AI responded in its most comforting voice. "All external sensors are operating properly. Calculations show a differential of a million of their years to one day standard earth time." That first day had been confusing.

"Turn off external monitors, it makes my stomach hurt."

"I can slow down the recorded image to give us a low quality idea of what's happening." There was only him and the computer.

"Keep recording, I will view them later." Hot brandy soaked his mind in a warm pool of numbness. Thoughts raced like the seasons outside. After some time he snapped out of it.

"Run our primary objective by me one more time."

"Travel to other galaxies and spread the esoteric knowledge of the human race, thus ensuring our continued existence among the stars."

He grappled with his own mind. Come on, you were trained for this. Get a grip. To the computer he said, "can we deliver the historical documents outside?"

"Load them in weapons tube one, I will adjust the pressure to ensure their safety." He would at least fulfill his mission to enlighten this planet. There were multiple copies of five books from the world's most popular religions. It wasn't an exclusive list. Tomorrow he would dispatch a more exhaustive compilation and on the third day he would put out the history books. It was late on the second day by the time he had everything ready.

"Fire away." It was the most uneventful shot in history. Playing back the footage showed blurred figures, then the books were gone and tomorrow another million years later, he would deliver the rest of the world's religions to really screw up the culture here. His job was done, now he could retire here in his little hole.

"Please forgive me if anyone was left out." He thought out loud.

"There will be no need for forgiveness. I assure you the texts are exhaustive for the material at hand. Any further progress will have to be made by the people."

"Still, someone will be offended."

"You are just the messenger. Not the message."

"Good night," he said to his flight computer which was nothing more than a bunch of electrical impulses. The next thing the man from Earth knew, time had slowed and strangers were in his ship, but this time they were visible.