Quintumnia - Short Story written and worked on for class. PDF

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Short Story written and worked on for class....

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Karl Stout Dr. Melissa Williams English 121 9 December 2014 Quintumnia Deep within a rampant sea of infinite time, space , and mystery, meandering within the realms of a matterless substance, there lay a miniscule, insignificant trace of existence, floating, unaware of its formidable fate. Completely irrelevant in size in the face of the imponderable expanse of the universe, a very dense bright orb rested idly on the surface of what most classify as nothing, fusing chemicals within its core because stellar evolution tells it to do so. This particular piece of matter, known commonly as a star, attracted the presence of other floating spheres much smaller than itself. These spheres, rolling around mindlessly on the nothingness of their environment, were known as planets, a name derived from their bizarre ability to wander freely. This ecosystem, hosting six planets and a vast variety of life, was home to the most advanced set of minds to ever exist in the universe, hosting the most important association in the history of life itself: The Intergalactic Government of Galaxius. Yet another result of eons of evolution, this government encompassed the unison of 42 septillion life forms; joyous, miserable, ingenious, fluorine breathing, mindless, physical, and countless other unimaginable life forms, which all lay within the palm of one man. This man’s name was Edwin Destin, the reigning leader of Galaxius. Edwin Destin entered the sentient world on the planet of Quintumnia, where the incorporeal voice in his head guided him blindly through his future. Like any sentient being, he

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was born with the irreplaceable ability to consciously think. His quest was to understand, his fate, to see. His responsibilities, however, would prove to be far more complex than the average cosmical being. Complexity did not phase him, he saw and knew what to do in any situation he faced.

A light shone; darkness turned to color. Edwin’s dream vanished into reality as his senses awoke him. Sound particles surrounding him vibrated, creating the familiar noise heard in the stillness of quiet, as an inexplicable buzzing sound still managed to conflate itself with the morning’s silence. Edwin wondered where that buzz was coming from, but quickly forgot and stood up from his bed. He teleported to his rooftop, took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and observed the peaceful world of Quintumnia. The immaculate meeting between the colossal violet mountains and the crisp teal sky surrounded him in every direction. Crimson red gas trickled through the vast forest of vermilion trees, as the sounds of this strange world resonated into the minds of its inhabitants. The bright gold emollient sun shone on anything its great blaze could reach, nourishing each form of life possible to maintain the planet’s endless vividity. “Today,” Edwin thought to himself “will be a good day.” By no means were his thoughts ever remotely connected to the fact that at the exact moment they were conceived, a bright twinkle of fire dashed along the sky, trapped within the powerful vortex of Quintumnia’s gravity. It shone brightly, its orange glow tailing smoothly behind it as it approached its inevitable future; it gained momentum drastically, finally crashing into the planet with all its might, like a raindrop falling onto the surface of the ocean. Over the horizon, its vibrant light briefly illuminated the sky, only to disappear instantly into the illusion

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of an ordinary morning. Seeing this, Edwin immediately teleported to the conference room, where his 3 subordinates, Paca, Nasa, and Biga sat waiting for him. They stood up. “Greetings Edwin, I assume you sensed it as well.” Paca stated, with an ineffable look in his eyes. “I did.” he replied. “We noticed that it crashed within close proximity of the Shrine of Temporia,” Nasa added “though the shield seems to have remained unscathed. The analysts are waiting for us at the site of the crash.” “We have yet to identify what it is, but we have accurately determined a large abundance of life present on its surface.” Biga said ecstatically, thrilled by the mysterious object that would soon nourish his hungry mind. “We should go soon, before the analysts conclude all the research.” “Yes, I will see you there” Edwin said as he vanished, traveling instantaneously through the different voids of time to find himself levitating over the location of the crash. His subordinates appeared next to him. “Oh boy.” said Biga. Before them, comfortably ensconced in the center of a gigantic crater, was a magnificent green and blue planet, radiating a gentle glow of glamour into the unknown world that engulfed it. It was not a big planet relative to Quintumnia, in fact, it was miniscule compared to it, but its presence stood high above the tallest mountains of the area. On it, there was life. As Edwin looked at it, he thought, and he decided. “All analysts shall leave now.” he said, and they all instantly disappeared, leaving the four men floating like ants in the face of this unknown planet. “We are going in, let’s go.” The

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four of them teleported into a different piece of their home, the cosmos. They floated over a set of six pyramids in the middle of a desert. Thousands of people surrounded the pyramids, panicking over the hint of an earthquake they had just felt. They flew down to the top of the pyramids and observed the situation. “Lucky they survived.” Nasa said. “What are they running around for?” Biga asked. “It was probably an earthquake from the crash. Let’s go, I want to explore; it’s not everyday a planet lands here. It’s been a couple months since the last one.” Paca stated anxiously. “I found the leader, follow me.” Edwin said as he disappeared into the wind. They appeared at the top of the head of a large sphinx statue, standing in front of a man with a large head, and large black round eyes, reflecting two small vacuum of emptiness. “Greetings, I have been expecting your arrival. I am Kepnaxa, I am not originally from this planet, my home planet is quite far from us, but many of us reside here. This planet, the people call Earth. We are teaching them our ways in order to help them; they hold a fantastic potential as a race to contribute to the cosmic cave we live in, so we are entrusting them with our knowledge of the stars.” He paused and gazed out over the edge of the head of the sphinx. The desert went on like an ocean of sand, in which the pyramids remained still, overpowering the tumultuous current of sand. Noticing that the four were observing the pyramids intently, he mentioned. “We built them on our planet, and brought them here a long time ago. These are few of many we have scattered across the planet; they help a lot with our transportation. Look, follow me.” He walked over to a platform as they followed. In a matter of microseconds, they were in an entirely different location. “This, we call the city of Atlantis.” The night had seemingly fallen quickly due to the teleportations they had gone through.

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Ships were lighting up the sky with the stars watching them from eons in the future. The city was lit up, reminding Edwin of an industrial research laboratory he had led when he was 20 years old, about 220 years ago. Like this one, it was busy constantly, through both day and night. The buildings were tall and shiny, the ocean surrounding it extinguishing the neighboring planets’ and the moon’s reflections. Edwin felt overwhelmed with ecstasy, thankful for this particular experience that arose over an immeasurable number of others in the realm of probability. “Now Kapnaxa, tell me one thing, you mentioned you had been expecting our arrival, is that correct?” Edwin asked out of simple curiosity. “Yes that is correct. We also used these pyramids to bring the Earth here, that was our original purpose. Now, we know about Galaxius, and we know that you sir, Edwin Destin, are the leader of this Intergalactic government, and the three who are behind you are Paca, Nasa, and Biga. We have heard all about your organization, and are highly interested in hosting you for some diplomatic discussions which would be in the best of your interests.” “How wonderful, we have come here with similar goals, that is perfect. I must say it is an honor to meet a leader with such class and kindness in welcoming other worldly beings. We would love to hear more from you, please take us to meet your associates.” They began to fly toward the top of a high, round building. “I will also add I find your idea of helping the inhabitants of Earth sounds quite interesting, to say the least.” They arrived onto a platform that had a panoramic view of the city. The sun was rising over the horizon, sprinkling its ethereal dust of light across the particles swimming through the atmosphere. It shone across the towering buildings and the hints of land across the temptestuous mass of water. A forest of katsura trees in the distance echoed countless sounds of chirps and snaps and cries and joy and life. The four visitors remained silent, absorbed by the felicity of the

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painting of a different world awakening into a new day that was created before them. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Kepnaxa whispered into their pleasant reverie. “I feel it.” Edwin said. “Feel what?” Asked Biga. “The potential of this world, I simply know it’s there, you are right Kepnaxa. This place is destined for success with the jewel of a home these beings were given. Its beauty naturally inspires the mind to be as creative and diverse as the places they consciously experience, I have never visited a planet so lucidly entrancing as the one we roam today. Please let’s get on with the meeting we must absolutely discuss your intentions.” Edwin answered powerfully, with undeniable certainty. “Certainly, right this way, the rest of us are waiting inside; they are very anxious to meet you.” Kepnaxa said. They entered through an automatic door into a large white chamber with a long elliptic white table surrounded by chairs and beings of three beings, one of a different race, that had stood up from them. Above them was a glass lense, looking up into the night sky. It was currently aimed at a red planet, surrounded by darkness and little snowy specks of light. The three beings stood around the table each looking with three different looks of honor and satisfaction toward the four men before them. The two on the right had large heads and round eyes like their companion, but the third one had entirely different physical features. Anxiously, the first being with an oversized head introduced himself. “I am Xemox, it is such an honor to meet you Mr. Destin, and of course Paca, Nasa, Biga, it is a pleasure to meet you as well, I have been awaiting this moment for longer than you can

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imagine.” He said fast and nervously, as though to get rid of an abominably large weight off of his chest. “Zaxani, I am more than pleased to meet the four of you. We have worked toward this day for centuries, and it has finally arrived. It is truly an honor gentlemen.” The other large headed one exclaimed. To their side a tan skinned man stood staring at them intently, curious about the fate of his kind. His face was well carved, with a pointy nose, ears, and an incredibly pale blue tint to his iris expressing pride, wisdom, and mental strength. He walked over to Edwin Destin, looked him in the eyes, and shook his hand. “I am Gnosis,” He squeezed his hand harder and did not let go. “I, along with the entirety of our Earth’s population, welcome you to my home. We are Humans, born on this planet a long time ago. When I entered this world with an untrained new mind, I was destined by the divine power of the cosmos to come meet you today; words cannot possibly express the level of privilege I currently feel. Countless others miss the experience I was magically gifted, and for that, I am infinitely grateful you are here.” A tear slid down his face, only to drop sneakily onto the pearly white floor. “It is truly exquisite to meet welcoming people such as yourselves, and even more so with such unreserved praise, but I must admit, I am awfully anxious to find out why your presence has been made on our planet. Might we begin with an explanation of your desires? We will listen and ponder, and act upon them accordingly. Now please gentlemen, let’s take our seats, and get to business.” He smiled and sat down at the head of the long table. Paca, Nasa, and Biga sat to his right. To his left sat Gnosis, Zaxani, and Xemox. Directly ahead of him, Kepnaxa remained standing, looked at Edwin, and began speaking calmly and professionally with his

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soothing voice. “If you look above you, you will see through our hypertemporal telescope a red planet with a ring. By Interdimensional Ring flight, the 276 lightyear trip takes about 30 minutes. This planet, named Mars by our people, is now dead, holding no life on it whatsoever. The bastards in charge of it poisoned the environment with their toxic greed, contaminating its core of life, and here we are, the survivors living on this planet.” He looked out the window at Atlantis bathing in the sunshine. “When we first arrived we found this deserted island, isolated from the other native beings to establish a city in which we could work and live. We installed pyramids across the circumference of the planet in order to gain better control of its temporal powers; however, the humans noticed us, and they approached, always with the same attitude after witnessing us descending from the sky.” He continued looking out the window, reminiscing old times of the distant past. “How did they react to it?” Nasa asked? “They were distinctly different by the nurture of their surroundings, but were systematically similar by the instinct of their minds. They all practiced their own unique ways of life with incredible diversity, but they always praised us similarly as leaders descended from the stars.” Kepnaxa turned and looked at Gnosis. “And one day, in the land of the desert, I found this particularly curious one on the day of our arrival. Gnosis would constantly ask me about life, the universe, and everything. His questions would come back anytime we visited those pyramids, and we would simply feed him our knowledge, teaching him the laws that govern life in the cosmos. Soon he confronted me and asked a particular question that intrigued me more than the others. Do you remember it Gnosis?” “What can I do to guarantee my planet’s survival for a longer amount of time? I

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remember it word for word; it will be in my mind until my duty is done. Now if you would allow it I would like to direct my question at you, Edwin Destin, after all, this is the entire reason I was brought here.” Gnoris paused to cough and continued, keeping Edwin in the focus of his piercing blue eyes. “As Kepnaxa said, his planet is now dead. Its inhabitants foolishly killed it, just like that, all of its history, knowledge, advancements, all of the beauty in its flourishing ecosystem, gone. Of course my planet is different, but with enough time, our fate could easily be the same. I am here in search of an aid to protect us from any such disaster. Might you have a solution?” Gnoris calmly let out a deep breath, and waited for an answer. “Well that really puts a complex question in simple terms doesn’t it. Indeed, upon hearing it I deemed it worthy of bringing the planet here to Quintumnia, so the whole planet could soon learn your answer.” Kepnaxa added. Delighted at the situation, Edwin sat in dramatic silence for a few seconds. Thoughts were hurled through his mind as if a hurricane were flying through it. A smile on his face, he prepared to speak. It felt like time momentarily vanished for everybody in the room by the power of his words. Empathy filled the room, an indescribable feeling of being alive as opposed to dead following it overwhelmingly. “I haven’t heard a question like that in a long long time.” Edwin stood up and began strolling slowly across the room. “Quite the an idea really, for a being at such an early stage of his evolution. You have successfully caught my interest.” He continued his stroll. “However, to answer you,” he turned and looked at Gnoris, who was staring deep into his eyes attentively, “I must know why you seek this extra time for your planet. Is there something in particular you or your people want to achieve?” Edwin looked at him, curious about his next statement. “When I was a boy I always asked questions I thought would never be answered. People

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never knew what to say and I didn’t understand why not. But the years went by, second by second, day by day, until I finally found someone who gave me some of the answers I sought. I was satisfied, but questions still arise out of my collection of knowledge, placing holes in the laws that govern our lives in the great cosmos which wait to some day be patched up by new ideas. When that day comes, though, I will surely have vanished into the inevitable realm of death, traveling to other dimensions beyond my conscious experience.” Gnoris paused to let his point sink in, for both his audience and himself. “I have accepted the fact that I will undoubtedly be gone by the time these mysteries are solved. But if the Earth remains living, my people will still be there to keep asking questions. Perhaps, some will stand on the same mountain tops as I did, sending the same curious thoughts into the void of the cosmos, and if the cosmic clock reaches the right place, one of those people will experience the joy I once felt in finding the answer to those special unsolvable questions that help the mind break out of its imposed boundaries. I want the residents of Earth to enjoy their lives like I always have; for as long as the Earth can stay, humanity will too, with my footsteps molded into the Earth for them to follow.” Edwin, feeling Gnoris’ passion vibrating through his body, was satisfied with what he had heard. “Sensing the genuine and compassionate nature of your words, I am forced to offer you a proposition which you will likely find most agreeable.” Edwin scratched his chin, thinking of a simple way to explain his idea. “Spread out through the cosmos are different holes in time, where time runs simultaneously in two locations where relatively, they should be years apart. If we brought your planet to one of these holes, our ships could travel between these temporal cracks in space in a matter of seconds. One of these holes, is awfully close to Mars, the Red planet, meaning it would be in the same solar system as their old home.”

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Gnoris and his companions nodded in agreement. “If we were to put Earth in this location, we could easily travel from one to the other maintaining the planet’s health and observing the population’s behavior. For as long as Galaxius exists, Earth would remain safe from harm. With the pyramids arranged in the way they are, we have similar technology that could make this happen any time you choose. Considering the limitless potential your race demonstrates, I believe it is my duty to insist that you accept these conditions. Now tell me, might that sound within the realm of possibility for you?” As Gnoris was ready to speak, he was cut off Kepnaxa. “What of the Galaxius, might they be welcomed into the association?” He asked. Edwin thought, and sat down. “With such a new race, there are risks involved making it a questionable decision. At this very moment, it is not possible, though after some time it will be more than likely; if the population is ready, we shall welcome them with open arms.” He stated. “Galaxius, I have no interest in; I know our race is not ready yet. As for the original idea, nothing you say could please me more than the path you have generously proposed to pave not only for the evolution of my people, but the longevity of Earth’s uniquely exceptional fate.” Gnoris said this with admirable sincerity and determination in each of his words, maintaining his eyes deep within those of Edwin. “Then we shall do it this instant.” Edwin said. By the end of his sentence, ...