Invisible Universe - Chapter Ii - First Contact
_______________________________________________________ Falling. Falling into a jet black abyss. But the acceleration stopped! I found myself floating instead. I seemed to have shrunk out of gravity's grip. Opening my eyes, finding myself in darkness, the only light was at the top of the chasm, miles above me. It was a very faint light. I extended my hand and touched a rough surface. I was still floating downward, but slower than before. After a time I became aware of immense object all around me, giving off a soft luminescence. Some were gigantic, others as large as myself. All these objects drifted in space, like me, none touching each other. As I continued to shrink these objects spread out away from me and disappeared. I realized these were air molecules! For what seemed like an eternity, I kept drifting, drifting in endless darkness. I became nervous, anxious and afraid. Suppose the theories were wrong. Suppose, instead of an underlying universe of starlight and matter, I became trapped in an endless sightless void? I strained my eyes and after several minutes I noticed tiny iridescent patches of light swirling all about me. I saw individual points of light, then intense flashes. I knew what they were. Nebulae. Galaxies and clusters of galaxies, randomly scattered as far as I could see. There were spirals, pinwheels, globular shapes. It was breathtaking, intoxicating. As I grew smaller, these nebulae grew larger and more distant. Some had tens of millions of points of light, some were larger than others. Colors burst upon me. Duel red and bright blue, yellow and white, lavender and orange. Some were super giant stars. I had to avoid these because of the intense radiation and the destructive brilliance which could blind me. The luminosity increased and I was swept up in the spiral arms of one of these massive galaxies. My very presence there dislodged hundreds of millions of stars. I tried to stay as motionless as possible hoping I wouldn't cause too much damage. I was engulfed by more clusters within the nebulae. I began to discern a multiple star system with huge planets in orbit around them. I was mesmerized by the sight. Their gravity pulled me along. I didn't resist. There were flashes of light here and there and I understood they were super nova. Exploding stars! Again, every color was seen among these stars. Dazzling hues of orange, yellow, white, blue, violet. It was a kaleidoscope of unimaginable beauty. I was of a size now where I could maneuver comfortably without disrupting any star system. I selected one with sixteen planets and triple suns, although I was still twice the size of its orbital plane. I approached with caution. The vacuum of space did not hinder me. It seemed I could push against stellar dust and invisible dark matter which lent substance to the void. I could progress this way like a swimmer in an ocean. I was patient. I let the outermost planet swing past me, then I headed toward the inner ring. The outer planets were gas giants, probably amonia and methane judging by its blue color. The inner planets looked more hospitable. I drew closer to the fifth planet. It had a clear azure colored atmosphere with white clouds. Rotating counterclockwise, it tilted delicately on its axis. There were vast oceans of liquid blue, with several large land masses in both hemispheres. I was much too large to land on it, so I waited for another complete orbit. Thinking to myself how only minutes have passed for me, but a full year or more had elapsed for the inhabitants of this planet! Beyond this local portion of time, it had taken me millions upon millions of years, in their time, to approach this world. I wondered if their scientists were observing my presence here. I let the planet rush pass me again. The smaller I became, the slower things moved. When it passed for the third time I was captured by its gravitational pull. I positioned myself so that I would enter their atmosphere feet first and pointed them toward their eastern ocean. I was now sufficiently small enough to land without burning up in the atmosphere like a meteor or knocking the planet off its axis. I dropped into the ocean, my chest still above the clouds. I alighted gently but could not tell if I had caused massive tidal waves when my feet sunk to the bottom of their ocean. I dare not move, but waited till my size would allow me to wade onto shore. I dipped below the clouds to see I had innundated part of their eastern coast line. I was still around four miles high when I began to turn landward. There were long stretches of white sand beaches. Further inland there were vistas of bronze colored landscapes, low rolling hills and a suggestion of metallic structures in the far distance. Off to the northwestern horizon two red specks appeared, racing low across the plain. I immediately thought they might be some terrible weapon launched to destroy me! I was ready to swat them if they came too close. The shperes drew closer, slowed and glided around me keeping a discrete distance. They swooped and swirled all about me. They seemed to be made of a gaseous material, transparent and I sensed an intelligence. They circled around me several times then came dangerously close to my eyes. I shooed them away with the wave of my hand. They moved back, pulsating in mid-air and had changed from a bright red to a dark purple color. I could almost feel the emotion had changed to one of anger perhaps, or fear. I stayed motionless, not wanting to foul up my very first contact with alien beings! I didn't move for fear of trampling any life forms beneath me. The two globes then darted away north westward from where they originally came. After a while I decided to set out after them in the same direction. I was hungry and thirsty, and food and shelter were my immediate concern. I also hadn't slept for what seemed like days. I sought to find their city. I walked some two miles inland when I noticed silvery metallic spires in the distance, towering above the horizon. Must be their city, I reasoned. As I pondered what my next move might be, the globes returned, but with many companions, all red in color, about twenty feet in diameter. I stopped. There were some thirty in number, approaching in a triangular formation. The two closest to me changed color from red to a soft pink - each hovering some two hundred feet away. They looked like they were conferring with each other. As they hovered there, studying me, the other twenty odd number emitted long slender purple colored streamers, merging in a circle about me, stretching in and out like an elastic. Some of these streamers touched my mid section. I flung my arm to brush them aside, and as I did, they broke formation and backed off in all directions well out of my reach. When they returned they reformed their original circle and quickly sent out streamers in my direction. Before I could react, my body went numb. I couldn't move a muscle. I felt a tingling and prickly sensation entering my brain. The spheres were joined together with these emissions changing color to bright orange. The pinpricks in my mind grew more intense and I felt a question form in my thoughts, clearer than if it was spoken aloud! "What are you?" A moment later: "From where do you come?" I was astonished. I couldn't speak, yet I formed an answer in my mind. "From beyond your solar system. From beyond your universe. From up there." I replied feebly. There was static, a hiss in my head and with my mind's eye I saw and heard their words form again. "Direct your thoughts." A pause. "Focus your thoughts towards us." "We have never encountered a species such as you. What are you? From where do you come?" They probed deeper into my brain. I formed images of the laboratory and the complex, the sterile room, the shot of serum, the shrinking process, my placement on the block of metal, my life and death struggle with the dust mite and germ, then my ultimate descent and breakthrough into their universe! There was great excitement among them. I could sense it. These gas balls began to pulsate, change colors again! "Bring your mind sufficiently into focus," came the suggestion, "Try again to communicate." I concentrated. It worked. "Our appologies for this intrusion. Your story is fascinating. We must learn more." Suddenly, they grouped themselves together on either side of me, in two rows up and down. The red radiance returned and I was effortlessly lifted, like a feather, off the ground . I was some eight hundred feet tall! I floated perhaps a hundred feet off the ground as they propelled me in the direction of their city. Minutes later we slowed down and passed over a rolling green inland sea. We passed over it. I was smiling and enjoying the ride like some kid in an amusement park! They entered the outskirts of the city and they placed me down gently on a hard surface. Then tendrils retracted as they backed off. "Touch nothing, but you may walk freely through our city. We will wait till your size diminishes and we will again explore your mind to learn your origin and purpose. We have awaited your coming for centuries." Several spheres remained as my escort. They provided food and water for me as I explored their wonderous city. It was a magnificent city indeed, with beautiful architecture, structures half a mile into the sky, crystaline glass and silvery adamantine metal. There were vast sweeping curves in circular patterns, efficient and strikingly elegant. There were no streets or highways as the air was the natural envirnoment for these beings. I never saw them touch the ground. They normally hovered and sped around at all heights. I was eventually directed toward a central plaza where several hundred of these balls converged. There in the center of the plaza was constructed an enormous screen. It had the texture and appearance of transparent mesh. Then a three dimensional image emerged. It was a view of deep space. "This is our nebulae where our planet resides," came the thought. They continued: "This is how you appeared to us thousands of millennia ago. We have increased the speed of the events so you can follow. Watch closely." The great mass slowly turned and rotated in a smooth motion. Billions of suns blazing in celestial light. Then a vortex appeared. A swirling eddy in its midst. There, a great white bulk came into view - it was me - I filled the entire screen! I was many times the size of their galaxy. The image retraced my movements through their region of space and I was seen displacing millions upon millions of stars. I moved into the outer arm. "This had taken place over several hundred million years. We watched with great wonder. We know it all now! Yours is a great adventure and one which has barely started! Indeed you will have a marvelous experience. We are delighted you chose our planet on which to alight. Soon you will be gone from us. We cannot and would not stop your shrinkage. We will follow you as you journey downward into the infinitesimal. We envy you, and we feel sorry for you." Those last words they uttered would come to haunt me..."and we feel sorry for you." I know now what they meant. I had some questions of my own. For instance, their eyes were the entire section of their outter membrane. They absorbed energy for sustenance and communicated solely by mental telepathy. They answered many of my other questions. I had become much smaller than the spheres around me and they most likely became very comfortable with my presence now that I posed no threat at all. Our thoughts flashed back and forth in casual conversation. Finally they placed me on a slab of dark material, almost like the substance of a textile, a fabric. Above me was a microscope of some exotic and intricate design through which they would observe my passing. "I am amazed that creatures like yourselves can number micro-technology among the sciences and are able to use a microscope." Once again they explained their entire outer membrane was an organ of sight. I can only imagine what it would be like to see in every direction at once! The creatures now became immense and indistinct as I became smaller. I waved to them and waited, then passed from their presence forever. Again the surface of the slab became porous and cracked. I thought to myself...I hoped these gaseous beings were better at disinfecting the new world I was about to enter than we were! _______________________________________________________ Chapter III: Myth! _______________________________________________________
Copyright © 2003 Gregory J Christiano |