CHAPTER 43
THE TRAVELER
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
- Eden Phillpots
"Where are they?" Bates demanded of Jake repeatedly, as he and the others looked in vain for Steve and Hank in the area surrounding the Pit, and he and Krog pulled frantically back on the ropes that were hopefully still attached to their two companions. The ropes came back all too easily. In seconds, the unoccupied ends of both ropes were in their hands. One rope end looked like it was cut, the other looked like it was melted.
"Now how the deuce should I know where they are?" replied Jake. "You folks was suppose to be the experts on this here pit thing! Guess that ain't so. But don't you worry yourself none; they'll be out di-rectly. I done the same thing my own self three times. They just gonna be a little con-fused to start is all."
Sure enough, after a few minutes a haggard looking Steve Latanna suddenly materialized in the clearing and bounded straight into Bates! The two of them tumbled to the ground, but Steve bounced right up again and continued running. Milo, thinking it some sort of wonderful new game where folks got to knock down his master, joined in the festivities by knocking Bates down again when he was half way back up.
"Steve, wait!” shouted Bates, from a safer, prone position.
Johnny Goth bolted towards Steve with impossible speed and tackled him to the ground. The stunned governor offered no resistance when Johnny and Dooley helped him up and walked him to Bates.
"Steve, are you all right?" Bates asked him.
The blank look on the governor's face suddenly registered recognition. "Steve! That's my name, isn't it?" he asked.
"Sure it is!” reassured Janet. "You're our friend, Steve Latanna. Won't you tell us what happened? Where is Hank?"
"I am Steve Latanna!” he said, the tension draining from his face for just a moment. "But who's Hank?” He sat down heavily on the rough rocky ground, shaking his head slowly, trying to remember more of the millions of memories that helped him define himself as the others gathered around him.
"What happened, Latanna?" asked Bates, after giving him a few more moments to catch his breath and gather his wits.
"What do you mean?" replied Steve. "Did something happen?"
"What did you see when you walked into the Black Pit?"
"Pit? Is that where I was? Say, am I an Apache Indian?” He was looking at his dark, reddish tinged hands.
"You're an Apache Indian Chief even, not to mention Governor of Arizona to boot. But Hank is still in there somewhere, and we need to know if he’s in danger. What were you running away from just now?"
Steve took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sat silently in concentration for long seconds before replying. "Confusion mostly. I was confused. Still am a bit confused. Couldn't even remember who I was! I think that caused some panic. It's like my mind's been scrambled; shuffled like a deck of cards. But I'm starting to remember more things. You're Bates aren't you? And now I remember Hank too; he was with me.
“We were entering a dark place, as though we walked from day into night, and it was a deep place, for the ground sloped steeply down. In a way, it was like stepping under some great mountain; it was cold and silent, like being inside an ancient grave. Then I looked around, and Hank was gone! I spoke his name, but I couldn't even hear my own voice!
"I decided to go on alone; after all, how far could it be, to get through? It was really only a small clearing, after all. So I went on, feeling my way using outstretched hands and feet. The grass was gone. My feet trod first on rock, then stones, and finally sand, and it grew still colder and darker. I went for perhaps a hundred meters that way, far enough to cross the clearing many times over. How that's possible, I don't know. As far as I could tell I was walking straight, but it was becoming more and more difficult to tell; one direction seemed pretty much like another, except for the downward slope I followed.
"At last I reached the bottom; for as I walked around, I could feel that the sand sloped upwards from that spot in all directions. Still there was nothing to see or hear, and I mean nothing! It was pitch dark, and silent as death. Worse yet, I was feeling very strange. Confused. I began to wonder where I was, and why I was there.
“Then I thought that I could hear voices in my head, very strange voices. It was almost like making contact with spirits. I couldn't understand the voices, but it wasn't merely a problem of language. Some of the thoughts felt very strange and frightening.
“By that time I couldn’t even remember my own name! I suddenly wanted to get away from there, as the place was disturbing and I couldn't think of any reason to be there in the first place. I was afraid that I was losing myself forever. I have vague memories of running, falling, and getting up and running again. Up, towards the light. And then I found myself in the midst of you people. And since I didn't even recognize any of you, the best thing seemed to be to keep right on running.”
"How long would you say you were in the Pit, Steve?' asked Bates.
"Fifteen, twenty minutes tops," said Steve, looking at his watch. "Oops. Looks more like nine or ten, by my watch.
"More like only three and a half, by mine," said Bates.
"Right," said Janet. "Three and a half minutes by mine too. It couldn't have been nine!” The group muttered their agreement.
"Damned interesting!” exclaimed Bates, as the group compared watches. "Space and time distortions. A wormhole maybe? Laws of nature as we know them gone ca-fluey for sure! It could be some sort of gateway to another universe perhaps. I wish Mel was here, maybe he'd have some better scientific ideas about this. It could be dangerous though, I should think.” He stared with renewed concern at Steve. "Maybe someone could come out of it with their ears on their backside, or worse. Who knows?”
"I believe I do, human," said an instantly recognizable voice. Much to the relief of the Team, Pru was walking out of the Pit, with a grinning Hank riding high on her back.
"You all right, nephew?" asked Jake.
"I'm just fine, Uncle Jake," Hank replied with uncharacteristic joviality, as he climbed nimbly from the unicorn's back. Unlike Steve, Hank didn't appear to be affected at all by his encounter with the Black Pit.
"Do it now, or I'll do it for you!” snorted Pru angrily, as she turned to face Hank with lowered horn!
Before anyone else could react, the form of Hank wavered and flowed, and suddenly there stood Fen in his place! ”Ta-da!” he said, with a flourish, grinning broadly.
He found himself looking down the barrel of Jake's deer rifle. "Where the hell's my nephew, goat breath?" demanded Jake.
"By now he's with the others at the Lodge, whisker face," replied Fen good naturedly. "During the hike to meet you I talked him into switching places with me. He knew that I'd be of more use. At least he knows talent when he sees it!”
"How did you know all them things about Hank, goat face?" Jake demanded to know.
"I sometimes do a little mind-melding with those I copy, human," Fen explained.
Jake suddenly found that he was pointing a floor-mop at the goat man instead of a rifle, but he wasn't about to be put off so easily. "Now I'll just bet this here mop's loaded, goat man!” he said, and held the end of it to Fen's chest. The resulting expression on Fen's face suggested that the old mountain man was indeed right. What appeared to be a mop must still actually still be a rifle.
"Now hold on there, Whitcome," interjected Bates. "Is that mop loaded? You better put it away before you hurt someone!”
"Allow me!” said Pru. There was a flash where the mop/rifle had been. The rifle now floated several feet above Pru's head and Jake was empty handed. "We waste time we have not," said the unicorn. She turned one black eye towards Jake. "This matter is closed human. What punishment this one deserves it is my place to render.” She turned black-pit eyes to stare for a moment at a cowering Fen, and then towards Bates.
"This place is indeed the ancient instrument of travel and commu
nication between distant worlds that we of The People knew very long ago. It is how we elementals originally came to this world. But I have not seen its like since the early days of Earth."
"Do you know how it works then?" asked Bates. "Can you have it bring the Traveler here? And if so, would the process be safe?”
"I do not believe it likely that it would do its users physical harm; you need not fear for the misplacement of ears or other organs. Its design would prevent such harm, assuming that the machine remains intact after countless millenia. But the process of use may be difficult, especially for an undisciplined telepathic, with results dangerous in some other ways. Alas, the precise art of its use is lost to me. It has been far too long since I have used this device for me to be of much use now."
"We do have some clues though, I believe," said Bates, who thought that Pru was giving up far too easily. Perhaps because the unicorn was so used to being able to do things easily, trying to do something new or long forgotten was difficult. "Sound apparently doesn't work in there, but telepathy might. And humans get brain-scrambled in there, but not folks like Pru and Fen. Pru, if you were to simply call for the Traveler telepathically, perhaps he would hear and come."
"I took the liberty of trying that already, human, when I explored the space/time portal minutes ago," said Pru. "I asked for the Traveler. Many voices I heard, as even the Governor did also, but none responded to my summons."
Bates looked from person to person, considering each of them.
"Pru is a much stronger telepathic than either me or Dooley," noted Johnny Goth. "So I doubt that we could do the required summoning any better."
"Well then," pathed Krog to everyone loudly, "Pru and I shall together go in and produce the call in greater volume telepathic as is required!”
The unusual duo, unicorn and Kronan, walked into the Black Pit and quickly disappeared from the sight of their companions.
Whereas the Pit had seemed desolate and deserted to Steve Latanna, it was not so for Krog and Pru. Instantly, they were bombarded by hundreds of thoughts. Some were the perceptions of others, as sounds, sights, or sensations of touch that were clear and strong for several moments. Many were feelings, ranging the gamut from fear and hate through longing and love.
But the dominant thoughts were apparently communications in the form of speech or song, which could not be understood through the barrier of language, but could still be identified by their rich complexity of structure. Nor was the Pit totally dark in the presence of the unicorn, as she glowed to dimly illuminate her immediate surroundings, especially her horn. Light was somehow consumed in this strange place however, for even the unicorn light dissipated over an unusually short distance.
The 'voices' that had confused and frightened Steve did not trouble either Krog or Pru, who were both used to dealing with the din produced within communities of many telepaths. Mental telepathy was in fact one of the more common means of communication in the Universe. The duo could sift through the incoming thoughts the way that a human did with sights and sounds, isolating and focusing on individual sources at will.
Now they both chanted in unison the single human word 'Traveler' again and again. Then they waited and listened. They repeated this procedure several times without apparent result.
"Perhaps we must be at the very center?" pathed Pru, as the glowing unicorn, followed by the Kronan, walked even further downhill to the sandy bottom of the Pit. To find a sizable area of sand in a mountain glen would be extremely odd, but Pru suspected that wherever they were they were no longer actually on an Earthly mountain ridge or anywhere on Earth at all. Here the mental 'voices' they heard were much louder. Again the two chanted their message in unison and again they waited.
Suddenly they both sensed another presence, and turned to face a black shrouded individual that had materialized close to where they stood! The individual appeared to be a human wearing a black hooded robe: a man of medium height and age, with pale face, long prematurely graying hair, and deep blue eyes. However, both Pru and Krog could immediately tell that they were in the presence of a powerful telepath, while Pru perceived that the being they faced was certainly not human..
"You are Pru, the elemental," pathed the newcomer, in perfect American. "Fascinating. And of course your companion is Krog, the loud shouting telepath."
"You are the one known as The Traveler?" Pru asked in reply.
"Yes, certainly. Nice to meet you both. But now you must take me to the humans immediately. My urgent business is with the one called Bates."
"But you too are an elemental! From what world do you come? I must know!” said Pru, who turned a dark eye towards the stranger.
"Ordinarily I would be very happy to explain what I know, but you catch me at a very busy time. Unfortunately I must return to other worlds almost immediately, so we will have to delay for an indeterminate time our talk of such things. However, let me assure you that I am not the Enemy, nor are you and I related except by happenstance of similar basic composition. Now then, where are Bates and his family?"
The unicorn snorted but nodded in agreement. Led by the glowing unicorn, the trio walked rapidly up and out of the Black Pit, where the remainder of the company greeted them with relief.
"I was just about to go into the Pit to look for you!” said Fen. "You've been gone nearly an hour. Hey! Is this guy in black the one we wanted? Interesting look.” Fen's shape wavered, and in moments a second Traveler stood facing the original.
"You have an interesting gift," said the Traveler, in a clear tenor voice. "It is one that I also share.” His form wavered also, and in moments assumed the normal form of the goat man!
There followed for the next minute an extraordinary, dizzying display of this strange talent, in which each of the two practitioners of the rare art of shape shifting paced around the other while changing form rapidly, from beast to human, to plant, to rock, etc. Nothing was sacred. Team members, People of The Land, lions tigers and bears, mice and men, dogs and cats, women and children, Haspa and Kronan, in poses dignified, comical, ludicrous, and even lewd, faced each other as they paced around in a circle.
After a short while it was quite impossible to tell which one was which. Finally, they ended up as two laughing copies of the black shrouded Traveler, who through some trick of telepathy, managed to turn simultaneously to face Bates and speak to him in chorus.
"Well, this has really been quite amusing, but we simply must get on with the business at hand. You are of course Narbando T. Bates?" said the Travelers in unison.
Poor Bates held out his hand in greeting to one of the Travelers, but Pru tapped that one on the head rather sharply with her horn and that particular Traveler transformed back into the grinning little goat-man Fen!
"Oh, sorry!” said Bates, turning at once to shake the real Traveler's hand. He noticed that the Traveler had a six fingered hand, but otherwise appeared human, in so far as he could be seen, which wasn't far, as the Traveler was shrouded by a black hooded robe so perfect in its blackness that it reminded Bates of Pru's black pit eyes.
"Quite understandable," replied The Traveler, smiling. "I myself thought for a moment that he was me. I'm pleased to meet you at last, Doctor Bates, but I'm afraid we haven't time to chat or play more shape games. You have your very urgent asteroid problem, as described to me by Jigs in years past, but I've got several other worlds in equally dire need that I must attend to immediately."
"Can you save us from the asteroid?" asked Bates.
"Not directly," replied the Traveler. "That's not really my line of work. It’s out of my swim lane, some of you would say. That sort of thing is what Guardians do. Saving planets is usually a do-it-yourself deal, and this is no exception. As your folk would also put it, I'm not typically a 'hands-on' individual; I'm more of a behind the scenes sort, much like our mutual friend Guardian Jigs. You'll have to do the real work, Dr. Bates, you and your fellow Guardians, and your talented friends of course. Johnny and Dooley, you have alrea
dy realized your full potentials and will in the not too distant future have things to do associated with Goth Mountain, according to Jigs. It's time for Guardian Bates to step up to the plate, so to speak."
"What's a Guardian?" asked Bates. "And why are you calling me one?"
"Because that's what's needed here, and you happen to be the candidate of choice. It must be by your own choice, by the way; you have to want to be a Guardian! It's a sort of rule that I insist upon."
"Want to be one? I don't even know what it means!” said an exasperated Bates.
"Quite right. Sorry, I'm in such a hurry that I'm muddling this a bit. Call it fate or whatever, but you Dr. Bates, are destined to be a Guardian for Earth, this galaxy, and neighbors in parallel universes. And your family too!”
"But I'm not a family man!” exclaimed Bates.
"Ah-hum," said Elizabeth. "I think he might mean your new family, Dad! Am I right, Mr. Traveler?”
"Exactly, young lady, quite insightful. Elizabeth, isn't it? Although your father here will be the immediate Guardian of record, in this case the job will need to be passed on from generation to generation of the Guardian's family, along with the special talents of the Guardian."
"But I don't have any special talents!” said Bates. The assembled Team surrounding Bates nodded and mumbled in affirmation.
"Well of course you don't!” agreed The Traveler. "That's why I'm here. And there, and everywhere else, popping in and out of hundreds of worlds, some much like this one, all the while talking to confused folks like yourselves and looking for potential talent. For you see, my own greatest talent is the power to take the raw potential in other beings and make it real. And believe it or not, Dr. Bates, you're full of unrealized potential. Why, your whole race is packed with under achievers, among whom you tower!”
"Thanks, I think," said Bates, who was having a little trouble taking in the cosmic sweep of what the Traveler was trying to explain. "So what exactly is involved in this Guardian business? If I agree, how would you make me realize my unrealized potential? And exactly what is my potential?"
"So many questions! You are indeed a race of the curious! Most beings would be satisfied, grateful even, simply to receive what I am offering, without getting into the gory details. But OK, you asked for it. Have you heard of gene splicing?”
The humans nodded.
"Well this is something else altogether. You don't have words for it yet, but gene slicing and dicing, juggling, mixing and melding is about as close as I can come to it using your limited science vocabulary. As to what potential you will realize as a result, frankly, I'm afraid that I don't know. Improvement results from the process though, usually. It's a special knack of mine. You might achieve similar results through normal mundane evolution, but that could take millions of years. You clearly don't have time for that."
Bates felt faint; Steve Latanna had to prop him up to keep him from collapsing. "You've got to be kidding! You want to scramble my genes, and you don't even know what the results will be? Have you done this before? Did you do it to Jigs?"
"I didn’t have to do it to Jigs; he has been scrambled since birth and his talent came naturally. But I’ve done it many hundreds of times to others. Not to humans, but most life forms that I’ve done it to are similar enough to yours for me to feel reasonably confident that the results will probably be OK."
"Reasonably? Probably be OK?" Bates exclaimed.
"Sure enough to give it a shot," said the Traveler. "I've gotten pretty good at this sort of thing."
"Pretty good?" Bates again whined.
"Yes. Do what you're good at, that's my motto. But there's more to it than that. You have to first promise to use your talents for the good of your planet and others in the struggle against evil."
"What evil? You mean the Ra?"
"They're a part of it, certainly. But they are mere agents of much worse evil. There are much darker forces behind the Ra. Sorry, I shouldn’t give you details."
"But this is all so fantastic!” said Bates. "I don't know what to think! Still, I do know that I'm not too keen on getting my genes scrambled!”
"It's all rubbish!” said a deep, authoritative voice. Krog, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, had clearly been developing a viewpoint that he now expressed with authoritative vigor. "Compost, pure, it is! Why, a senior member am I of the Galactic League Board of Exploration, and I have heard not a thought of any of this sort of rubbish! Guardians? Gene scrambling wholesale? Beyond our capabilities that is, and beyond the capabilities of member races that are more advanced even than are we in such matters! The resulting creature of such a scramble would likely not live a minute, let along be improved.
"Further, your concept of 'evil' is nonsense arcane. Mischievous the Ra are, this is true, and not to be trusted, but are dark forces of true 'evil' behind them? I don't think so! Further, this device by which you arrived is also unknown to us completely, and highly suspect. And lastly, I am not convinced that trusted you can be. If there is evil true, perhaps you are it!”
Bates was amazed by the outburst. Apparently, all this business was bizarre even for the supposedly advanced and sophisticated Kronan, who was beginning to remind him of Dr. Barns.
“I agree with my colleague,” stated little Wink. "What you describe falls far outside the realm of our experience, and is hence highly suspect."
"And do you plan to also scramble the genes of my children?" asked a disturbed Janet Garb. An alarmed mom is a force to be reckoned with, even when facing cosmic events and a bizarre cast of mysterious, powerful beings.
The Traveler, shaking his head sadly, chose to completely ignore both Janet and the space aliens. "Well then! Enough irrelevant idle chatter and pleasantries!” he said, clasping his hands together impatiently. "I'm afraid there is no time for more. Nasty events are unfolding in other realms as well as this one and I must leave very soon. Dr. Bates, the time has come for you to decide. Am I to perform my function and you yours to save Earth? Or are you simply wasting my time? What's it going to be?"
Bates stopped pacing about and pulling on his thin hair, before abruptly turning to face The Traveler. "Yes. Sure, I want to be a Guardian,” he said suddenly. “And I promise to be a multi-universal good guy. I say let's get on with it!”
"Narb!” said Janet. "Are you sure?"
"What choice do I have? As things stand now I certainly don't have the foggiest idea how the hell to save Earth! Do any of you?” He looked around at the others. They were silent. Even Krog of the great Galactic League, and Pru of the mighty People had no plan that would stop the destruction of Earth.
"You are right," agreed Steve Latanna, thoughtfully. "This is your path, Bates, to know and to follow. Like you, I believe this is our only hope.”
"Trust in Pru, Bates, that's my advice," said Johnny Goth.
"Whatever happens, human, you will not be alone in your quest," said Pru. "And I tell you now that I do indeed trust this strange elemental in black. He tells you the truth as he knows it, as is MY power to know.” Pru turned a dark eye towards the Traveler and was met with his smile and knowing stare. "I strongly advise that you submit to what the Traveler wants to do to you."
Hearing this from the great unicorn and the others helped with Bates' resolve greatly, though he was still terrified. But what about his new family? He was suddenly frightened for them more so then for himself. "Traveler, must my, ah, family be part of this?”
"It's up to them of course, but I would recommend it strongly. You will receive the bulk of the change, but they would receive some also. Guardians of the Multiverse are hard to come by, even fledgling apprentices like yourselves."
"I'm game!” said Elizabeth. "I've always wanted to save planets and so forth.”
"Sure Dad!” said Don. "If Elizabeth does it, I'm in too.”
"Well I think I have something to say about this!” said a still disturbed Janet.
Bates pulled her aside and talked quietly with his long
lost love. "Janet, remember, we'll all be dead in two and a half days if this doesn't work. If it does, maybe we have a chance! Liz and Don, and me and you, as well as humanity!”
"All right!” Janet said at last, and turned to face The Traveler. "I'm in. We all are. So what do we have to do?"
"It's about time!” said The Traveler. "This isn't the only troubled planet or universe you know! Bates stand before me, with the family standing around you closely and holding on to you tightly. That's it. Just stand still for a minute. This probably won't hurt much at all, especially after you lose consciousness."
"Hurt? Lose consciousness?" asked Bates anxiously, but The Traveler already had both of his six-fingered hands on his shoulders, and suddenly time stood still as everything went black.
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