Under a Starless Sky

Jon woke to find himself in a space they called ‘High Conference.’ He was not on the circle, a line on the floor that was illuminated and loosely defined a place where people stood during meetings. It was a ‘virtual’ space, a place where crew avatars met when it was too inconvenient for the body to be present in an impromptu meeting. He was near the dome, looking out into space. The outside view didn’t have to be space. It could be anything they wished to project. Alien world landscapes, or underwater environments. It usually reflected where they were in space-time. The ‘space’ looked familiar, like he should know it, and he struggled to make it fit. A portion of a nearby nebula sufficiently illuminated by nearby stars- could have been a mountain only there was clearly stars to one side. It looked alive, flowing, shifting. Lightening illuminated it from the inside. He touched the dome, tracing out a square and retreated the section out so that he saw more of the nebula- and recognized the Pillars of Creation. He was no longer interested.

The dome responded to his request- suggesting he was really back on the ship. As he focused, though, he realized he could see his reflection on the dome. He must have been all of 8. He would be 52 years old in a month, and here he was, in 8 year old body! The recoil nearly had him running for help.

What stopped him from running was the reflection beyond him. A brunette, Egyptian styled haircut, a bit longer than she usually wore it, touching her shoulders. Her smile moved constellations of freckles. He turned, and she was still there. Solid real. Her uniform suggested Star Trek, only the gold top was comprised of two tone sequins, and if you rubbed her, she’d have a streak rainbow heavy on the violet instead of the gold layer. She was fit thin, yet well endowed. Her eyes were upturned, hooded, almond shaped- mesmerizing, emerald green, a noticeable artifact in the right eye, a feature of central heterochromia. She was brunette, bold, dark eyebrows, freckled with discernable constellations on her cheeks; the right cheek could be the Ursa Major. The prominent left constellation sometimes changed, likely a trick of perspective. Sometimes Jon thought he saw the ‘Chameleon Constellation.’ At the most direct angle, he clearly found the ‘star point’ “Capella,” and then the Constellation ‘Auriga’ naturally fell prominent. Capella was fitting, Latin for female goat, as Jon was a Capricorn. Auriga was intriguing because it translated into Charioteer, as their team call sign was Solarchariot. Her nose was slightly upturned. If she pouted, the fullness of her lips made a heart shape. If she smiled, rooms noticeably brightened.

Loxy was an enigma. The love of his life. The First Officer of his ship. He hugged her. It was beyond strange because his head met her stomach, her hands came to his shoulder, then cupped his head, holding him close. She withdrew, holding his arms at shoulder, and knelt down.

“Don’t fucking do that,” Jon said.

She smirked. “Come to eye level?”

“Oh,” Jon said. ‘She’s not treating you like a child,’ he told himself He frowned. He sighed. Tears welled and dropped. “Sorry. Ship status?”

Loxy nodded. Business first. “We’re good,” Loxy assured him.

“We’re not good. What is this, episode Rascals, TNG?” Jon asked.

“Much more complicated, I assure you,” Loxy said. “Likely less fun, considering your present emotional state.”

“My emotional state is appropriate,” Jon snapped. He frowned, clenching fist. He forced himself to unclench, and a hand came up. “For being all of eight, and the contextual confusion. I have been trying to reach you.”

“We know,” Loxy said. “You’re aware that you’re not here.”

“Oh, fuck me. Yes I am. The computer responded…”

“It recognized your presence,” Loxy agreed.

“Hence, here,” Jon said.

“High Conference is sublime enough to reach you even there,” Loxy said.

“If I accessed the virtual deck, why am I still 8?” Jon asked.

Loxy smiled. “You like being 8?”

“No!”

“Better 8 than your original 8?” Loxy asked, probing into his life situation.

“It’s different,” Jon said. “Okay. Yes. Remarkably improved. Not the point.”

“Jon, your avatar is likely a projection of how you feel. Eight. Confused. Not in control.”

“I don’t have to be in control,” Jon argued.

“Yeah, you do. Don’t get me wrong. You’re good at letting go, more than most people, but you also hold onto stuff,” Loxy said. “You can be any age here. It’s just a matter of doing it.”

Jon nodded. “Okay, I accept that. Now let’s talk about recovering me.”

“Okay,” Loxy said. “First, how much do you remember?”

“I remember everything up to a point. I don’t know how I got to Tamor,” Jon said.

“Tamor is the name of the world?” Loxy asked.

“I think so. Or the continent I am on. Much of the information is privileged to female gender,” Jon said. “I am listening. I am trying to remote view things. It would be better if they would let me write. I don’t feel very successful relying on new memories.”

“What do you remember prior to being there?”

“Nothing. That’s a gap. I remember all of my life. This life here with you. I remember my life before you. I remember several other incarnations, with you,” Jon said. He smiled. “I remember us, here….” He paused from realization. “I remember other lives with you. Away Missions? Some of these lives, I don’t remember remembering prior to being on Tamor.”

“That’s interesting,” Loxy said.

Jon’s look indicated he didn’t share her enthusiasm.

“Whatever your experience was, you didn’t lose your memory. Or much of it. You gained some memories. Almost like hypnosis,” Loxy said. “This is good.”

“How is

start your

“Education?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t remember me. Us,” Loxy said. She sat down on the floor, Lotus position. “First, let me assure you, you and I are still connected. Don’t go trying

lonely

theme with this incarnation of you,” Loxy said. “Kind of a theme of many of our incarnations

hear her voice

me Shen,”

“Oh,” Loxy said. “That’s kind of

retreated. “Do

“Are they

some evidence in facial feature for

nice,” Loxy said. “We

“I am eight,”

said. He glared.

years old,” Jon said. He wrung out his hands. “In

since Little Man.” Little Man was

“Is this

parallel developmental, a tangential universe,” Loxy

I have heard rumor of another Caucasian woman…

the particulars,” Loxy said. “But I assure you, you are you, or you wouldn’t be able to access the virtual deck. I would not be able

was wearing Star-Tech, communication would likely be improved. He did not have to wear tech for communication to happen. His ship was capable of identifying his physical energy signature anywhere in the Universe. This ability was a blending of human psy abilities and high tech. If there was one remote viewer on the ship, the ship’s primary AI interface could experience what they experienced. No one remote viewer ever experienced the same thing. Some were visual, others auditory, and some tactile. The more remote viewers on the ship, the greater the AI’s ability to bring coherence to the data retrieved. The ship’s ability to teleport to

She opened up several squares, putting faces inside. The first to come up was Lanore, followed by Tama,

their names. He touched Lanore. “She gave birth

“Interesting,” Loxy said. “You remember

sleeping bag, having a fevered dream. I thought you kept touching

found you, we’ve been gathering intel,” Loxy said. “Tell

or imagination is getting in the way. Every time I try to perceive the whole world, I get flashbacks

seemed amused. “That’s

get around that image,” Jon

Star on the dome. “Okay. Is their world artificial?”

said. His first answer was almost assuredly the correct one, but then he had second thoughts.

nodded. “That’s the sense we

but many of the names,

colony world?” Loxy

the abundance

have

He sighed. “The thing that bothers me the most about the world is the lack of stars.” He turned to her. “Be straight with

if her eyes going up and to the right meant anything. It was not uncommon when in High Conference to see someone ‘check out’ and then return. In this virtual space, they were avatars. When she focused, she had made a decision to respond. She didn’t look concern. It wasn’t like she was about to reveal, ‘you have cancer and six weeks to live.’ She was serious, however. Professional. Not her usual good humor, ready to crack a joke or

of an umbilical cord. A wormhole.” She illustrated on the dome. “The black hole on this

Souls are too stupid to go

relatively young, and a single planet. It wasn’t hard to find them, as they’re only other significant artifacts other than the black hole. The size of

“For what purposes?”

colonies to ensure their species survival. They do it for experimentation. If something goes wrong, they

I get here?” Jon

an entity.

“Go on,”

entering above relativistic speeds. Reversal of age, or entropy, is either due to traveling faster than relativist speeds, or because of the entity’s biology or tech, or a combination. Maybe it was trying to reverse engineer humans. Maybe it just needed you to be a child. For whatever reasons, it would appear that it caused you to age backwards, and at the appropriate age, it implanted you into a host, probably someone who was

“Why?” Jon asked.

“Million dollar question,” Loxy said. She looked up, nodded, and returned her eyes. “We’re going to lose

“No! Why?”

We’re noticing a decay in

Plot

“Yeah. Do you have any

take it you can’t take My Enterprise through

cannot,”

you beam me out of here?”

be possible for you to build a

tech, in my life time,”

find that alien that kidnapped you,”

help it when I find