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Fathom's Phantoms A Peek Behind the Curtain

Dr. Parker really didn't know what to expect once they managed to connect the boarding umbilical with the station's destroyed suspension arm. The schematics he'd received for Sigma-Echo denoted that an emergency landing pad had once been on the planet-ward side of the station but apparently that had stopped being the case. The synth-rubber causeway was not the standard method used for boarding in any normal circumstance but considering the damage done to the structure it was their best bet to avoid an incomplete seal against the vacuum of space.

The Rabbit wasn't alone in stepping onto the DRC station; Captain Alvarez insisted on joining him. In addition Dr. Parker also asked to have Lt. Henshaw coming along. George Henshaw, being a Giraffe, was a tall and very obvious individual-- not normally seen as ideal for a covert boarding mission but, then again, the Lieutenant had been with Sean on two other Echoes and that meant a lot. Also joining him was Cpl. Dmitri Vanestov, a Class 2. Finally came Aaron White, a Jackrabbit (and another Class 2) rounding out the group.

When Helio found out about the group assignment the Human couldn't help but question it, addressing him in Spanish. "Two Rabbits?"

Sean shrugged in response replying, likewise in the language they shared in common. "Not speciest, just a coincidence. Other than yourself, Captain, the group is rounded out with men who have encountered Phantoms before."

Aaron smirked, adjusting the old-fashioned cowboy hat he wore with holes sliced into the brim to make room for his ears. "Except last time Dmitri and I were with the DRC and not the VAC... still feels strange seeing things through more than one set a eyes."

Dr Parker shrugged and continued walking down the umbilical, not stopping until his feet touched solid hallway. "You will get used to it if you survive."

The comment caused Captain Alvarez to stop. "IF? Sean... I had been under the impression that men like you that have encountered os Fantasmas on different Echos are slated to survive future engagements."

The Rabbit shook his head. "No... just that there's a GOOD chance. As far as anyone has ever conveyed to me all of these Echos are just disturbances created by the Primary Event."

Dmitri shook his head, words accented by a faint, barely noticeable Russian accent. "I still haven't learned anything about that. Primary Event? Echoes? All I know is that I remember watching a planetside outpost fall apart as waves of those glowing eels swept through and killed everyone... aside from that it's like a dream because my whole life has revolved around being trapped in a large tube and then being sent to VAC command to get shipped out on the Destino."

Helio glanced to the Snow Leopard. "I should have understood the situation better in your case... you speak much better than any other military grade LHI Geneticons I have ever met. But that still does not fully explain these 'multiple lives' you mention."

Dr. Parker glanced back past the Captain to the final member of their party who was only just joining them. It was a convenient segue since the Rabbit was eager to change the subject. "Ah... there you are. I'm glad you could make it."

All eyes turned back to the subject of his greeting as the quiet, gray skinned Voljoi woman made her way down the umbilical walkway after the rest of them. She nodded to him in a confused, mute greeting, then asked a question of Capt. Alvarez in Portuguese. The Human responded in kind and she spoke again. Helio turned to Sean, addressing him again Spanish. "She doesn't understand why you asked her to come... and that makes two of us."

The Rabbit let out a breath and turned to face the Captain. "If we want to increase our chances for survival then our best bet is to have her with us."

Helio frowned but his question was a reasonable one. "How will having Asteriscos with us help?"

Sean smiled comfortingly at the Voljoi as he spoke words he knew she couldn't understand. "She is going to die, Captain-- we know this. If she's left on Destino then there's a good chance that means the Phantoms will get in there and make any escape impossible. If she's with us then she will at least provide them a target while the rest of us escape."

The Human was immediately taken aback by the simple honesty of the Rabbit; Dr. Parker could tell that the Captain didn't like what he was hearing but in the end Helio lowered his head and sighed. "Never did I think we would take the same approach to a problem as the Deep Reconnaissance Corporation... this is not the VAC way..."

The Rabbit shrugged. "It's survival, Helio... you don't HAVE to like it but you have to understand the need for it."

Lt. Henshaw stepped past Dr Parker, looking down the empty hallway. He spoke in English. "Do we have any idea how long we have until the next Ripple?"

Sean winced inwardly at the Giraffe's mention of the phenomenon, but not as much as at how quickly Captain Alvarez latched onto the new proper noun despite not knowing the language. "A 'Ripple'? What is this thing you mention?"

The Rabbit sighed anew, shooting a dirty glance at George who only shrugged in response. Sean looked back to Helio, using the Spanish word for it. "Ondulación."

A mellow voice spoke up in Spanish from the two PCDs the group possessed: Helio's, and Sean's. "Assuming current projections are correct, the next Ripple is approximately eleven minutes away, Dr. Parker."

The Captain looked down at his personal communication device. "Who is this? We are supposed to be comm silent."

The reply was both direct without being forward and pleasant without being overly-sugary. "My name is ALVIN, Captain Alvarez, and I am contacting you at the behest of Captain Nida Jorn and Dr. Surresh Makowi."

Helio was not content with that answer. "And how do you know who we are?"

Sean interrupted the discussion. "ALVIN? You were an android on Farlight, weren't you?"

There was a genuine smile in the sound of the reply. "Yes, Dr. Parker... thank you for remembering. I had a body back then."

Captain Alvarez put two and two together. "You are a computer program?"

"That is correct. In a previous Echo I had the benefit of a mobile operation platform through which to interact with those around me. While I no longer have the luxury of being housed in an independent functioning robotic body I am currently able to control approximately 35% of Sigma-Echo. Socially speaking this is a setback but in general terms of accessibility and utilization it could be considered a very favorable upgrade."

Helio rubbed the back of his neck. "Aie... and now computer programs have Classes? Every time I think I understand more it seems discover even more I do not."

The friendly, outgoing voice of Alvin piped in. "You are not alone in this, Captain Alvarez-- despite all of my processing power I believe that I know far less than there is to know and Captain Nida is unfortunately not as forthcoming as would be appropriate considering the circumstances."

The Rabbit smirked. "That's nothing new."

Alvin continued addressing him. "Doctor Parker... may I call you Sean? Sean, please let me say that it is a privilege to be working alongside you in this endeavor. I understand that you are the most experienced person aside from Captain Nida when it comes to dealing with Phantoms."

Dr. Parker shrugged. "I can't see why not... we ARE all on the same side, after all. Even if you are a program I--"

The voice spoke up over him. "I consider it fortunate then that I did not follow through with my initial impulse once my programmer died."

George raised an eyebrow. "Initial impulse?"

Alvin continued, apparently quite pleased to answer the question. "Yes. I had planned to open every airlock on Sigma-Echo and empty all atmospheric gas out into space."

Helio frowned. "That would have killed everyone on board."

"Correct... and the Phatoms as well. It would have satisfied a desire for revenge but my creator instilled in me a value for life. It would also have made the station uninhabitable, and therefore restricted our ability to encounter one another. As I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you, I believe my hesitation to overload the life support system and vent the atmosphere to have been most well chosen."

Asteriscos, completely out of the loop as she didn't speak Spanish, simply hung back and glanced curiously toward the Captain. Eventually Helio exchanged a few words with her; whatever he said seemed to put the Voljoi at ease... until Alvin next spoke from their PCDs, choosing Portuguese as well. Whatever the program said put the woman into a strong level of concern, and she began speaking quickly with Helio.

The dark skinned Captain glanced toward Dr. Parker once the Voljoi had said her piece. "She has a right to know, Sean."

The Rabbit shrugged. "Then tell her."

A mask of indecision darkened the Captain's features as he glanced toward Asteriscos. In the end he offered a few words dismissively to her and went quiet. Dr. Parker wasn't surprised; he'd faced the same situation of telling someone their death was coming multiple times in multiple Echos-- it never made it any easier.

While Alvin took the time to fill in Helio, Sean let his mind go back to his previous experiences involving the Echoes, the Phantoms, and what he'd heard call "The Transitive Wave". The "Event" hadn't make much sense to Dr. Parker the first time it had happened. It took two additional repeats more before he knew enough of what was going on to put the pieces together and it wasn't until he spent twenty hours wasting away beside the small, gray alien that he finally understood... and that was because she explained exactly what was going on. Well... not EXACTLY... but far more than he had been told up to that point by the only other person Sean had known.

Dr. Parker had never been in the Sigma System; even in other versions of reality no expedition force from Terra had ever set up an outpost let alone an entire space station. To say the Rabbit was apprehensive was an overstatement because of what Nida Jorn had told him those two Echos prior. She had said in no uncertain terms "The pebble fell in 23-17."

To anyone not familiar with the metaphor it would have gone easily over their head but, back then they had spent enough time together for the Rabbit to understand the Voljoi's meaning. The two had been trapped together in a rock fall and their small cavern was rapidly running out of air. It was a race against time for the 'Event' to take them into the next reality or for death to take them out of reality entirely. It would have been a horrible event for one or both of them to die of course; memories didn't transfer between Echoes unless you lived through it.

The cave in had left them buried alive in an opening scarcely the size of a transport shuttle. There had been a pool of stale water and that is what Nida had used when explaining what they were facing. The Voljoi woman had picked up a small pebble and asked him in no complex terms "Do you know how active sonar works, Sean?"

The Rabbit hadn't spent any real time studying sound propagation but he knew enough. At first he thought she was just trying to distract him from their slow, painful death but he was still willing to play along. "You mean bouncing sound waves off of objects and listening for the echoes? Yea... a little."

She smiled in her subtle, Voljoi way; the expression looked almost eerie on the otherwise unmoving face. "The ripple of water when disturbed by a stone is in many ways a two dimensional representation of sonar."

Sean watched as she dropped the pebble into the pool. Several rings emerged from the impact point and made their way to the edges before deflecting off only to surge back toward the point of origin. The Rabbit still didn't understand what she was getting at. "Yea... I guess that makes sense. If you drop a stone in the water and watch the ripples you'll get an idea of how far to shore."

The Voljoi nodded, picking up another stone. "How interesting it would be if a pool of water were able to be stretched into more than two dimensions."

The thought had given him a moment's pause before the more logical side of his brain took control. "Puddles exist in three dimensions... they have depth too."

Her all-black eyes gazed at him as she dropped the pebble into the water. "You are thinking in too literal a sense, Sean. What I mean to say is what if there was a way to create a ripple that could span not the length of a puddle... but the distance between 'now' and 'then'?"

One of his ears dropped as he looked at her incredulously. "What do you mean by 'now' and 'then', exactly?"

That emotionless smile returned to her face. "I mean being able to look at future events before they have happened."

It took a moment for the Rabbit to catch on. "You're not talking about sonar... you're talking about seeing into the future. That's two entirely different things."

The smile, for a split second turned much more genuine then, fleetingly, disappeared as quickly as it had happened. "Unless you were to learn that it isn't."

They had both agreed to limit physical exertion to assure that their oxygen would last as long as possible but the Rabbit sat up so he could make a declaration. "You mean... all of this... everything that's going on... what's happened to me, and... those... those THINGS--"

"Phantoms."

Sean's other ear dropped. "What's going on... and those PHANTOMS... that all somehow has something to do with seeing into the future?"

She dropped another pebble into the pool. "Yes."

He scoffed. "I guess God doesn't like the idea of people seeing the future if something like this is happening just because someone took a sneak peek."

His humor was either ignored or went unnoticed by the Voljoi, who dropped another stone into the pool. "This has nothing to do with God or any other real-or-imagined being, Sean... this is about the side effect of what can best be described as Chrono-Dimensional Sonar."

The Rabbit leveled his gaze at the Voljoi. "Sonar stands for Sound Navigation And Ranging, Doctor Nida... I don't think sound is able to identify or measure time."

She looked down at the puddle as she dropped in another rock. "You are, once again, being far too literal."

He frowned. "Then why don't you try explaining it so I can understand without metaphor?"

The Voljoi woman looked up, still unwilling to relent in her depositing of pebbles into the pool. "Consider time as we see it to be the surface of the water. Although all we ever see is what floats at the point between gas and liquid, there is actually a great amount of depth beneath. Among the people of Sol III, this is what has often been hypothesized as different 'dimensions'-- identical or near-identical realities that take up the exact same position within time."

It was a stretch for Sean to grasp since his mind had always been far more analytical in nature than what was required to study the fuzzy pseudo-science of alternate dimensions. His ears raised again. "So... we're talking about the other lives I remember?"

She deposited another pebble into the pool. "That is correct."

Sean leaned back against the cave wall. "Then what exactly does that have to do with your 'time sonar'?"

Nida carefully plunked down yet another small rock into the pool. "To create the ripple on the surface of the water you must drop in a stone."

"Okay... and?"

The Voljoi gazed straight at him, black eyes managing an almost bored look to them. "The stone does not stay on the top of the water."

It was an obvious comment and he was half way through a condescending response before he chose one far more factual. "It's heavier than the water... of course it-- it goes to the bottom of the pool of water."

Nida's half-hearted smile returned. "What I mean to say is that, from the surface to the bottom it passes through all layers of water. In the example of what you said was a poorly named 'Chrono-Dimensional Sonar', the event of dropping a rock into a pool of water would then be felt by all versions of reality sharing that space in the pond or, more specifically, all realities occupying the same stretch of time."

The Rabbit recalled feeling as though he had been at the cusp of understanding at that point and his next question helped bring things into focus. "So... you're saying that all of this started because someone figured out how to take a metaphorical rock and drop it into a metaphorical pond so they could see into the future?"

The Voljoi gave a simple, succinct nod. "That is a very basic way of explaining things but I believe you can comprehend my meaning, yes."

Sean leveled his gaze at the woman. "And how do you know all of this?"

Her disingenuous smile disappeared as she leveled her blank gaze at him. "Because I was on the research team that created the method used."

It took some time for the Rabbit to come to grips with what the Voljoi was saying; in his previous life they had been aliens and had all but destroyed Mars when their ship crash landed. Of course, that HAD been a lifetime ago and, even though he realized it was not as far back as it felt there was a strange amount of overlap in his memory... like two see-through sheets of paper being placed atop one another... or, as she put it, different depths of water occupying the same spot in a puddle-- apparently one that had been disrupted by a dropped stone.

That left many questions still unanswered but he brought up the first one his mind pulled to the front. "So... what about those 'Phantom' things?"

Nida deposited one more pebble into the puddle and, suddenly, it failed to sink; the rock was suspended on the surface by the small pile she had dropped there. "Eventually only so many stones can be in one place... and at that point something must give."

The answer almost seemed out of left-field and if there was one thing Sean had learned about the Voljoi was that she never bothered explaining herself unless prompted. "So, you're saying the Phantoms are the equivalent of too many stones being dropped?"

The woman moved back from the pool. "Stepping away from the metaphor, you must understand that we did not fully comprehend the complexity of what we were attempting to accomplish. Yes, creating a Chrono-Dimensional 'Sonar' is in itself a very advanced technique but this method was meant to MEASURE... not affect. The waves we had actively broadcast through the space between alternate versions of reality were meant to bounce off of the boundary between existences, creating a ping that would help us see perhaps a handful of seconds into the future."

The Rabbit raised an eyebrow and his ears. "Things didn't go as planned?"

Nida shrugged. "It was a preliminary test... a trial run. We had no way of knowing that the boundaries are as permeable as they are."

Sean had made a jump of logic. "So... those Phantoms... they're from the place between alternate realities?"

The Voljoi offered up the closest thing he had ever seen as an embarrassed expression. "Perhaps microscopic bubbles that followed the stones into the water... or perhaps the stones themselves. The Phantoms exist in a reality between our own where heat, rather than matter is the prime form of energy for creating living beings."

There was a long break in discussion after that as the Rabbit tried to wrap his brain around everything she had said. When he finally thought of something it was rather straight forward. "So... now what?"

She looked across to him in their small subterranean world where the emergency lantern he carried had been their only source of light. "We bide our time... try to survive as many of these ripples-- these Echoes as we can until we have a chance to get back to where everything began."

The Rabbit was astounded at how simple she made it sound. "You mean... back to the world at the surface of the pool?"

Nida laughed-- it almost sounded genuine, "No, Sean. Y-0 was where everything began but the reality itself is unimportant... we need to return to the physical location of the transmitter."

"You mean the place where you sent the signal originally? Wouldn't that only be on the reality where you started? That 'Y-0' you're always talking about?"

She shook her head. "No... when you create something that can touch different existences then it appears in all of them. This is one case where time and dimension do not matter because the broadcast spire passes through all of them at a central nexus... in this case, the commonality is location."

At that point Sean was completely lost. "So... if we're talking about dimensions then we're talking about time and space... so what's left?'

The Voljoi leveled her gaze at him. "Space, obviously. The spire takes up the same physical location in every ripple of reality... every Echo."

He still felt lost albeit a little less so; at least he understood that they had to get somewhere. "So... where is it we're trying to go?"

That thought pulled him back to the present, along with the question Helio was asking... coincidentally similar in nature and with the same answer. "What WAS the coordinates where this started?"

The Rabbit continued walking the abandoned halls of the space station as he addressed Captain Alvarez. "23-17."

Helio was very quick on the uptake. "Twenty three seventeen? That is the galactic coordinates of the Sigma System."

Dr Parker nodded. "Correct. We have reason to believe that THIS station, Sigma-Echo, may be the key to getting rid of the Phantoms and stopping all of this."

The Captain was not privy to all specifics so his question was not unexpected. "How does this station hold the key to defeating 'os Fantasmas'?"

The Rabbit shook his head. "I'm sorry, Helio but I can't discuss that."

Captain Alvarez was about to object but Lt. Henshaw interrupted them both. "Doc... we got one of em up ahead."

George had been with Sean during the last Echo where they had been stationed planet side on an outpost called Farlight. It was several systems closer to the center of the galaxy; far enough away that Sean knew they wouldn't have a chance at the Sigma system, but it had given him hope that they were getting closer and the current Echo confirmed it. The Rabbit hadn't known at the time that George was going to survive but, out of all of the VAC forces he'd worked with in that Echo Sean was glad that it was the Giraffe.

Dr. Parker held up a finger to the Captain to silence him as he pulled out a modified life support cell. "Just one Phantom?"

The Giraffe nodded. "Just one."

The Rabbit motioned everyone back and twisted the device open. Stepping to the front of the group he pressed a button on the side right around the same time as the Phantom took notice of them. Sean set the cylindrical metal tube down on the ground and moved back toward everyone else then pulled out his PCD and pressed the button to activate it.

A huge glow burned fiercely from the open cell as the atmospheric scrubber inside was bombarded by intense heat. The Phantom, as expected, was attracted to it immediately and, in a flash, disappeared inside. Sean pressed the button on his PCD and the cell closed. Helio was the first to speak as the illumination in the hall returned to normal. "You... trapped it?"

Sean nodded, stowing his PCD. "It isn't a permanent fix but it should take about an hour before they escape."

The Captain looked at him incredulously. "They?"

The Rabbit shrugged. "Like I said: it isn't a permanent fix. I just fed it so we'll have two to deal with if we have to come back this way."

Aaron, who was standing beside the Captain was very straight forward with his question. "How many more of those do you have?"

Unwilling to waste time Sean continued down the hall, speaking over his shoulder. "Five... so we need to make them count."

Dmitri was near the back of the group with Asteriscos but, like everyone else he'd had a clear enough view to see the effectiveness of the scrubber trap. "Can we make more?"

Sean didn't even slow, forcing everyone to walk after him. "We could but it would take time and I don't know how much of that we have until Sigma-Echo passes the tipping point."

Helio hustled so he could walk beside the Rabbit. "Tipping point?"

Dr. Parker nodded. "Every time someone on board this station is killed by a Phantom the number of people left alive goes down by one and the number of Phantoms goes up by one. At some point there will be more Phantoms on this station than living people... and at that point there will be more predators than prey."

George spoke up from behind them. "Any idea how much time that is?"

The Rabbit shook his head. "I didn't start counting how long the Echoes lasted after the first Phantoms showed until two times ago. My best guess is we have maybe four hours... at most."

Helio frowned. "So... we need to find your Voljoi contact before then?"

Sean said the words he realized nobody wanted to hear. "I don't know what we need to do."

As anticipated the lack of reassurance was not well received. The Captain was the first to object. "We are going into a DRC installation full of these things without even knowing what we have to do?!?!"

The Rabbit nodded calmly. "This is no worse than the last times."

Helio had apparently reached HIS tipping point. "This is my FIRST time! From what you've said this may be my ONLY time... and now you are telling me we do not even have a plan?"

Sean nodded. "I told you there were questions you would not want to have answered... that happens to have been one of them."

Captain Alvarez was almost yelling. "Then I am giving my life for what?!"

Dr Parker let out a sigh. "That is probably another question you would not like the answer to, Helio... I suppose I can't ask you to just trust me?"

"WHY, Sean?!?"

The Rabbit came to a stop and turned to address the near hysterical Human. "For a CHANCE at fixing this... or at least collecting enough information that we can succeed the next time we get to this point."

Helio just stared at him, shock and surprise on his face. It wasn't until Sean saw the blackening ring appear on Captain Alvarez's chest that the Rabbit realized that suddenly something more than distrust and fear had gotten into the man. George was the first to shout a direction, and despite the fact that it was in English it needed no translation. "MOVE! NOW!!!"