CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Lessons

            On the hike up the Black Mountain, Josh noticed that Fractal was particularly sullen. It seemed out of place, given the tremendous success of their mission.

            “What’s wrong, big guy?” Josh asked.

            “I failed you,” Fractal sighed.

            “What? ‘Cause you overshot on your wind leap? Dude, flying is a great capability. Look what it does for Denso. Yeah, you keep working on that wind leap thing. It’s cool.”

            “If you hadn’t been there...” Fractal began, but Josh cut him off.

            “Look, we saved a whole city tonight! Another successful mission.”

            “To which I contributed little,” Fractal seethed.

            “Yeah, like, you didn’t keep the DimensioNoids alive for six years fighting in a war with all the odds, like, way heavy against you. Yo, dude, if it wasn’t for you, the team would have been toast long ago.”

            Fractal scowled. “I know not this toast...”

            “Burnt bread.”

            “What does Starla’s cooking have to do with this?”

            “It’s all right,” Starla popped in over the burn bands, “just pretend I’m not here.”

            “Don’t you see, Fractal? We’d be nothing without you! Without you, there’d be no DimensioNoids,” Josh said.

            Fractal smiled. A smile from Fractal was rare.

            “Yes, I have been a good leader. I have kept us alive long enough for you to lead us.”

            “That’s the spirit,” Josh weakly grinned, suddenly reminded of the great weight of leadership the DimensioNoids had hung around his own neck.

            “Joshua Miles is very cool,” Denso said to Tempo, using one of Josh’s favorite terms. “He leads us to victory, and makes Fractal feel better about himself.”

            “Feelings,” Starla said over Denso and Tempo’s burn bands, “will carbon based entities ever get beyond it?”

            “He makes me feel better about myself, too,” Tempo revealed, “and I’m not carbon based.”

            They continued on, crunching through the snow, to the secret door and the welcome warmth of the command center.

            Josh was not surprised to find that Starla had reconfigured all the DimensioNoids’ burn bands to vibrate silently so the wearer could decide if he should speak freely. “As Joshua Miles had so brilliantly directed,” the glowing, floating beach ball of spectral energy noted.

            “Yes,” Fractal said, “I could have used such a function that time when I was sneaking up on some Minions and Starla contacted me to ask me what I wanted for lunch!”

            Everyone laughed, even synthetic, intelligent, Starla.

            “Yo, dude, with Starla around who needs a mother?” Spindle cracked, he, too, borrowing from Josh’s dictionary.

            Josh, Spindle, Tempo, Denso, and even synthetic Starla, laughed heartily at Spindle’s joke. They didn’t notice Fractal turn away and clench his fists as if the mention of ‘mother’ dredged up some primordial essence from the pit of his primitive being. Fractal was, after all, not much more than a caveman. A primitive creature with incredible powers and a fantastic vocabulary -- as they all strangely had.

            Josh was happy to discover that Tempo had excavated private quarters for him at the end of a new tunnel complete with the skateboarder emblem over the door. Also, during Josh’s absence, Starla had built Josh a shower stall and, in the ready room, constructed a fifth tactics bench.

            “Starla?” Josh said, sitting down in his new tactics bench for the first time. It hummed to life.

            “Yes, Joshua Miles?” the hollow voice of the spectral energy entity said over Josh’s burn band communicator.

            “How ‘bout I break in my new tactics bench with a history lesson?” the boy suggested.

            “It would be my pleasure,” Starla replied.

            “History, then. The history of interdimensional space. And the astronomy, too. You know, planets an’ stuff.”

            “Astronomy first, then, being it’s broader in scope.”

            Starla enthusiastically proceeded, flashing visuals on Josh’s view screen to support its scholarly dissertation. It was almost as though this was Starla’s territory, explaining it all, and supporting itself with powerful visuals. But a non carbon based entity couldn’t feel pride -- could it?

            “Each dimension has several planetary systems, but usually only one or two planets are inhabitable by carbon based life. These planets have to be in orbit at just the right distance from one or more of the dimension’s stars. It also has to be a planet that provides large quantities of water, and an atmosphere.”

            “Yeah, just like earth -- er, I mean like Solaria,” Josh said, pleased to learn interdimensional space was not as different from his own world as he had thought.

            “All the atmospheres are nearly identical on all the carbon based planets,” Starla continued. “It is water, atmosphere, and starlight that bring forth the evolution of carbon based entities. Four fifths of all entities in interdimensional space are carbon based. Entities who breathe approximately the same air, and need to intake nutrition and hydrogen dioxide -- water, in Solarian terms. One fifth of the dimensions have evolved planets of non-carbon based beings, like Tempo and myself. These are dimensions that do not follow the Theory of Lowellian Law.”

            “Lowellian Law?” Josh asked.

            “A dictum that only dimensions with carbon based origins could be admitted into the Great Coalition. It was an early pronouncement by Lord Eddington Lowe, but it was rescinded within his own lifetime. This was after his explorers made contact with several non-carbon based dimensions and found many of us to be intelligent and an important contribution to the Great Coalition.”

            “Great Coalition? Lord Eddington Lowe? What’s that all about?” Josh had to know.

            “That’ll be in the history portion,” Starla responded, sounding a bit like a testy Solarian school teacher. “Before the Dimension Wars, there were over one thousand dimensions with civilizations, some primitive, but all well on their way up the evolutionary ladder. Half the beings believe it all happened by chance; the other half insist it could only have been brought about by divine intervention, a spiritual belief in a God being very much a part of the civilizations of interdimensional space.” Starla actually seemed to pause for effect. “Except for the Outer Dimensions.”

            Grainy pictures of hostile worlds beyond imagination flashed on Josh’s view screen, as Fractal, Denso, Spindle and Tempo gathered around Josh’s tactics bench to watch.

            “In the Outer Dimensions, bizarre creatures lurk in the shadows. Some believe in more than one god, and use all visitors as sacrifices to them. Some believe in no God at all. They are too primitive to even conceive of it. Yet many have already achieved fantastic powers. These powers often develop before the mental capacity to control them,” Starla explained. “During the Great Coalition it was unlawful for travelers to enter these underdeveloped dimensions. Still it happened, smugglers, misguided explorers, but usually they were never heard from again. It was not until a dimension was fully developed was it befitting, by majority vote, for the Great Coalition to contact this chosen dimension, and bestow upon it the ability to dimension jump.”

            “But you haven’t given that to my dimension, yet,” Josh blinked. “Hey! Do you consider my dimension underdeveloped?”

            “Precisely,” Starla said, taking a great measure of satisfaction in saying it. “It’s not that you’re not intellectually sufficient. It’s that Solaria is a dimension whose inhabitants, in this case exclusively carbon based, and quite diverse, I might add, unfortunately have no special powers. You would place yourself in danger every time if you were allowed to dimension jump.”

            “We don’t use the words ‘dimension jump’ anymore,” Denso contributed. “It’s a dimension burn, now. Fits the times, don’tcha think?”

            Starla went on to explain that though many dimensions claim to have been the first to discover the ability to dimension jump, there was good evidence that the dimension jump was invented by a Peitgen. “A light energy being like myself. Its name was Spectra. Interdimensional space had been in a downward spiral for millennia. It is believed this Peitgen used the first dimension jump to scour the dimensions for a being that could save all the dimensions from disease and famine and war. Spectra found Eddington Lowe.” The image of a young man appeared. He was seventeen or so, clean shaven and wide-eyed with wonder, much like Josh was at the moment. “Eddington Lowe guided us for a hundred of your Solarian years,” Starla explained. “Lord Lowe was the first Solarian to venture into interdimensional space. A savior from what you call your early 20^th century.”

            “He was -- from earth!” Josh softly gasped. “Solaria!”

            A new image of Lord Lowe appeared. Now he was twenty years older, tall, blond, with shaving brush mustache, long sideburns, regal clothes and confident stance.

            “Lord Lowe became ruler of a thousand dimensions, bringing them together in what he named The Great Coalition. There followed a long period of peace and prosperity.”

            “And now you have come to guide us,” Fractal said.

            This sent a lump into Josh’s stomach.

            “Hey, you know, I just want to help out,” Josh sheepishly shrugged, “but you can’t believe that I’m going to, you know, like, save the world.”

            “A thousand worlds,” Starla corrected.

            “Look, I’m just a kid from Kansas that this -- this Chaos creep saw in a vision. A vision from some giant machine. Machines screw up. It’s not, like, cosmic.”

            “But it is,” Starla said. “The great Peitgen prophet Glint spoke of a new age. The Age of the Second Solarian.”

            “You could be the Solarian of that prophecy,” Tempo said, with a certain sympathy in a voice more her own than Emily Kinicki’s. “You can’t run from destiny, Joshua Miles. Embrace it.”

            “We’ve been praying for the coming of the second Solarian since Lord Lowe died,” Spindle said in his bird-like squawk. “In Frobenius, we have prayer songs about it.”

            “Yeah, but you don’t want to hear them sung by a Frobenian song squawker!” Denso joked.

            They all laughed, then a London Times newspaper headline circa 1900 came on the screen, and Starla went on.

            “Eddington Lowe, a well-schooled young student attending a learning center in Solaria known as Oxford, went missing one night when, witnesses said, he was taken away by a portal of fire. Sound familiar?” Starla pointedly asked.

            Josh was too engrossed to answer.

            “After coming to power, Lord Lowe instituted the Universal Word. The language all civilized dimensions speak as a second language, making communication between them much more productive.”

            “So, that’s why you all can speak English,” Josh chuckled. “Veddy -- proper English.”

            “Yes,” agreed Starla. “Lord Lowe made it mandatory that anyone engaged in dimension travel speak The Universal Word. This became a key to the future, so all civilized dimensions soon made it their second tongue.”

            A beautiful world materialized on Josh’s viewer.

            “Kolomogoro, Fractal’s home dimension, became the showcase of the Great Coalition,” Starla said.

            “Kolomogoro was the place to be, for it was the dimension in which Lord Lowe chose to live,” Fractal proudly stated, with a hint of nostalgia for his home dimension.

            “Back then, it was an untamed world, but soon lush gardens and fantastic cities resembling those of Solaria’s ancient Aztecs and Egyptians sprung up, all inspired by Lord Lowe.” Pictures of the architecture Starla was describing appeared. Then, the image of an aged, bed-ridden Lord Lowe flashed onto Josh’s screen. “During the final years of Lord Lowe’s life, Cadavra became a dimension of military force fielding a huge army that threatened the Great Coalition.” Pictures of heavily equipped soldiers massing in Cadavra came on the view screen. “Just before Lord Lowe died at a hundred and eight, a plague came to Cadavra. It killed all but four Cadavrians; four scientists who had found a way to rearrange their genetic structures to defeat the viruses.” Pictures of The Evil Cluster appeared. They were dark forbidding inhuman creatures, each cloaked in a black fog. Josh’s stomach curdled. Starla continued. “These four became The Evil Cluster. Their first decree was to ban interdimensional travel, keeping the capability for itself, its Minions, and its chief disciple, Chaos.” Chaos appeared on screen, causing fear to clutch at Josh’s throat.

            “Of course, we are rebels,” Fractal grinned, “so we don’t really care a lot about Cluster Law!”

            This brought a laugh from everyone, even synthetic Starla. It seemed to Josh that Tempo had been right. All intelligent creatures laugh -- even Starla, even Fractal.

            Images of massive zombie armies filled the screen.

            “After Lord Lowe died, the Cluster found a way to reanimate their dead armies. They invaded Kolomogoro first, causing the collapse of the Great Coalition. They enslaved nearly all the adult population. Dimensions continue to fall under their dominion. The Cluster’s lust for power has yet to be satisfied,” Starla said with finality.

            There was a long silence as Josh tried to absorb it all.    “This Eddington Lowe. Tell me more about him and what he did,” Josh requested. In-depth video filled up Josh’s screen as Starla told the tale of the Great Coalition.

            “Eddington Lowe came to us in a time of desperation. Famine had wracked many of the carbon based dimensions. A variety of diseases were running rampant in almost all the dimensions, many affecting even non carbon based beings. Lord Lowe had been studying medicine in your world, and brought with him great formulas for defeating the diseases. This was his first great accomplishment. Once the epidemics were under control, Lord Lowe fashioned methods for bringing nourishment to the crops of dimensions suffering famine. By his third year in interdimensional space he had brought most of the carbon based worlds from the brink of starvation. In his fifth year, he began to lay the ground work for interdimensional peace using Spectra’s dimension jump to send delegations of Kolomogorons to bring all advanced worlds into what he named the Great Coalition. Kolomogorons have great powers, able to control the forces of the weather and harness the powerful stresses coming from the core of any planet. Lord Lowe and Spectra chose Kolomogoro because its inhabitants had these powers. They were a non-aggressive force, the only type Spectra would have condoned, but it served to put any resistant dimension on notice that they could not win a confrontation with the Great Coalition and its Kolomogoron army. Dimensions fell into line, and found this decision most productive to their overall well being. This time of prosperity lasted almost a hundred years, but it all came undone with the rise to power of The Cluster and the onset of the Dimension Wars.”

            “Geez!” Josh gulped, dizzy from it all and realizing that if it was his destiny to win the Dimension Wars, it was the biggest challenge any kid ever had!