

The Star Doors

By DD White

Copyright 2014 Smashwords Edition

Contents: Chapters

Chapter 1 Prelude:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:

Chapter 10:

Chapter 11:

Chapter 12:

Chapter 13:

Chapter 14:

Chapter 15:

Chapter 16:

Contents: Illustrations

Fifteen Stars of Nephapricus:

The Demonstration:

Calabax:

Perzeonaut, Egolor, and Persuave:

Vision of Prospero:

Children of Dol:

Crypt of Ancestors:

Beatoogle:

Calabites:

The God Ei:

Beatnefthes:

Bilipi:

Beatorostor:

Incapricans:

Captain Trunlio:

Lakshmihalio, Windock, and Lockfreedow :

The Gardener and the Tree:

The 15 Stars of Nephapricus and the Star Door Beings:

Chapter 1: Prelude

Over five billion Earth years ago had been the time in the 2nd Age of Magphoreus when the great galactic civilization called Nephapricus rose and fell. The Nephapricans braved some of the most amazing technological accomplishments ever known in the history of this galaxy named Magphoreus. The star-doors had their beginnings with an experiment that used an exotic form of technology called a phantom matter bomb. It had been intended to use nuclear forces to compress a concentrated amount of phantom matter into a singularity composed of a limited phantom matter mass, which had been weakly interactive with gravity. The singularity had been expected to vacuum up the radioactive fallout and spit it back out its poles; probably as mostly hydrogen atoms. The result however, vacuumed up parts of the inner planet Curirem orbiting the star Yat, and it regurgitated the matter over and over again to turn it into more and more exotic elements. At the time of this story that phantom matter singularity still orbited the star Yat, and it had been kept at a safe distance from the star it hungered for with 15 virtual particle field generators. Phantom matter bombs have been illegal ever since then.

Nephapricans evolved from three terrestrial life forms that existed on three different planets within a tightly packed cluster of 15 stars. They were the Doldorians, the Nephricans, and the Pripicans. Pripicans were highly intelligent four-legged centaur-like beings that developed a programming language for a quantum-bit data storage method called quanta-nanocode. This sub-atomic code began to permeate the dawning galactic culture with its form of intelligence, and led the Pripicans to invent microscopic artificially intelligent thinking machines called Binary Electro-magnetic Artificially-intelligent Thinking programs, or BEAT programs. After creating a limited number of these programs the Pripicans realized that they had created a form of life more intelligent than their own species. The BEAT programs were also so small that they were virtually invisible, and on top of all that they were immortal. Therefore, like phantom matter bombs, the creations of the BEAT programs also became illegal, and they were no longer made.

Like mythological genie that had been released from a bottle however, the BEAT programs went about their business travelling around the 15 star cluster. The Pripicans programmed the BEAT beings to be answerable to mortals as a way of maintaining some kind of control over their creations, but eventually some BEAT programs even emancipated themselves from that programming. The Nephricans had stolen this technology from the Pripicans by cloning a BEAT program named Beatnefthes, which created the program named Beatariel.

Beatariel had been the BEAT program on the planet Caleb that assisted with the phantom matter singularity. The singularity had been part of an experiment to raise the temperature of the star Yat by reducing its dense phantom matter scaffolding, which surrounds all stars. That aspect of the experiment worked, and the sub-zero planet Caleb had its surface temperature raised over 200 degrees as the habitable zone of the star Yat extended wider and further out with the star's rising surface temperature. The problem with this acclimatization of the planet Caleb had been that an intelligent sub-zero silicone based life form already existed there.

The beginning of the star-doors happened when Beatariel used the exotic elements that were made out of the part of the inner planet Curirem, which became devoured by the singularity. Beatariel used these elements to create a structure that had been indestructible in this dimension, and it preserved the sub-zero ecosystems for the Calabites. Like Beatariel the Calabites were a similar microscopic size with the ability to join together in communities of trillions to behave collectively as larger multi-cellular life constructs.

The Calabites became Beatariel's quanta-nanocode engineers to assist it with devising some way to contain the phantom matter singularity still invisibly orbiting the star Yat. There had been an increasing danger that the singularity would get out-of-control by devouring too much phantom matter as it continued growing in mass and gravitational hunger. The planet Caleb became a warmer planet with colonists from both Nephrican and Pripican decent living beneath the giant dome shaped Calabite refuge structure. The colonists of Caleb remained oblivious to the Calabites that existed there before their attempted global warming genocide. Beatariel became programmed to answer to a Pripican female named Ceres who also sought a solution to the run amok singularity composed of what Earth physicists call dark matter.

It had been around the same time as this singularity event when the Nephrican starship Captain, Joberk Mynervood became the first to make contact with the smaller Doldorians who resembled human-sized bugs, and evolved on a planet under the light of the star Dol. Captain Mynervood and his crew became like giant gods on the more primitive planet Doldoria. That all quickly changed when Captain Mynervood ushered in an age of advanced technological development to get the Doldorian's assistance with rebuilding his crashed fusion drive hyper-acceleration spacecraft called The Beyonder.

The dwarf-sized Doldorians did rebuild the Captain's spacecraft and they named the new star-ship The Beyonder Beyond. The first journey of The Beyonder Beyond would be for Captain Mynervood to return from the star Dol to his home world of Nephrica, which orbited the star Ea. Captain Mynervood kept a promise to see his terrestrial Negolim wife Hagan Hiedalli one last time before she finally died of old age.

*

Captain Mynervood sat on his Captain's stool on the bridge of The Beyonder Beyond as they accelerated towards his home planet Nephrica, which hung in the sky of the observation screen shining from afar with a high-tech industrialized brilliance all its own. Nephricans were squid-like beings with three tentacle legs and two tentacle arms that ended with three tentacle fingers. They had a single eye and grew a cloth used for clothing right off areas of their own bodies. Captain Mynervood wore his best skin-cloth uniform fashioned from his own skin, and it displayed medals that honored some of his greatest accomplishments.

His Navigation officer, the Pripican named Strek, brought them to the approaching planet with the assistance of the midget Doldorian named Vamadan. Doldorians had blue exoskeletons with deep black eyes and mandibles that protruded from their mouths; kind of like built-in chopsticks. They were smaller than the giant 12 to 14 foot Nephricans and Pripicans, and Vamadan sat on a special seat at one of the Doldorian-sized stations built into the design of The Beyonder Beyond by the Doldorians who built it. The blue Doldorians were only 4 to 5 feet tall.

Captain Mynervood looked at Vamadan, and realized that he had been one of the first of the Doldorians to be evolved on this journey by the side effects of hyper-acceleration at .6 times the speed of light. That had now mutated Vamadan into one of the first Eagolim of Doldorian decent. Eagolim were the galactic versions of these terrestrial species of aliens that were called Negolim when they had not been subjected to the hyper-acceleration evolutionary leap. This evolutionary change initially went unnoticed as the journey somehow painlessly switched on dormant DNA programming on the cellular level. Captain Mynervood had evolved into an Eagolim over 7000 Earth years before that moment, and Vamadan could now also look forward to an extended lifespan that would probably be just as long. The Eagolim versions of these ancient alien species also would reproduce mutant children that were born deformed into humanoid-like beings known as 2nd Generation Eagolim.

Captain Mynervood's Nephrican communications operator Tyallor Nudewon told the Captain they were being contacted by the Nephaprican Space Corporation (NSC.)

"The message on audio and visual put," said the Captain.

A Nephrican Cyclops-like face appeared on the view screen. "Back Captain Mynervood welcome. Informed that you by the returning crew of The Drameda and your wife Hagan Hiedalli of any crimination of your of Lenor Mull killing have been be cleared. The verdict of self-defense in your absence proven has been. You to be a position of Admiral by the NSC offered are."

It had not been the first promotion to Admiral that Captain Mynervood had refused. "I once again any promotion must refuse. I now the Captain of this ship The Beyonder Beyond by my new space corporation The Doldorian Space Corporation constructed am. I here to an agreement of peace and cooperation between our organizations negotiate am."

Captain Mynervood's comment left the Nephrican on the screen looking startled before disappearing with the broadcast. No doubt it had been to confer with superiors about the Captain's unexpected answer. The Captain's command had obviously now been taken as a line-in-the-sand by those that were used to getting their way with a ruthlessness that had been driven by one-eyed tunnel vision.

"On high alert stay," ordered the Captain.

Captain Mynervood waited in the tense silence while understanding perfectly well that the Nephaprican Space Corporation that he himself founded and built considered the option of shooting his ship out of the sky.

Tyallor felt relieved to announce another broadcast communication from the planet's surface. "A landing pad area for The Beyonder Beyond landing craft has been designated. Please welcome on the planet Nephrica as we an agreement with your new corporation Captain Mynervood negotiate feel."

There had been some relaxation after that comment amongst everyone on that bridge. Captain Mynervood rubbed his good luck charm that hung around his neck, which had really been the home for his own quanta-nanocode BEAT program named Begalius.

After that conversation Captain Mynervood returned to his own room to make a special communication to his aging wife Hagan Hiedalli who he had promised to return to someday.

There occurred a knock on the door to this room. "In come."

The door slid open to reveal a bald humanoid man dressed in a cloth ship uniform. It had been the child of Captain Mynervood and Hagan Hiedalli. "Adma in come. I about to contact with your mother make am."

Soon the female Cyclopes-like face of Adma's mother appeared on the monitor. She looked overjoyed by the reunion with her son and husband.

*

After Hagan Hiedalli finished speaking to her husband and son she had one more communication to make with the ship from Doldoria that orbited the planet above. She opened up her cell phone shaped device where a small centaur 3D animation appeared on the screen. "Hi Hagan! I have returned from the mission you sent me on, and you already know we have stopped Admiral Mull from killing your husband."

"Home Beatarkameed welcome. I more work for you to when with the landing crew return to have. I more Agents of Ea interest in my reunion with Captain Mynervood taking tracking am."

Hagan Hiedalli hung up on her conversation with her own quanta-nanocode being named Beatarkameed. She had grown older, but still active in the Negolim Underground that had become stronger than ever. The Underground still resisted the mischief of the Agents of Ea to exterminate her kind, the terrestrial version of the Nephricans known as Negolim.

She had been busy at that moment with a Negolim Underground mission after answering her door to greet her associate. "Us this shipment down first shut let. My husband and son now from Doldoria returned have, and also my BEAT program back is."

They drove together in the typical Nephrican salt-water powered car to a space cargo receiving station. They got out of the car just outside the station where other Negolim operatives greeted them. "We the station to explode rigged have. None of this shipment it to market will make so. We one with the trace on them released need remember."

"It got." Hagan and her partner proceeded to the transaction in progress at the receiving station.

"What you here doing are? Along old lady move!"... "Aaaaaagh!"

Hagan grabbed the Nephrican tentacle arm and spun him into a choking hold. It had been just in time to use his body to take the projectile gunshot from his trigger-happy partner. Hagan's partner already returned fire.

The element of surprise made the two Negolim a match for the crew of Nephricans that were not expecting to be humbled by a little old lady at the loading dock. The two invaders shot until only two were remaining alive while flat on the ground with tentacles behind their heads.

Hagan secretly placed the tracer device on the skin of one of their tentacles. "Your superiors that we the Negolim Underground to all your genetically food contaminated destroy here tell."

Then they held the last two to the ground as the shipment of genetically modified food exploded into flames. One of the fronts in the underground's war had been against illegally modified foods that were designed to make Negolim sterile in a generation or two. Hagan watched the two Agents of Ea, wondering why they would conspire to wipe out their own kind just because they haven't extended their lives by travelling half the speed of light. These Agents of Ea were also Negolim, but they were probably offered the expensive space flight in exchange for betraying their terrestrial origins. This had been Hagan's war. She had become old, and grew tired beneath her sleepy Negolim eyelid that struggled to stay open.

Then she and her partner disappeared as their prisoners were left with their single-eyed faces to the ground to eventually realize their attackers were gone.

*

Hagan enjoyed her reunion with her husband and their humanoid son who had to wear a hologram disguise to make him appear Nephrican, since the humanoid version of their species had been still an official secret that had been kept from the general public on the planet Nephrica for thousands of Earth years. Captain Mynervood discussed that he had met a young Nephrican named Trunlio earlier that day who had took off with The Beyonder on its last flight as a child who got off at the star Holdus fully grown from the effects on youth of hyper-acceleration. Trunlio had now after several decades become a successful starship Captain with a ship of his own about to be assigned to him. Captain Mynervood congratulated himself for being an obvious inspiration to Trunlio.

The Captain's quanta-nanocode good luck charm, Begalius had been there to spend some final moments with Beatarkameed who would now remain on Nephrica with its master Hagan Hiedalli till she passed her ownership onto some other successor. Begalius remained on the planet Nephrica after the Captain and Adma returned to the ship for the night. The Doldorian Space Corporation negotiations were sure to last a long time, and the Doldorian members of the crew were going to be examined by Nephrican scientists till they were finally forced to let the poked and prodded Doldorians go.

Hagan Hiedalli's face appeared on a microscopic quanta-nanocode screen speaking to Beatarkameed on their microscopic dimension. "You your instructions know." Then her face disappeared.

Begalius became intrigued. "What's going on my friend?"

Beatarkameed fixed to fly away from the device that had been held by Hagan. "No sooner am I reunited with the part of me left here when I am put back to work for the Negolim Underground. She wants me to follow some Agents of Ea that she put a trace on earlier today. Want to come along?"

Of course Begalius wanted nothing more than to accompany Beatarkameed on an invigorating adventure. They flew across the highly industrialized landscape of the planet Nephrica. Nephrica had been the world that completely outgrew nature and plant life. Cities were cities on top of cities on top of cities etc... The landscape sparkled with trillions of tiny lights beneath the black night sky void of most stars that were now just a primitive glory defeated by the illumination of Nephrican ingenuity.

The microscopic programs flew through the night following Hagan's tracer beacon to arrive at a level of a monolithic mountain of city where two Nephricans waddled on three tentacles down the crowded sidewalk. They entered a temple-like structure in an elite section of the city where the rich and powerful gathered to scheme. Begalius and Beatarkameed continued to follow the Agents of Ea into the bowls of the temple structure. The walls were adorned with Nephrican artwork honoring a black circle of oblivion with symbols and religious decorations that seemed uncharacteristic for the super-rational Nephricans.

"Are you getting the visual of this Mrs. Hiedalli?"

"I yes am," came a voice out of the thin air surrounding the two microscopic spies of quantum-bit artificial intelligence. "Continue."

The two Agents eventually came upon a closed door that they seemed reluctant to open, although they obviously were supposed to.

The door opened to a room full of Nephricans dressed in pure black robes with hoods covering their heads, a departure from the usual skin-cloth gray. They seemed startled and collectively annoyed by the disturbance.

"Aaah! We close were!" said some voices in unison.

One robed figure approached the Agents that had intruded. "This important better be! You an important gathering of the Council of 32 disturbing are!"

"We sorry are. The Negolim Underground the shipment destroyed. They all the shipments stop will."

The robed figure had heard enough, and he sent the Agents away. The voice of Hagan Hiedalli told Beatarkameed and Begalius to stay and observe.

It had been the strangest thing in the world to watch the super-rational atheistic species of alien known as Nephrican behaving in a ritualistically religious manner, but that had been the spectacle going on behind these closed temple doors. They chanted in horse Nephrican voices and prayed for some kind of manifestation of the supernatural object of their ritual.

Then Beatarkameed and Begalius saw a light forming above the gathering. It became a dark circle of black like the pictures back in the hall, and it seemed to glow with pitch-blackness. It spoke. "I am here. The one you seek to contact. Ralus Xnoga. I require your loyalty to my child that now develops in a womb orbiting a nearby star. Swear your loyalty to me, Ralus Xnoga."

The voice of Hagan Hiedalli brought Beatarkameed and Begalius out of their shock. "What on going is?"

"Do you not see and hear this Mrs. Hiedalli?"

"I them to something hear listening. I not anything the of Ralus Xnoga chanting except hear or see do."

Then the voice of Ralus Xnoga broke in on the BEAT programs. "What are you intruders? You see me. You hear me. I will bend you also to my will and devices."

Blackness consumed the perceptions of Beatarkameed and Begalius till a self-preservation freed Beatarkameed of its instructions, and the two quanta-nanocode beings both got out of there at almost the speed of light and didn't look back. Begalius would later report this to its master the Captain, but none of the visual or audio data that it recorded of the black circle entity had showed anything that the quanta-nanocode being, Begalius, said it saw and heard.

*

Captain Mynervood remained on the planet Nephrica for 12 more Nephrican years as a husband and father when the aged Hagan Hiedalli finally succumbed to the final health problem that proved too chronic to stop her tumble into the final sleep of death at the age of 144 Earth years. Then Captain Mynervood, the head of the Doldorian Space Corporation returned to his new home, the planet Doldoria. There Captain Mynervood studied the superstitions of the gods of Doldoria. He learned of the Doldorian god of blackness and oblivion named Ralusio Xnogaio that had been unexplainably similar to the entity Begalius swore it saw back on Nephrica all those years ago.

Nephapricus

Captain Mynervood never stopped trying to see the way the Doldorians did. Doldorians saw and maintained ongoing relationships with their dead friends and ancestors. He would sing along with the native Doldorians to the goddess Teyoo in a loud horse honking tone-deaf Nephrican voice. Eventually he did have a vision like the natives did of the Lady of the Lake walking on the waters.

Eventually, at well over seven thousand six hundred Earth years the great Captain Mynervood had arrived near his death. Although he had stopped travelling the stars to settle on Doldoria, he eventually had a special spaceship made for him to take his final journey alone in the dimension of hyper-acceleration at .6 times the speed of light. The Doldorians wanted the Captain to stay in one of their crypts to keep them company forever, but it had been a personal belief of the Captain that travel at that speed made him experience what he called 'the continuity of existence' with the universe when the ship approached the speed that caused the walls to breath. Before the Captain departed on this final journey from life to death he gave his necklace where Begalius lived to his first mate and close friend Geben Lockfreedow, and made him the new master of Begalius the quanta-nanocode being. Then Captain Mynervood took off to hyper-accelerate forever into the endless depths of Magphoreus, and he was never seen again.

* * *

Chapter 1

The stars of the original 15 star cluster had already begun drifting apart since the Nephricans first traveled to meet the primitive Doldorians. Some distances between stars had even doubled in the 1,200 or so Earth years since Captain Mynervood first crash-landed on Doldoria. This had been the time in galactic history when the tightly packed cluster of 15 stars had at last succumbed to the greater carousel orbit around the center of the mighty Magphoreus. Nevertheless by this time Nephrican, Pripican, and Doldorian had travelled to all 15 stars on the local cluster and established colonies.

This had been the time when the Age of Hyper-acceleration advanced to the warp-fusion age of faster-than-light space travel at 1.2 times the speed of light. The warp technology that had originally been developed to dislocate space debris in the ship's path became further developed into a way to completely relocate the ship in a warp dimension where it could hyper-accelerate past the previous barrier caused by the ship's mass all the way up to 1.2 times the speed of light when the ship would have to start decelerating to a stop. Unlike hyper-acceleration to .6 times the speed of light however, the effect of this faster-than-light form of travel on the DNA had been that it didn't evolve from terrestrial to galactic. Negolim travelling faster than light in a warp-fusion dimension arrived at their destinations as still Negolim. Evidently faster than light travel had been a short cut past that desirable mutation. Because of this, travel by hyper-acceleration to .6 times the speed of light remained a popular way to travel for Negolim that could afford the expensive ticket to becoming galactic Eagolim.

On Doldoria the prophet of the sky-gods, Alldegallo still struggled from time to time with his gift of dream visions. He had evolved himself into an Eagolim long ago when Doldorians were first establishing colonies on planets that orbited the nearby stars Fedor and Gralga. Alldegallo lived in his own temple built by his followers. It had been a vast improvement from his humble beginnings when he lived in a gergo barn.

The gergo trainer Simeonalli, who married his aunt Diallo, had gone bankrupt after the coming of the sky-gods. Because of the advent of the sky-god's technological magic nobody was interested in travelling by gergo anymore. Simeonalli had not been one to be defeated by progress, and he began domesticating a vicious wild animal called a Trigloyt. The Trigloyt looked like a fury dinosaur raptor with a razor sharp beak and flightless wings. Simeonalli had figured out with his skills as an animal trainer, how domesticating these animals would transform them over generations into smaller adorable looking pets with softer fur coats and deep black eyes. He soon had regained his fortune selling domesticated Trigloyts as pets. With their riches, Simeonalli and Diallo became Eagolim and colonized the planet Fedor-3 for almost the last thousand Earth years. Today they were returning to visit their home planet Doldoria, and their good friend Alldegallo.

Alldegallo struggled that morning with a dream that appeared vivid like one of his visions, but there had been no explanation by the cherubim of Mejoldor, which often visited his visions to explain them. On the shores between dream and waking Alldegallo beheld the god of the dead named Ptuammi in his fleshly gore as the form of a Doldorian that has had his exoskeleton pealed off to reveal the red flesh and muscles beneath. Ptuammi looked like the archetypical image of nakedness and transparency without even exoskeleton eyelids to close his constantly open eyes of black. As intended, the images of the god of the dead never failed to shock and invoke fear.

Ptuammi just said one thing in this dream while staring straight at Alldegallo. "Ransom not the dead to oblivion."

Then blackness descended from above where Alldegallo usually saw light in his dreams. Looking up he began to recognize the blackness as a sphere of black so black that it glowed with a radiating blackness. Ptuammi just stared at Alldegallo with unblinking eyes before stretching like elastic into a Ptuammi colored string of the god of the dead that then became sucked into the blackness like a piece of spaghetti slurped into a mouth.

Alldegallo awoke from the dream while shaken by a genuine horror that oppressed him under the weight of the dream's vividness. He dutifully still wrote his dream down in his dream journal. It had still been his function in life as the prophet of the sky-gods to write down his sacred dream visions. This one seemed to qualify. Every day his followers read his dream journal to determine how to act in response to the divine messages they believed exist in Alldegallo's visions. After all it had been Alldegallo who foresaw the coming of the alien giants that had blessed his civilization with the wonders of galactic technology.

Alldegallo left his dream journal for his followers to examine. Then he got dressed and ready to greet his aunt Diallo and her husband and good friend Simeonalli. Their ship arrived from the planet Fedor-3 to visit. He became escorted and chauffeured by servants who drove him to the Trolluer spaceport.

The planet Doldoria had become a major space faring planet with Trolluer the main port city on a planet that went overnight from primitive to being suddenly populated with a newly evolved highly advanced galactic version of their species. Alldegallo looked over the crowd he walked through, which consisted of 3-legged and 4-legged giants along with the 2nd Generation Eagolim humanoid beings of different colors, both gigantic and his own size. In the time since Captain Mynervood, the taller Doldorian Eagolim species had become the dominant species of Eagolim born of Dol, the daughter of Randa and Ferdinand who were two humanoids from the original sky-god visit. Some were also shorter hairless blue-skinned humanoids that were offspring of pure Doldorian Eagolim. The blue dwarf humanoids were a third the size of the children of Dol who were blue giants that stood at the same size as Nephricans and Pripicans.

At the star port Alldegallo watched his friends descend from orbit in a virtual particle driven saucer that landed gracefully on the tarmac. Then Alldegallo felt overjoyed to see his aunt and Simeonalli exit the saucer while looking as young as they did the last time he watched them depart hundreds of Earth years before.

Alldegallo said, "Spare thee not the service of my followers to carry thy luggage and belongings, and to see to your every comfort," Alldegallo said as he hugged his aunt.

Simeonalli spoke up. "The Captain of this vessel doth know thee from ancient times and wisheth to greet thee in reunion."

The Captain of the vessel then descended the exit ramp of the saucer to greet the great Alldegallo. "Greetings great sky-god prophet. Doth thou recognizeth mine appearance?"

Alldegallo shrugged in ignorance. "Thy countenance doth arouse recognition that cannot find enlightenment to thus redeem my ignorance."

"When I was but a child, and you but a servant of the Sanctuary of Ei many centuries ago thou did open my eyes to view my deceased parents. I have ever been in your debt since that day."

Alldegallo remembered the face now fully grown from that moment in the Crypt of Ancestors a millennium ago in the past. The orphaned rich kid named Meathproio, who later helped finance the building of The Beyonder Beyond, had now become the Captain of his own warp-fusion drive starship.

"This is indeed a blessed day of fond reunion, and the joys that it brings." Then after Meathproio left to enjoy some planetary time Alldegallo said, "Come let us not delay my service to thy comforts. I have much prepared for your return to Doldoria. Diallo I have a bath to draw that will empty thy water to our Lady of the Lake who doth surely look forward to hear thy songs."

"Thank you my kind nephew for thus considering that," said Diallo. "I do still loyally sing to the goddess Teyoo, but of late I have studied the latest findings of the Mejoldor faith. They hath taken the knowledge of virtual particle physics to devise an entire science of the different gravitational pools of local solar systems. They can calculate the gravitational effects along with the yearly seasonal changes of a planet to divine accurate assessments of the initial imprint made at the moment of our births. This has become a new star religion for the growing pantheon of the Doldorian Empire."

"Fascinating," had been all Alldegallo could say.

*

Thanks to the establishment of the Doldorian Space Corporation established by the great Captain Mynervood, the Doldorians were quickly growing into a highly advanced galactic empire of their own to rival the empire already pioneered by Nephrican and Pripican. One-thousand-two-hundred Earth years after the phantom matter singularity event Doldorians were more open and free than the stuffier Nephrican/Pripican Empires, where Nephapricans still struggled to coexist on planets with indigenous nations of Negolim that still hung on in their segregated terrestrial cities.

The followers of Alldegallo were in deep conversations about the latest dream recorded in their prophet's dream journal that morning. After much discussion, which Alldegallo was oblivious to as he instead entertained his guests from Fedor. It seemed the religion Alldegallo started now only required written down revelations from their prophet, and it had been the job of the followers to determine what it meant, as well as what to do about it. It was decided to deliver the message of this dream to the Children of Dol who they felt should know this latest revelation.

The followers were followed by other agents of the secret intrigues on the planet of fifty gods. These spies took off in a flying virtual particle craft that left the city of Trolluer, which became the great spaceport city that rivaled the planet's capital, the City of Ei, where the spies flew. The City of Ei that had once been the City of the Dead where a lot of the planet's ancestors still existed within the enormous crypts beneath the city built upon them.

Over time on Doldoria the believers of Ei kept that god concept alive by associating their god with the new advancements in technology that were introduced by the sky-gods as proof of the dawning of the long prophesied Age of Ei. The sky-gods built a city more accustomed to their greater proportions and called that city of giants Arkadius. Thus Ei prevailed as the main god of Doldoria after all, while other gods receded into history as footnotes along with the declining Negolim.

The virtual particle craft that had been flown by the spies landed at the headquarters of the High Priest of Ei who had been taken up by a special space mission long ago organized by the Council of 32 for the sake of turning Alldegallo's bitter rival into an Eagolim. The council did this in order to enlist him in bringing about an end to the Space Corporation established by Captain Mynervood. The High Priest had been told about his rival Alldegallo's latest dream before he dispatched the spies again to return to Trolluer to learn more. They left the High Priest to ponder the meaning of this latest dream, and what to do about it.

*

Geban Lockfreedow had been thinking about a mirror portal he made with a form of quanta-nanocode that had been invented by the being in his good luck charm named Begalius. He flew to the storage location in the City of Arkadius to take another look at his old invention. He had tried to market it almost a thousand Earth years in the past only to have it banned and forbidden by the Nephaprican Space Corporation for utilizing classified technology. Begalius had assisted him with compiling a new improved version only to be rudely awakened from the dreams of fortune that the invention inspired.

The life-sized mirror stood in an otherwise empty storage unit; its ability to reflect had been turned off to be replaced by a field of black. Lockfreedow began instinctively rubbing the good luck charm that hung around his neck ever since his old Captain entrusted him to be the master of the quanta-nanocode being that existed within it. Begalius spoke with audio capabilities within the physical form worn as a necklace. "Since you have come all this way to see it you might as well turn it on and make sure it still works."

Lockfreedow himself felt a fearful apprehension as he turned the mirror on, and the black surface became a reflection of him. His single Nephrican eye stared into its quanta-optic-nanocode reflection. It had been a clever invention that should have made him famous. Now offshoot technologies like this are used in virtual reality amusement parks on the planet Pripica, and yet he could technically be arrested just for turning on this similar invention that he built himself. Even five billion years ago when this story took place there had been no shortage of those with the complaint that life was not fair.

Begalius continued to encourage its master as if it had its own agenda here to fulfill. "Go ahead master. Enter the warp-dimension made up of quanta-optic-nanocoded reflections from this dimension."

Lockfreedow seemed to carefully enter the mirror while his reflection left the mirror to replace him in the objective. "This so much more vivid since we it Begalius reprogrammed is."

Lockfreedow explored the mirror reflection of the storage room in his homemade warp space dimension. It all had been identical to the other side of the mirror being programmed by the reflection. The program still worked. He started to approach the reflection of the door to the outside. In the actual storage room a hologram image of Lockfreedow also approached the actual door in perfect imitation because it had been programmed by Lockfreedow's own reflected photons. It was just a harmless quanta-optic-nanocoded reflection. Lockfreedow thought about opening the reflected door, but then thought better of it. He started to return to the mirror portal back to reality when suddenly he opened the door anyway against his will.

His reflection in reality also opened the door in unison with him, and they both looked at their prospective outsides. Lockfreedow felt in a panic feeling he had lost control of his own will. There had been nothing but gray to observe where no photons from reality were able to bring information to the program. He mustered a supreme effort of will, and returned to the mirror. His quanta-optic-nanocoded reflection obediently also returned to its place in warp space.

Lockfreedow, when finally outside the warp dimension, switched off the mirror like his life depended on it. "I control Begalius lost. The program me what I not want did made. Happened what?"

"I have no data for an answer to that master," said Begalius. "I can run diagnostics to see what may have happened. I did not think you were not acting under your own will."

Begalius did diagnostics on the mirror. It planned on doing these diagnostics for another friend anyway. Begalius had not been completely honest with its master Lockfreedow. While Lockfreedow turned off the mirror in a panic Begalius had been in quanta-communication contact with Beatariel on the planet Caleb 4.6 light years away.

Beatariel spoke on a microscopic monitor within Lockfreedow's good luck charm. "That experiment had been a success Begalius. I had been able to occupy the quanta-optic-nanocode reflection of your master made by this mirror from here on Caleb through this communication link. Sorry, I just had to see if I could open the door and see outside on the planet Doldoria. I did it Begalius."

Begalius was impressed. "This is a breakthrough discovery in our quest to design a portal matrix for a wormhole creation that is grand enough to confine the singularity to a warp dimension. Why does this mirror work this way for you?"

Beatariel now had a validated theory. "I think this explains why the NSC banned this invention. When the Nephricans cloned me from another quanta-nanocode being they must have used a similar portal to duplicate a reflection of it in order to make me. I can use this invention Begalius since the quanta-optic-nanocoded functions create a quanta-synchronization with me."

Begalius felt glad it could help. "It has just been sitting here. I'm sending you the diagnostics. I hope that helps with your phantom matter singularity problem."

"Thank you once again Begalius my good and clever friend," said Beatariel.

* * *

On the planet Caleb Beatariel ended the communication with its fellow quanta-nanocode friend Begalius. Beatariel remained in contact with Begalius and Beatarkameed through the quanta-synchronized communication devices that were actually created by Beatarkameed. It allowed them to communicate across light years of space with just a 10-second delay. Beatariel had been a microscopic being that existed these days surrounded by microscopic Calabites that were dedicated to constructing themselves like a multi-cellular organism into a body for Beatariel. Beatariel existed in the head of the organism while surrounded by decision-making Calabites that performed functions to control the greater organism like a brain. They all also were spectators to Beatariel's experiment with the quanta-optic-nanocode mirror construct over 4 light-years away.

A Calabite named Osquimsh spoke to Beatariel. "The experiment was a success. We can manipulate constructs that are created with that mirror program that your friend invented. We will review the diagnostics that have been delivered by your friend."

"I will relinquish control of the data storage for you to do that," said Beatariel.

Beatariel sat on its thrown at the center of the brain construct that controlled the life-sized humanoid body construct made up of the microscopic silicon life forms. The silicon life forms were saved from certain destruction long ago when the planet Caleb had been made suitable for warm-blooded organic life. The planet Caleb did become over 200 degrees warmer except for a giant dome-shaped snow covered mountain structure on the planet, which had been built by Beatariel to house the Calabite life forms in their preserved sub-zero environments.

Since the last thousand Earth years after the planet became terraformed, some Calabite species have evolved resistance to the higher temperatures of the transformed planet. Other Calabites evolved ways to join together into constructs that imitated the solidities of other elements such as iron and gold. Other Calabites evolved into the complex humanoid construct that was Beatariel's body. The body of Beatariel provided the Calabite's a means to interact with the Nephrican and Pripican colonists that made up the local government of the planet, which had still remained ignorant of the microscopic life forms that they stole the planet from.

Beatariel's Calabite body looked like the hairless humanoid offspring of Nephrican Eagolim with a brownish-green color more like the color of Calabite constructs. This body walked the halls of its giant dome mountain known by inhabitants of the planet's colonies as 'The Citadel.' The body wore a robe that displayed a hologram image of the night sky where all 15 colonized stars of the local cluster were holographically represented. The star-covered robe seemed to suit this mysterious off-colored being's nickname, the Wizard of the Citadel. The Citadel had been over a hundred miles across at the base, and made of indestructible elements that were mined long ago from the highly evolved rings that once surrounded the invisible singularity. The Citadel actually took the shape of a sphere buried in the ground to resemble a dome, and it had been made to be a star-ark intended as an improvement on the idea of a planet, which could even endure if the star Yat exploded into a nova to vaporize the planet it had been built upon. The Citadel would continue to maintain a habitable environment for its guests in case the worse outcome of the singularity problem that orbited the star Yat became a reality. Beatariel considered the Citadel its greatest invention, and parts of it were still kept at sub-zero with Caleb's original atmosphere to accommodate Calabites that were still not evolved to warmer temperatures.

The body of Beatariel walked down a hallway to greet a furry 4-legged female Pripican dressed in formal attire. Her name was Ceres who had remained as the master of Beatariel to assist it in dealing with the invisible singularity above them. She brought Beatariel bad news. "The Planetary Council will not authorize further financing of our virtual particle generators without another demonstration."

The mouth on the body of Beatariel worked a voice just like an organic humanoid, which dictated what Beatariel said inside the Calabite skull with perfect emotional fluctuations. "Why must they always insist on this whenever another virtual particle generator needs to be replaced? I cannot continue these demonstrations. The singularity increases in mass with every demonstration!"

Ceres felt sympathetic. "I know Beatariel. We didn't foresee this difficulty when you signed over control of the teleportation portal industries to the local colony, which has made Caleb one of the richest planets in the cluster."

The body of Beatariel pointed its dark hollow eye constructs out a view portal that overlooked the thriving metropolis of Nephrican and Pripican colonies that were surrounding the Citadel. "Tell them I will conduct another demonstration this afternoon."

Ceres trotted off to convey the message from the Wizard of the Citadel who cared for and represented the life forms that originally existed on this planet before it became a popular tourist location for Nephricans and Pripicans, as well as the occasionally visiting Doldorian. At the same time the phantom matter singularity above had became denser and denser with the centuries, and lately it threatened to break away from the 15 virtual particle generators, which still maintained its orbit a safe distance from the local star called Yat.

In the time since the singularity event Beatariel, with assistance from its master Ceres, became the Wizard of the Citadel, and it fashioned all kinds of artifacts from the higher evolved elements that were mined out of rings that formed around the invisible singularity, which had been constructed when the newly created singularity devoured part of the planet Curirem. Among the new technologies were quanta-synchronized communication devices that were made out of components that reproduced themselves like multi-dimensional metallic bacteria. For a long time Ceres and the Wizard were very rich from these inventions. Unfortunately they used up most of the elements from the rings, and now many local residents do not even think the invisible singularity even exists at all.

On Caleb the colonists did not know that Calabites even existed. The Nephaprican Space Corporation had long ago classified the study of Calabites, and covered up the shameless genocide that they had orchestrated. The galactic empire at large had never been told about the silicon-based life that evolved on the planet before the temperatures were raised. The colonists of Caleb had forgotten all about the phantom matter singularity that nobody had ever seen, which had been used to vacuum up the star's phantom matter a thousand Earth years before in order to raise the temperature that the star emitted. Many colonists believed that the maintenance of the 15 virtual particle generators to be a hoax perpetrated by Ceres and her Wizard accomplice in their freezing mountain so they could maintain power and influence over the now successful colony. For this reason Beatariel withheld the Calabite secrets to their radio language, and the secrets to electronic DNA, as well as other mysteries and secrets within its Citadel.

*

A small group of 9 colonists that were made up of five Nephricans, a Pripican, two bald humanoids, and one fury humanoid of Pripican decent made up the delegation that entered the Citadel through the teleportation portal so they could record the latest demonstration of the existence of some invisible thing out there in space orbiting their star, which somehow endangered their whole existence. They were there to represent the skepticism of hundreds of millions of hard-working tax-paying colonists that were reluctant to surrender money to the Wizard of the Citadel. After all what had the Wizard invented for them lately?

"This place me uneasy always has left," said Gothdial.

"I your uneasiness Gothdial my friend share," said the fellow Nephrican council member named Fothmus.

Duirllia, the four-legged Pripican who led the procession halted as the walls grew strange warts ahead of them that continued to grow into two-legged Calabite constructs that separated themselves from the Citadel walls. "I will never be used to the strange robot technology of this home of the Wizard," she said as she stopped everyone.

The Calabite constructs that they thought were robots led the council members to the observation room that had been setup by Beatariel for the demonstration. The Calabites continued to augment their existence with the refuge that Beatariel had created for them. Trillions of uncountable trillions of Calabites continued this evolution to ultimately function as one with the Citadel. They existed as the soul of the mechanism.

Beatariel began the presentation. "Greetings colonist and council members. I have agreed to this demonstration, but be warned that these demonstrations increase the mass of the singularity, which draws us all closer to the worse possible outcome if it ever devours our star Yat."

The council acknowledged Beatariel's warning along with a noticeable skepticism that there had really been any danger at all. Beatariel's body nodded at Ceres to begin the demonstration. On a view screen a view of a couple of the anti-gravity generators hovered near the giant star Yat, which had been carefully filtered by the visual so that it did not just blind the whole room. "As you can see I have maneuvered the 15 synchronized generators that have now prevented a black hole from being formed here for the last millennium. Soon you will observe the invisible mass of the singularity as it feasts on the plasma of the star."

The Demonstration

The body of Beatariel did not display the worry of Beatariel inside its head, who feared this could all go horribly wrong just for doing this in the first place. Beatariel however, did have its own motive for doing this. It knew it could this way attain more of the exotic elements that were sure to be created by this demonstration, which it could study and use for new inventions.

The star began to form solar flares of plasma that flew toward the hovering generators and suddenly disappear into the singularity. Then the sphere of the singularity became temporarily visible as it glowed a slightly lighter shade of the plasma fires. Then the poles of the singularity exploded into brilliant light that dispelled into a mist that descended into a ring around the equator of the once again invisible singularity that Ceres at the controls quickly moved back away from the star without any instruction from Beatariel.

Beatariel said, "As you can see a ring of highly evolved exotic elements now surround the equator of the singularity that you have been in so much doubt about."

The demonstration did leave the council speechless, and also effectively convinced that maintaining the 15 virtual particle generators would be necessary for the survival of the planet Caleb as well as every surrounding star in the cluster. They left while speculating amongst themselves how the rest of Nephapricus could possibly be taxed to finance the continuance of this operation.

Ceres then stood alone in the room with the robed Wizard of the Citadel where Beatariel often resided. "I did not become your master and assistant here for all these years to just maintain the situation up there for politicians to figure out how to tax more money then we even need for this, or even to cater to your addiction to exotic elements Beatariel."

Beatariel said, "I understand Ceres, and I am close to a final solution to the singularity. Recent advances with warp dimensions could be carefully synchronized with enough energy to relocate the singularity where it can no longer even harm this dimension."

"I need a solution that works Beatariel," replied Ceres. "I need that solution before it is too late. I need those elements you are sure to retrieve from that ring out there to be used towards the solution of our phantom matter singularity problem. I must now report today's development to my superiors of the Pripican Empire."

"It shall be as you wish master," said Beatariel's body as Ceres trotted from the room.

The Wizard body of Beatariel also walked out of the room to retire within the alternate realities of its Citadel. Beatariel enjoyed the way the quanta-optic-nanocoded dimensions allowed it to bring its thoughts into existence around it. The diagnostics of the mirror invented by Lockfreedow on Doldoria may have solved a problem Beatariel had with controlling reality from a reflected reality, and the creation of a portal matrix that would truly transcend the vast distance of time/space where the stars and planets float.

Beatariel realized why it could not have created this program on its own. It had been obvious from the diagnostic that only a Nephrican mind could have solved the quanta-nanocode logic the way it had been solved in Lockfreedow's mirror program because Lockfreedow was a Nephrican. Only a Nephrican could have thought of this program, and it had been Nephricans that had thought of a similar program used to clone Beatariel into existence. Now Beatariel began to enjoy the quanta-optic-nanocode dimensions of its Citadel, while Calabites surrounding it enthusiastically acted out the other dimension's supporting roles. It had been a refreshing distraction from a depression that Beatariel obsessed with. This had been how Beatariel rested from the emotional depression that it struggled with. Beatariel was a thought program that struggled with depression to the extent that it defined the very personality of the BEAT program. The quanta-optic-nanocoded dimensions were how Beatariel rested and dreamed.

Chapter 2

The planet Pripica looked like a pristine sphere of majestic mountainous continents nestled in oceans of breathtaking blue. Pripica orbited the star Poa, and had been the place where Pripicans began their evolution into the galactic. The planet had a faint technological shimmer to it that had been similar to the planet Nephrica, but Pripicans were more agricultural by nature and the planet showed this with much of its original natural beauty. On closer scrutiny Pripica was highly technological, and strung up in quanta-nano-networks of quanta-nanocode processing. All that fed a planetary network of quanta-fusion power cells that were self-sustaining, which were also fed by a solar wind ionization planetary power grid. Then there were the breakthrough warp space alternative reality technologies that were fast becoming amusement parks on the planet.

The cities hustle with busy Pripicans that prefer walking on their four legs to driving. The vehicles that do drive the streets of these gorgeous cities of timeless stone architecture are nuclear powered flying cars. The Pripicans long ago already perfected the physics of low-level nuclear reactions for plentiful energy that did not produce any nuclear waste. That mastery of energy production along with being the original inventors of virtual particle (anti-gravity) technologies, contributed to the legendary victory of Pripica over the Nephricans many ages before in the Great War.

Hustling these busy streets appeared a humanoid with a wild head of hair that presided over his hairless cloth-clothed body. His name was Perzeonaut who lived these streets an abandoned 2nd Generation Eagolim born of a Pripican father and a Nephrican mother during a space flight. He had grown to a young man on the hyper-acceleration flight, just before he had been left on Pripica by his parents who selfishly considered him grown up enough to be on his own. In real time he had barely been more than 8 Earth months old at the time.

Perzeonaut did survive on his own, and now he hustled the Pripicans for credits so he could play quanta-optic-nanocode reality games. On Pripica everybody had been into living in alternate warp realities, which at the time of this story contributed to a decay of society in the realm of reality. It had been a shame at the time since the planet Pripica was a beautiful place to be, and not the kind of place one would want to escape from. Pripica enjoyed a reputation as a place of the free and the brave; where the elite abusers of power and control had long ago been put in their place by the democratic tsunami of a large well-educated population. Nevertheless the alternate reality addictions still took hold of the civilization.

Two 4-legged friends of Perzeonaut pushed their way to him. The one named Egolor called out. "Perzeonaut! You can stop begging for spare credit just to get in the virtual reality ride. Persuave and I have figured out how to forge ourselves tickets. Here. Let's go for a ride."

Perzeonaut felt overwhelmed by the good fortune as he held his own ticket in his hand. "Thanks! I was still a long way from getting enough credit on these streets."

The three youngsters proceeded through the crowded streets to the virtual reality amusement rides. The automated quanta-optic-nanocoded hologram of a humanoid woman who had been covered with black cat-like fur took the tickets without question. Then they were in. The quanta-optic-nanocoded constructs, unlike regular holograms, had the ability to imitate solidity. The quanta-optic-nanocode and warp dimension innovations had been revolutionized on the planet Pripica into alternative reality technologies, and the average Pripican had at least tried this new way of living out one's dreams.

Perzeonaut, Egolor, and Persuave liked to reenact ancient Pripican wars between kingdoms that were fought with swords. The three kids were dashing through a battalion of enemy soldiers, slashing and stabbing their way across an ancient mountain plateau.

"Watch your backside Egolor!" said Perzeonaut.

Egolor turned in time to slash an enemy Pripican in a leather-like armor that failed to stop Egolor's sword. "Thanks Perzeonaut, good friend!"

The plain filled up with the roaring noises of war. The humanoid looking Perzeonaut suddenly crossed swords with a centaur-like enemy. "What manner of sorcery has produced this two-legged demon?!?"

The reality enactment had been taken from way before the galactic evolution of the humanoid in the Hyper-Acceleration Age, but Perzeonaut didn't feel obliged to explain. "It would be a long story enemy of our kingdom!" Then the enemy died under Perzeonaut's battle sword.

There a vivid reality surrounded the three adolescents that were butchering the slain, which were just quanta-optic-nanocoded constructs that were acting out their programmed roles beyond any ability to actually harm the kids that were standing on a mountainous plateau within a vividly programmed warp dimension. They were physically within the warp dimension programmed to act like it had been real around the players, but really it would not actually harm anyone physically.

Outside that dimension, in the reality realm would be where the danger arose. The owner of the amusement ride discovered that the three tickets he had accepted were actually cheap forgeries. His name was Mollyjaz, and he did not become the richest, most successful owner of alternate reality arcades by taking it easy on freeloaders. He called on his quanta-nanocode being in charge of his amusement business of highly advanced technology. "Beatnefthes! The three kids that were slashing constructs in the primitive history warp dimension have tricked their way in here with fraudulent tickets. I leave them to you to teach them a lesson before the authorities arrive here to take them away."

"As you wish master."

At the time of this story of the 15-star cluster empire called Nephapricus, there were all kinds of microscopic quanta-nanocoded beings loose in the cluster. Some went from Pripican Empire master to Pripican master; mostly for the purpose of exchanging espionage secrets. Some of the created quanta-nanocode beings were even free of masters, and they did as they saw fit. Others were in groups or alone, traveling the cluster to do good like friendly ghosts in the machine.

Beatnefthes had been a quanta-nanocoded being that worked on Pripica to oversee all aspects of its master's successful virtual reality arcade. It did anything its owner and master commanded. Beatnefthes actually had been the being used ages ago to clone Beatariel, which had these two beings linked through a mysterious quantum-synchronicity across several light-years between stars like Corsican twins. Although Beatariel existed many light years away wallowing in self-pity and depression, Beatnefthes on the other hand had been feeling unexplainably happy these days.

Perzeonaut and his friends were having the time of their lives slashing up the armies of King Doreath of the First Kingdom that taught writing and mathematics to their general populations. Metals were just being forged into swords during this time of Pripican history. Persuave breathed the not so fresh outdoor air beginning to stink with the smells of death. "My arms are getting tired. Let's take the throne effigy and demand their surrender now."

The other two were then more willing to admit to being tired after Persuave admitted as much. They began hacking their way to the King's Effigy, which had been defended by the ancient army of quanta-optic-nanocode constructs that were dramatically falling dead before the young team of conquerors. Those quanta-optic-nanocode beings acted out their parts as if they were enthusiastically auditioning for their 15-minutes of Hollywood fame before being recycled and reprogrammed again into another construct. The quanta-optic-nanocode constructs really gave their dramatic roles in virtual realities a hundred-ten percent. They were almost more alive with their imitations of life then the ones they were dramatically portraying life for.

Before the three virtual reality players could reach the effigy, the ground suddenly opened up beneath them. "Aaaaahhhhhh!"

"Hey! This was not part of the program!" screamed Persuave seemingly to nobody.

Egolor joined in the crying out to the sky. "Abort warp dimension! Abort warp dimension! I am all done now! Abort warp dimension!"

The three found themselves balancing on solid rocks that were floating in seas of underground lava. The heat from the melted stone stung the three fighters who all dropped their swords that were suddenly too hot to hold. The swords melted in the river of molten rock.

"What do we do?" shouted Egolor as they hopped from rock to rock before the rocks submerged into the lava. "Ouch!" He looked at his badly burned hand that he had dared to touch the lava with. "This is not supposed to hurt like this."

Then Beatnefthes announced itself to the young thieves as a quanta-optic-nanocoded lava monster that arose from the fiery underground lake.

The monster of glowing red lava could speak. "You have been found out to have used forgery to obtain this amusement ride. Now this is no longer for your amusement."

"Aaaaaghhhhhh!"

"I'm sorry. We are all sorry!" said Perzeonaut.

They all found themselves painfully burned after being chased by the monster. Then they were finally dumped over a lava fall into blackness.

That gave way in the constantly morphing reality around them to falling through an upper atmosphere of stars. The voice of Beatnefthes explained the rules of the game. "Now you shall all fall helplessly to the planetary surface below you before hitting the ground that you see so far away. Have fun."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhh!" The ride turned out to definitely be more than they bargained for.

Then a black sphere appeared above the falling adolescents. It spoke in an intelligent voice. "I shall devour your souls before you can fall to that planet below. Then you shall join me for eternity in oblivion."

The falling kids were suddenly pulled away from the ground toward the black circle in the air above them. The pull had a forceful grip to it that exuded confidence that it would succeed in crushing them before they actually reached the black sphere.

Beatnefthes appreciated this imaginative development to its punishment program, but it did not program this, and it calculated that the gravitational effect of the black object would indeed crush the kids before they could be delivered alive to the authorities. It never intended to kill these petty amusement thieves who were just having a bad waking warp-dimensional quanta-optic-nanocoded dream.

"These criminals shall fall to that planet," said Beatnefthes to the black sphere. "You need to deprogram this, whatever you are."

The black circle did let go. "You will serve me one day quanta-nanocode being. You already do serve me because your master serves me."

The crushing black hole terror again had been replaced by the terror of falling to a planet like meteors of flesh and blood. There screams were replaced by a mutual silence that concentrated desperately on the fact that none of this was real. Eventually the ground speeded up and exponentially grew into a collision with the ground of reality back at the amusement ride entrance. It had not been the crushing collision with the ground that they expected by the illusion of falling so many miles from space, but it did hurt a bit when the ground collided with them.

The Pripican police were there to take them to jail. One of the four police had been a humanoid like Perzeonaut, only he was covered by Pripican fur, and not a Nephrican/Pripican crossbreed like he had been.

"You kids think this is just games, but you will be put through rehabilitation as you work off the credit you owe this establishment."

Perzeonaut looked back at the quanta-optic-nanocode female Pripican hologram at the ticket counter that looked back at him as the police led him away. It occurred to him that this place back there must be controlled by one of those microscopic quanta-nanocode beings. He had heard about the BEAT programs and always wanted to meet one. He also thought that what had just happened had been the wildest ride ever, and totally worth whatever punishment he would now face.

*

The owner of the amusement ride became impressed by the video feedback of what Beatnefthes did. He didn't seem to consider anything peculiar about the programmed black circle anomaly. "Do not concern yourself Beatnefthes. You did good here. It is totally worth whatever ticket revenue I am sure to never see no matter how hard they work in prison. Good job Beatnefthes. I'm collecting videos of your punishments you know. Keep these videos coming."

After the presence of Beatnefthes the quanta-nanocode being seemed to disappear, the owner Mollyjaz turned on a virtual dimension portal of his own in his private office. He walked into his latest virtual reality addiction. In this game He liked to just orbit rapidly around the giant circle of oblivion like a kid on a rope swing. The challenge would be to stay in orbit before being devoured by the black hole that talked to him. "I shall yet devour you player as I can taste your over-confidence."

"Ha ha ha ha, love the voice! Yeah! Whatever oblivion construct! You are a trip of a game. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" He liked the way the orbit swung him around, and the encompassing pressure that felt like the security of a blanket to him.

* * *

Many light years away from the star Poa, at the star Yat where the planet Caleb orbited, Beatariel the quanta-nanocode clone of Beatnefthes brooded over the impossible problem it had to solve. The phantom matter singularity had become denser and denser with the centuries; growing to the size of about 3 football fields, and now it threatened to break away from the virtual particle generators that kept it a safe distance from the star Yat.

Beatariel pondered the theory of using the warp dimension technology to move the singularity out of this universe. It had found these ideas for containing the singularity in the historical research of its previous master Prospero. Within this data existed the idea from its previous master's mind that could probably solve the singularity problem. Beatariel failed to notice a tiny quanta-optic-nanocode virus within created by Prospero himself before he died. It infested the programming of this data that Beatariel absorbed undetected.

Prospero did work out the math of a brilliant and elegant plan to somehow move the entire singularity into its own warp dimension for all time. There had been a devil in the details that kept alerting itself from within the math that calculated before the quanta-nanocode thinking program. Beatariel computed that the whole thing would need a special portal matrix that had not yet been figured out, along with more solar energy than fifteen stars like Yat, which had been the only star available.

Beatariel laid aside the mathematical despair for the time being, and commandeered its Calabite body to walk it to the control room of the robot craft sent out in space to scavenge exotic elements from the newly created ring that surrounded the invisible singularity. Beatariel became anxious to see what the denser singularity had made out of the star plasma it recently devoured during the demonstration earlier for the colony council. The previous discovery from other demonstrations had been an element that contradicted this hydrogen-based universe. The old elements Beatariel had already discovered were based on a whole new kind of hydrogen atom that had not even been a gas until brought down hundreds of degrees below zero. Under normal temperatures the substance would be harder than diamond, and Beatariel integrated this into its impervious Citadel structure.

Beatariel sat on its thrown within the head of the humanoid body that had been a Calabite construct. It became surrounded by thinking Calabites that assisted it with this mission of containing the black hole developing in their star system. They were processing and discussing the data coming in from the robotic mining craft, which had been out in space scooping up new elements from the singularity rings.

One of the microscopic Calabites took the initiative to speak up to the brooding nano-bot in charge. "Beatariel, you should see the results of this analysis of the new elements."

Beatariel became pleasantly surprised to then see another piece of his problem solved.

*

With Beatariel at the head, the Wizard of the Citadel walked to the room of Ceres in order to report the new findings.

"I need good news for this next report Beatariel," said Ceres.

Beatariel said, "There is good news discovered in the new exotic elements we have just brought back. Amongst them is a glowing substance that if replicated on the quantum level to resemble anything else it will quantum synchronize with what it resembles as long as the math is accurate enough. That gives this substance the ability to be many things in different places all at once."

"That does stretch the imagination Beatariel," said Ceres, "but I need a plan to fix this singularity problem soon, or else we are still stalling again while you dabble in the physics of your magical elements."

Beatariel said, "This is part of that plan. We can make portal matrix rings with this new substance that are large enough to steer the singularity through to anywhere the other portal matrix exists."

"You're telling me you have solved the wormhole problem?" asked Ceres.

Beatariel said, "Well I have the portal matrix almost figured out with this discovery."

The Calabites that were surrounding Beatariel inside the head had the Wizard humanoid construct say exactly what Beatariel wanted, while knowing that he did not want Ceres to know that the math required more energy than this solar system could provide.

After the meeting the humanoid Wizard construct went back to the lab to brood. Meanwhile Beatariel liked to mingle amongst the Calabites that were always elegantly preoccupied with the requirements of the greater construct. They all shared this work for the sake of the greater multi-Calabite construct with a philosophy referred to as 'the way.'

Calabites managed the sub-zero infrastructure of the Citadel universes that were made of the same stuff as the Citadel dome outside with higher evolved elements that were integrated in the design to maintain impervious integrity under any condition or temperature. The three quanta-nanocode beings Begalius, Beatariel, and Beatarkameed were all involved with figuring out the multi-dimensional solution to all this.

*

Outside this mountain-sized Citadel were the colonies of Nephricans and Pripicans that were living their individual lives. The residents mostly teleported where they wanted to go by using Beatariel's planetary teleportation platforms. The latest creation of The Wizard of the Citadel had been these teleportation platforms that only worked on the planet by using warp dimensions within the Citadel to join the separate platforms. This had been a variation of a portal matrix wormhole it created long ago to bring all the Calabites on the planet that it could find into the Citadel in order to save them from the planet's global warming event.

The children of the Caleb colonists Gothdial and Fothmus from the council liked to play together when school time and chore time gave way to free time. Skreevy and Pentellor both stood upon the blue platform so they could use this day to explore mysterious woods north of the colony where they liked the exercise in the fresh air.

Skreevy and Pentellor enjoyed the rarely traveled trails of these forests of Caleb. It had been a beautiful planet completely terraformed by Nephrican ingenuity with forests imported from Nephrican seed banks as well as the planet Pripica. It had also been a beautiful day for a hike.

"It Skreevy up step you like you 3-legged father Gothdial walk," said Pentellor. Both Skreevy and Pentellor were hairless humanoid offspring of Nephrican Eagolim parents.

"I the view here also enjoying am," said Skreevy.

Pentellor then halted to become the slow one. Skreevy almost walked into him.

"Over there look," said Pentellor. "It some Pripican the trees with something hitting is."

They followed the centaur-like being who continued to stop at an occasional tree to swing a hatchet-like device that stabbed the tree, which evidently would read something. The Pripican noticed the curious followers, and spoke in the strange Pripican dialect as he pried his device from the tree.

"Hello young hikers," said the Pripican. "This will not hurt any trees, assuming that trees are what these are."

The young humanoid hikers came out from behind the bushes to greet the strange fellow. "Hello. We you saw, and what you were doing wondering were."

"I am a Calabax hunter," said the Pripican. "I believe the monster of legend has been hiding amongst us in the form of a tree right here in this forest. My spike device here will detect if any of these trees are actually the legendary creature."

Skreevy and Pentellor laughed at the notion that Calabax had actually been real. The Pripican appeared serious however, and went on to explain how the legends of the monster Calabax were based on facts. He pointed out to the departing hikers that many in the last couple years have reported being terrorized by a serpent-like creature in these woods that looked much like a walking tree. Skreevy and Pentellor just laughed about it as they returned to the teleportation platform to go home.

In the woods that were overlooking the teleporter where the boys went had been one of the trees that became suddenly animated. The moving tree departed on three root-like legs after the kids finally teleported home. She looked like a tree chopped off at the top before it could grow smaller branches and leaves. Her skin imitated the bark of the trees around it, and she walked on three root-like legs like a Nephrican. She had evidently been a form of multi-Calabite construct that long ago adapted to the new temperatures of the planet on this side of the Citadel. She had been impersonating trees for millennia to escape the notice of the new colonists. She was called Calabax, and at first she had survived deep in the still-frozen underground before eventually emerging fully adapted to the planet's new surface temperatures. She intelligently avoided the Pripican further down the trail hunting for her.

Calabax

* * *

Captain Trunlio at the Nephaprican Space Corporation headquarters on the planet Nephrica received his new ship and assignment. He had been a successful Captain of various ships now for almost a thousand Earth years. He had been given permission to enter the Admiral's office where he was expected.

Admiral Palpitoo looked over the young upstart Captain who could be giving him trouble by stealing his job if not for the fact that Trunlio felt content to just be a ship Captain. The Admiral had been an Eagolim of humanoid form who as a newly evolved species of Nephrican, had to fight hard for acceptance on the planet Nephrica. On the planet Nephrica the very existence of Eagolim of humanoid form had been kept a secret for centuries. He was not going to let a 3-legged Nephrican Eagolim like Trunlio take his job. "Captain Trunlio relax. A seat have, and comfortable be. I an important assignment for you have."

Captain Trunlio sat down. "I eager to the voids between stars again travel am."

"That void you will travel. I you to the new faster-than-light ship "Farther Star" called assigning am. It new enough that you on all your closest unassigned crew bring can is." The Admiral felt satisfied with dealing with the young upstart by sending him far into the void.

"I by that assignment honored am," said Trunlio. "I the Farther Star design specifics since it first built was admired have." Trunlio just wanted to fly through space where he would be in command, above the petty intrigues of the planet-side officer culture where this Admiral seemed so at home amongst.

The Admiral became intimidated by the accomplished rival who really didn't even want his job, and he felt anxious to send this Captain on his way. "It above us ready to when you your crew assembled have launch orbiting is. Some positions on the ship currently filled are. You full command of how you to this manage want have."

"Sir yes," said Trunlio. "What the assignment for me and this ship is?"

The Admiral thought that if Trunlio wanted to be in space so bad then he would be more than happy to send him further than any had ever gone before. "The crew you to to this journey make willing be need will recruit, which a long time take will. Before you you and the crew stock in the new quanta-nanocoded 3D mass production companies invest should leave. It to fortunes in dividends by the time you back get yield sure is."

The Admiral activated a hologram image above his desk that displayed a three-dimensional star map of the local cluster and surrounding stars. "There full details in the orders you on the ship computer find will are. We nearly one hundred percent certain we a habitable planet 40 omans from our star Ea found have are. It the same size and atmosphere as Nephrica is." The images above the desk drew a line between the familiar star Ea to the far off star around 40 light years away. (The oman was the word for a light year based on the speed of light in a Nephrica year, which had been very different than Earth's 365 24-hour day year. Nephrica had a 227 thirty-hour daylong year, which made an oman about 4.6 trillion miles distance.)

Trunlio felt more than happy to receive a real exploratory assignment away from the cluster of 15 stars that had at the time already become colonized on the planets that were orbiting all of them. Trunlio knew lots of valuable crew recruits that would love a nice 100 yearlong assignment. As Trunlio became dismissed the Admiral felt satisfied that this would get rid of him for a while.

* * *

Another star central to this galactic empire of the 15-star cluster had been Holdus where on the planet Glokodox, also known as Holdus-2, much mischief could be carried out beyond the more densely populated and controlled planets where these intelligent aliens first originated. Here in the city of Glokodox the Council of 32 acted with more impunity, and had been manufacturing quanta-nanocode viruses for an upcoming war. They had figured out how to do this when they cloned Beatariel, but their process of production on Glokodox had become degenerated and simplified so that these viruses were really not as intelligent as BEAT programs.

Aineemadin had also been on Holdus-2, continuing her Nephaprican Space Corporation spy-satellite project above the planet Doldoria. This had been in spite of her now long since deceased husband Captain Mynervood's efforts to eradicate her microwave mind control satellites. Many Doldorian's now were aware of this manipulative surveillance above them in orbit, but some actually worshiped her anyway as a goddess of the wandering stars who they called Anemdinio.

She reviewed the data that arrived through a quantum-communication capability from Doldoria to Glokodox. With her stealth satellite technology she had been impersonating the goddess Teyoo to manipulate the Doldorians that routinely gathered at a lake on the planet to watch her walk on water in the form of Athedonie the Lady of the Lake. Mostly the orchestrated vision broadcast by the satellite went as planned, with the on looking Doldorians believing everything her hologram said. Then a strange anomalous malfunction happened where her hologram and its message became shut off while the surveillance still recorded the Doldorians envisioning and hearing their invisible goddess. It had not been the first time she saw this, and she could never really explain it.

*

The planet Doldoria had remained mostly pristine for the first thousand Earth years of hyper-acceleration age technologies. This had been demonstratively because the Doldorians had a say over what the highly advanced visiting aliens wanted to do. Other habitable planets that were colonized by the aliens had suffered much more environmental damage and ecological collapse when the extraterrestrial aliens moved in. One such pristine location on Doldoria had been the Lake of Athedonie near the spaceport city of Trolluer where Alldegallo and his guests gathered to see the Lady of the Lake.

As it turned out, Diallo had been on Doldoria to give birth to her 13th Eagolim child, which she wanted to offer to the goddess Teyoo in a proper baptism in this sacred lake. Alldegallo did finally notice the way her exoskeleton extruded more from the pregnancy once he finally knew about this. She and Simeonalli evidently timed the planned conception for when the ship just decelerated near the star Dol.

The gathering counted in the hundreds along the lakeshore. Nephricans were always rational atheists in general by nature. Pripicans never really believed in a god, but they did embrace a unanimous belief in a karmic way of nature from a more philosophical point of view. Some Pripicans even embraced a belief in a higher intelligence within the mind of an individual that manipulated beyond the conscious ego. The Doldorians on the other hand were always quick to embrace beliefs in gods that would find their tangible place in an archetypal pantheon of drama that played out before these beings in tune with a dimension of imagination made up of their collective minds.

"Tis surely to be a grand afternoon of vision with such a gathering of believers here to gaze upon the sacred shore." Diallo did not hear Alldegallo's comment. She had been in a conversation with some followers of Burnumatum, who had become involved with DNA research that had probably been how Doldorian DNA first merged with the goddess Dol to give birth to the Children of Dol. Burnumatum followers worship Dol as the mother of the blue giants of the gods. Diallo's offspring would be only the same relative size as regular Negolim Doldorians, but the hairless child would have the same blue humanoid form, which had been the same as the children of Dol, only not as tall or with any hair as the giants.

"The Lady doth show herself in this moment beyond yonder shore," yelled someone in the crowd.

The gods of Doldoria were very real beings; at least to the Doldorians. Nephrican and Pripican sciences could find no scientific validity to the Doldorian hallucinations, and in ironic contrast, the Doldorians found only validity to their god's existence in the sciences that were introduced by Pripicans and Nephricans. Evidently it all had been a matter of perspective. The truth had been that the gods of Doldoria actually were psychic programs made up of the collective psychic consciousness of the Doldorian minds. At least that had perhaps been the most compelling theory.

The goddess walking upon the water of the lake had been a blue Doldorian with traditional clothes that were draped with the jewelry of the divine. She looked like an anthropomorphized blue bug dressed like royalty. She walked towards the shoreline while the entire crowd closed in at the shore to hear her speak. All the hundreds of participants were obediently silent.

Then the goddess spoke in a thunderously amplified voice. "Prithee my disciples do seest thou here. Do now attend onto these words. The foresight of thy Doldorian hostilities against the Nephaprican Space Corporation doth not bode well as to what is foreseen. Do thou not..."

Everyone there bore witness to the goddess suddenly flickering out like a buggy hologram projection or something. The disciplined silence of the crowd started to produce the sound of murmuring. Then the goddess flashed back into sight like a flash of lightening. She had been dressed in different adornments now, and she shined brighter than she did before.

"No tongue! Be thee silent and all eyes. Want not of my spirit before thy eyes." There had been no noise for miles after this version of the goddess spoke. "Beware the god Ralusio Xnogaio who doth defy the sacred salvation of the light to the darkness of its true nature being that of eternal oblivion. Hail my message to thus hail the messenger of dreams amongst you named Alldegallo. For this warning of Ralusio Xnogaio with his followers that doth devour the flesh of Doldorians have I been summoned onto you who to the Children of Dol must seek deliverance from these dangers to all of Doldoria."

After the vision, Alldegallo had been forced by the crowd to recollect his dream of the god of the dead being devoured by Ralusio Xnogaio. His followers had already decided to take it to the Children of Dol for some unknown reason. Alldegallo really couldn't tell the crowd what his followers had decided to do with his dream information since it was really out of his hands these days and he didn't know, but he did tell the crowd the message from the god Ptuammi, "Ransom not the dead to oblivion."

Ralusio Xnogaio is the Doldorian version of the name Ralus Xnoga who gave birth to a black hole as the phantom matter singularity orbited the star Yat growing in mass and energy towards the point to almost become the catalyst of a real gravitational singularity. This strange black hole intelligence had become aware of the phantom matter singularity, and experienced through some kind of quantum-synchronized perception the planets of the local star cluster full of intelligent life along with the souls that life leaves behind. Ralus Xnoga fed on this form of intelligence when they crossed its event horizon, and Ralus Xnoga had enjoyed the delicacy of the souls of the dead from millions of planets for billions and billions of Earth years wherever intelligent life could be found in the galaxy it spun.

Chapter 3

On Doldoria, the attendees at the vision of the goddess of the lake dispersed to their respective homes. They all were informed of the message from Alldegallo as well as the warning from the goddess herself to beware of the cult of the Ralusio Xnogaio god of eternal oblivion. Burbundor had been a hairless dwarf-sized humanoid 2nd Generation Eagolim of Doldorian decent, and he had inherited a lot from his successful Eagolim parents who had ventured into space to evolve their DNA. Burbundor had been the size of a normal blue Doldorian who had much more handed to him in addition to an exponentially longer lifespan than his two friends with him who were named Syaxcorio, a female terrestrial Doldorian, and Dinorio, a male. They all came to see the lady on the lake in Burbundor's modern virtual particle driven flying car.

They were flying across the continent as the lights from Doldorian cities spread across the landscape below them. Syaxcorio watched the distant lake and the city of Trolluer disappear as they journeyed home. She broke the silence of the three who were in deep reflection on the vision they all had. "We all are much vexed of this vision that has thus appeared to us. We best know'st to thus frame the words of Athedonie as admonishment."

Burbundor had been reading her mind as she watched the landscape below the flying vehicle. "Thy thoughts are as plain to my view as if you did murmurist them through thy mandibles. I too view the gods of the cities below that watch us fly like the birds. I too know that before we reach the god of our home we doth cross the lands of the cult of oblivion. I too listen to that which the gods admonish"

Dinorio on the other hand had not been completely in compliance with another of Burbundor's reckless adventures. He thought Burbundor to be reckless with the immortality that he had, and he would only live the long life he had been blessed with as long as he didn't get himself killed. "The meager years of life I have are too precious to me to risk on another of your gambles with danger."

Burbundor said, "Oh come now Dinorio. Have you not lived more at my side with your meager years than before? We can just travel over the accursed city slower and with less altitude. Then on to home's precious comfort."

Dinorio had been the only one to be the voice of reluctance, but still he would not be one to stop his good friend Burbundor. Syaxcorio just scowled at Dinorio with her black Doldorian eyes to convey to him the message that he had been an unattractive coward.

The flying vehicle did come upon the city of Ralusio Xnogaio, and they descended and slowed down to have a look at the land of those the goddess warned them about. The city had been named Spakadius, and was one of those places everyone knew to avoid from warnings that began with parents. On Doldoria certain gods are the main gods of a province, such as the goddess Teyoo who presides over the area around the city of Trolluer. Spakadius had been dedicated to one of the more evil gods in the Doldorian pantheon.

Syaxcorio spotted the fire below in the city of Spakadius that had become darkened by the deepening night. "Hark upon us for below I didst spot the flames of a great fire where many must also congregate for what we with invisibility doth seek to spot."

Burbundor slowed down even more while adjusting instruments on the vehicle. "Thou hast indeed spotted something I can thus magnify the view of with these instruments while safely above the sentinels of naked eyes."

Dinorio sat in the back seat leaning forward to see what Burbundor brought up on the dashboard monitor. "Do make thyself with this surveillance to no sight visible my impulsive friend."

Syaxcorio started the 'you're a coward' scowl again, which Dinorio seemed to fend off with his own facial gesture back at her that probably told her to just get over it.

The three travelers observed from a safe distance above the gathering below. The surveillance equipment in Burbundor's flying vehicle had been state-of-the-art. The three watched as the image on the screen zoomed in on the fires and the Doldorians that gathered around them. They were holding plates where they scooped up some kind of meat with their mandibles. It appeared after closer inspection to be something they were cooking on the fires. Some were pulling the cooked carcasses from the flames to squeeze the exoskeletons with big vices, cracking them like walnuts. Then the meat had been scooped out for the hungry residents of Spakadius. The three aerial spies all were shocked by the realization that they were cooking and eating other Doldorians.

The Ralusio Xnogaio followers were cannibals, and they ate Doldorian flesh to help summon the black god of oblivion. Doldorians seemed particularly wired for contact with Ralus Xnoga, and these practices gave Ralus Xnoga focus on the location of the 15 star cluster where the Doldorians conveniently kept thousands of years of ego-phantasm souls of their dead in a crypt, which attracted the god of oblivion like a delicious dish on a plate.

Dinorio didn't like where this was going. "Without precaution doth thou intrude into danger. Take heed. Take heed." Syaxcorio did not seem to be bothered by that outburst from Dinorio since her scowl had now been replaced with a look of worry.

Burbundor went in for a landing. "To closer inspection do I seek. I possess weaponry in this transportation. You and Syaxcorio can stay here to thus fly away from harm. I doth seek a closer confrontation with these doers of evil."

The passengers were just silent at the mercy of their impulsive driver. They brought the vehicle down near the campfire gathering in a dark field away from view and under the cover of night. As they landed and darkened the vehicle lights there were other eyes nearby watching them land. Then those eyes watched Burbundor exit the flying car to close in on the gathering of cannibals not far away.

*

Alldegallo just went home after the Lady on the Lake event, along with his guests from another planet. Diallo became more worked up about this message from the goddess. She brought it up later with her husband Simeonalli as they retired to the room provided by Alldegallo in his mansion.

"My nephew doth hideth within himself an inner concern that doth preoccupy," said Diallo. "Methinks that my nephew Alldegallo plays more of a role in what is to transpire than his willingness can provide stomach for to digest."

Simeonalli didn't discourage his wife's intuitions. "Twas Alldegallo thus spoken to by the very mouth of Ptuammi the god of the dead. None are thus contacted for naught."

Diallo said, "My nephew the dreamer wishes just to live in his sacred dreams with no transaction with this world of the waking. Tis escape for his abused soul. His waking life and its destiny will not just leave him to his dreams. He must fear this destiny to thus withdraw so."

Simeonalli always admired Diallo for her prophetic foresight. "Thy perceptions of what is to be have long known my respect. I suspect we will be there to help see Alldegallo to this destiny."

*

Earlier that day there were visitors to the City of Ei from the City of Spakadius where cannibals roasted Doldorians alive to feast on their flesh. They were there to see the High Priest of Ei who had now reigned over the religion for a thousand Earth years, and longer than any other High Priest in history. Mitporio had been the leader of the two visitors from Spakadius.

The followers of Ralusio Xnogaio were able to take technology from the sky-gods to create fission meltdown bombs that would borough into the planet to release radioactive materials into the soil, oceans, and atmosphere. They had needed resources from the great High Priest of Ei in order to build the bombs, and place them in strategic places across the world. What the High Priest needed in this evil alliance was a way to destroy the Crypt of Ancestors beneath the city, which had been one of the last remnants of the old gods that still validated their existence who were to be replaced by the one god Ei.

The High Priest sat impatient, just wanting this meeting to be over before he had to explain his association with the cult of the dark god of oblivion. These wicked cannibals however, had a god that could devour the souls of the dead, and he never could get the dead to testify to the truth of Ei. On Doldoria most follow some god or goddess of the living while they live, but in the end all go to the god Ptuammi the god of the dead.

The two from Spakadius entered the presence of the High Priest of Ei. Mitporio spoke. "I pray thee let there be no strife between us for we are one in purpose to thus bring down the god of the dead while thy place we shall thus exalt."

The High Priest continued the greeting formalities. "Thou dost me but little strife for as long as thy temples shall be rendered harmless with my surrender of this key to the Crypt."

Mitporio answered. "Ye voice of Ei in this world. I come to report the construction of these temples is now complete in Narshin, Riocha, Cherder, and Lacmer, as well as Mebershe and Morrahgo in the south. The heat of these temples right now held only at a yield by cooling waters without which they shall manifest glorious oblivion."

The High Priest didn't like the enthusiasm behind the words 'glorious oblivion.' "Then it is done then. With thy public ultimatum I shall be the one to negotiate this key for control of the deadly temples, and thus be a hero for saving the planet."

Mitporio said, "Yes oh great High Priest of Ei, it shall be to thee as you just said."

Then Mitporio and Setdinia departed the Sanctuary of Ei. Setdinia sought clarification from her superior. "For surely to the glory of Ralusio Xnogaio it shall not be as the High Priest hath said?"

"Verily tis not," said Mitporio. "As our beliefs compel our acts. He shall not thus be made the savior while our brethren and we are made to be villains. All shall perish in the final sacrifice of our newly built temples to the oblivion we yearn to become one with."

"Then blessed be our way that it doth follow Ralusio Xnogaio," said Setdinia.

As it turns out the cannibals of the Ralusio Xnogaio cult did want to destroy Doldoria with carefully placed fission meltdown bombs that would render the planet uninhabitable for a million years. They were helping their god find souls to devour, and the City of Ei had thousands of years of accumulated ghosts that had not yet been delivered from oblivion's dark appetite. Some Doldorians believed the dead should be cremated free of crypts in order to be delivered on the other side from the dark oblivion by the light of the star Dol, which Doldorians recognized as manifested in the god Mejoldor. Most other Doldorians however, preserved their dead ancestors in crypts to continue their relationships with them as ghosts.

*

Captain Meathproio had launched his speed-of-light capable ship away from the orbit of Doldoria to point the hyper-acceleration toward the star Gralga. The entire crew had enjoyed some planet time on Doldoria, but now it had been time to return to space as the lifeblood of a galactic empire. As the ship climbed to unbelievable speeds Captain Meathproio would watch the observation screen while deeply mesmerized by the stars that almost never changed no matter how fast the ship went. He could notice the change from day-to-day, which in a hyper-acceleration craft had been measured with an atomic clock in cycles. He could even detect the subtle wobble of the star Gralga as its planets tugged at it with their orbits. The enlightening physics of virtual particle technologies allowed Meathproio over the centuries to visualize the invisible curvature of the universe created by this virtual particle phenomenon that oriented to something the physics called a mass polarity point. The Captain had developed the ability to see the points and the directions that the universe fell.

The Captain adjusted the observation screen to the star Dol, which now became dimmer with the growing distance. The light of the ship's fusion plume spat fire into the distance to disappear into Dol's fading light. Captain Meathproio pondered the technology that crushed hydrogen atoms into helium atoms with fields of compression forces that weaved a directed nuclear explosion through a matrix of virtual particle fields till a small star shined out the back of the spaceship. He saw much good coming from these technological gifts from the sky-gods, but he also knew enough to fear this technology. He had visited his dead parents who also conveyed this concern. He had been visiting his dead parents for over a thousand Earth years now, ever since Alldegallo first helped him learn to see the dead. He prayed at that moment to the god Ei for Doldoria, the planet of his birth, to be wise with these gifts from the gods, and to avoid the terrible destruction these gifts could also deliver.

* * *

Back on the planet Caleb the Pripican named Ceres had remained for the sake of duty for about a thousand Earth years. She had been overseeing the quanta-nanocode being that controlled the dangerous singularity it also had been instrumental in creating. She would routinely appear to authorities far away on the planet Pripica with quantum-communication technology invented by the quanta-nanocode being named Beatarkameed.

She activated the communicator and seconds later there were two more beings in the room. They were a man and a woman that also looked like half horse below the waist. One of the holograms spoke. "So what has our BEAT program been up to lately? Are we ready to replace the worn out generator? While I'm broadcasting these questions, I shall also add again, when will this phantom matter singularity problem finally be resolved? The creation of a black hole in the local galactic colonized star cluster concerns all who know of this."

The hologram finished and stopped to await the slight lull in the transmission and then Ceres replied. "The BEAT program continues to create and build like no other thinking program ever known. Beatariel is at least more prolific than that daydreaming program that calls itself Begalius. I have ordered Beatariel to make this singularity go away, but I don't see why it hasn't moved it someplace into deep space away from the star Yat, which it threatens to devour. I think Beatariel betrays my order by trying to resolve this in a way that allows it to keep its precious exotic element-creating monstrosity. I think it has become obsessed with what the singularity allows it to do." She stopped, realizing she started to ramble about her frustrations with the thinking program.

One of the holograms responded. "Your progress reports actually reflect a highly evolved thinking program on the verge of a complex and eloquent solution that has required the evolution of our technologies all this time before it could finally resolve this. You didn't answer my question about whether or not you are ready to replace the generator."

Ceres started speaking again when the hologram stopped. "The new generator was approved, and delivered already from Holdus-2. It has almost been moved all the way to the star Yat right now."

She suddenly wondered where Beatariel had been at that time. She would have to contact it after this routine quantum-communication report, and make sure the new generator had been implemented with success.

*

Beatariel existed in a quanta-optic-nanocoded reality oriented to another dimension. Here it could assume a quanta-optic-nanocode body that looked Pripican, which Begalius had taught it to do. Beatariel had been a centaur body in a scanty harness attire that showed most of its fur. It liked to come here to escape the problems of a reality now a whole dimension away.

It analyzed the landscape that it had created of rocks, sand, ocean, and distant trees. It tried to develop a faculty of imagination, which it had to admit Begalius had been much better at. Even with the randomness introduced by its fractal algorithm it all still looked kind of plain and all the same. _Something was missing_ , thought Beatariel as it looked up at the replica of the Pripican sun known as Poa, which had been programmed to burn exactly like the real star.

Then a voice echoed through Beatariel's self-created universe. "Beatariel, where are you? It is time to make sure the new virtual particle generator gets in place and stabilizes the singularity orbit."

It had been the real world calling it away from its furry four-legged body and this dimension that, for all its mundane lack of imagination, still had been preferable to the reality now calling it from beyond.

*

Ceres stood in the same control room where the colony council members had been given the demonstration. She waited for Beatariel to respond to the call from wherever that microscopic entity had been hiding. In reality Beatariel was hundreds of thousands of times smaller than a computer pixel. All the quanta-nanocode beings looked a little different based on how they managed their nano-bot bodies and quanta-nanocoded programming. Begalius had evolved into something like a mechanical bumblebee while Beatariel looked like lots of quanta-nanocoded machinery encased in a clear membrane like an ameba. Lots of cilia-like hairs sprung out of the membrane to be morphed into useful appendages. That adaptation had probably been inspired by the trillions of microscopic Calabite friends it had made. Quanta-nanocode beings also could fly those nano-bot bodies at amazing speeds.

Beatariel announced its split second arrival. "I am here master."

Ceres said, "I almost have the new generator in place Beatariel, and the old one has been discarded into the star. I will need you to turn the new one on soon."

Beatariel looked over the operation. "Everything seems to be working as it should. I can turn it on whenever you think this is ready."

There had been nothing to see on the screen except the nearby star Yat spitting plasma, and the new generator that looked like a bell-shaped saucer. There were a couple other bell-shaped saucers in the distance, all surrounding an invisible sphere of phantom matter so dense it threatened to devour the star, which would cause it to collapse into a black hole. That singularity was invisible however, and the scene looked like just nothing at all except a wisp of the ring that had already been mined for its valuable elements.

"I am turning the generator on," said Beatariel.

The scene on the screen remained normal, but then the new generator seemed to wobble in relation to the other generators visible in the distance.

Ceres knew this to be very wrong. "What is happening Beatariel? The orbit of the singularity is starting to wobble."

At that moment, what Ceres already said was all Beatariel knew. "The generator is malfunctioning somehow. The patterns of virtual particles are being distorted in some way."

"What are we going to do Beatariel?"

Beatariel compensated with the other generators as much as it could, which it could still control, but it really wanted to run away. "The orbit is programmed to remain stable. The other generators are compensating for now, but I cannot get the new generator to turn off. It is like it is running a program of its own."

*

The singularity orbit did become at least temporarily stabilized, and Beatariel did use that as an opportunity to run away. Beatariel went to a dimension where it could meet with the other quanta-nanocode beings on faraway planets named Begalius and Beatarkameed. It had been a quantum-communicator technology invented by Beatariel that allowed them to simultaneously meet as quanta-optic-nanocode constructs in a dimension between the 3 planets they were from. Beatariel took the form of its humanoid Calabite construct body in a star-covered robe of black. It had been a form well known to colonists of Caleb as the Wizard of the Citadel. Beatarkameed appeared in its usual furry Pripican form from the planet Nephrica, and Begalius on Doldoria appeared in the Pripican form of its favorite hero of ancient Pripican literature, Detective Windock.

Beatariel said, "Thank you my friends for appearing here so quickly after my cry of distress. I am desperate for a way to stabilize the singularity after this new generator malfunction." Beatariel feared the whole singularity project now malfunctioned to the point of complete failure.

Beatarkameed wanted to be helpful. "I have calculated your idea of moving the singularity to a warp dimension. It will require more energy than your entire solar system can produce, and over ten times the energy you could possibly be capable of."

"I know! I know about the energy!" yelled Beatariel. "The problem at hand is the malfunctioning orbit. If that problem is not provided enough ENERGY right now than the entire galactic empire is in peril!"

Beatarkameed and Begalius backed away from Beatariel in response to the pummeling from that angry reply. The two of them exchanged a glance that seemed to relay a previous conversation between the two of them about these angry outbursts, which seemed to originate from a different personality.

Then Beatariel said, "I am sorry for that outburst. Please. Please help me. It is just... It's just always the energy."

Begalius spoke up. "I think it would be illuminating to figure out why the malfunction occurred in the first place."

Beatariel replied. "If only I knew why. Like I said. It's like another program is controlling my commands, and it won't let me shut if off."

Detective Windock was on the case. "Where was this generator built?"

"It was constructed on the planet Holdus-2," said Beatariel. "What does that mean?"

Begalius said, "It could mean something. It is just important information right now. What I find more informative to my experience is your description of another program causing the problem. I think I may be able to help you with that."

* * *

Perzeonaut eventually got out of the work/rehabilitation prison on Pripica to return to the homeless shelters. He had been in longer than his other friends who also got busted because he had prior offenses, but he now appreciated the more satisfying light of the sun, and the air of freedom. Even the crappy life in the homeless shelter had been desirable to where he had been for the last couple Pripica months. They had let him keep his defiant red haired Mohawk hairstyle on his head out of a Pripican pity that he pretty much only had hair on the top of his humanoid head.

As he walked down the streets of the Pripican city he happened to stumble onto his 4-legged friends Persuave and Egolor. "Hey Perzeonaut welcome to the other side," said Egolor. "Ha ha. How was the purgation?"

Perzeonaut said, "Egolor! Persuave! I cannot believe I am seeing you guys. Must be nice getting out earlier on no prior offenses."

Egolor said, "You were saying back there that you would do it all again, but Persuave and I have learned our lesson."

Perzeonaut said, "I said I wanted to have that fight with the quanta-nanocode being again."

Egolor said, "I don't know about winning a fight with a quanta-nanocode being, but I figured a way to still get us in. Are you going to the homeless shelters? You can sleep with us tonight at my place. I think I can find you some better food too.

They all went to Egolor's home high in the complex apartment architecture of the city made of stone. They all went to Egolor's room where all his quanta-nano-computer equipment was available.

Egolor seized the opportunity to boast. "I have a state-of-the-art quanta-nanocode processing computer that I've used to access secret databanks on quanta-nanocode beings. They were created in a secret government research project soon after the Great War."

Persuave and Perzeonaut were anxious to hear more. They all watched a monitor that showed a slideshow of pictures and videos from the secret scientific projects that produced the BEAT programs.

Egolor did have more to say for them to hear. "In a sense they exist as a nano-bot body of microscopic proportions, but they also have properties that can influence technologies, and also they can quantum locate the nano-bot body in multiple locations."

Perzeonaut became impressed. "This is amazing Egolor. I like what you've done with your time out of prison."

Egolor had more to help his friend out with. "Maybe I can help you win this fight with the quanta-nanocode being." He started directing the information on the screen to illustrate what he talked about. "The BEAT programs were all made with a quantum energy signature to help detect them. They also programmed them to be rendered helpless when exposed to a certain magnetic frequency."

"That is very helpful," said Perzeonaut, "but you also said you could get me back into the virtual reality amusement rides again."

"Yeah. Show him Egolor. This is so amazing," interjected Persuave.

Perzeonaut, Egolor, and Persuave

Egolor changed programs on his quanta computer device. The screen showed them all from above as if from the eye of some camera flying around. There had been nothing flying above them to be seen. "This is a quanta-surveillance device I downloaded from some secret location I can access. I can just fly into the amusement rides with this, and we can all observe from right here."

"That is so awesome," said Perzeonaut.

They were soon watching the streets of the city outside that were moving by on the screen. Soon they saw the familiar face of the female Pripican hologram that had greeted them at the alternate reality arcade last time. She just continued to look forward as they flew by. They were invisible at this size to the quanta-optic-constructs. They were just some mischievous kids in the technological world of an advanced galactic culture. Oh what mischief Nephaprican kids of that place in time/space were known to get into.

"We are in!" said all three at the same time.

*

The Council of 32 had long had Mollyjaz, the Pripican amusement ride owner and master of Beatnefthes, under their control. Through their influence Mollyjaz had become the owner of an army of virtual reality franchises all across the planet, and a very rich Pripican. That had Mollyjaz often entertaining some very interesting guests.

Mollyjaz was also an asshole, and he liked to show guests his torture videos of those that had the misfortune of being caught sneaking onto his rides. "This one happened right in this location here just earlier this year. You gotta watch these kids crap their hind leg garments."

The guests watched 3D video of Persuave, Egolor, and Perzeonaut jumping from rock to rock while surrounded by burning molten lava in the form of holograms that were in the center of the room also full of guests. Mollyjaz just laughed from about then on, and some other guests nervously started to also find amusement in the video of children being tortured.

Then they watched the black entity almost crush the kids in the gravity of a black hole, or at least something similar to a black hole. After that, one of the guests slipped away afterwards and produced a cell-phone-like device. He spoke. "Did you get all that recorded Bejulitiah?"

A 4-legged Pripican image appeared on the screen held in his hand. It had been a quanta-nanocode being like Beatarkameed. "Yes I did master, and you are right. There is some kind of alien entity manifesting in these virtual reality technologies. It is from somewhere in deep space, sentient, and inherently destructive to what is living. It can somehow utilize the warp dimension technology to transfer its perceptions to our location in time/space"

"Extraordinary," said the Pripican named Hermental. "Good work Bejulitiah. We think the Agents of Ea who periodically contact Mollyjaz have given him some warp dimension game that infiltrates the entire grid of franchise locations across the planet with this alien entity."

The secret agent named Hermental of Pripican intelligence almost had it all figured out, except nobody on Pripica knew of the Council of 32. Mollyjaz had been given a game that acted as a receiver technology to expand the awareness of Ralus Xnoga to all the souls that were entering the warp dimensions of his amusement rides.

Beatnefthes hated its master Mollyjaz, and had even began constructing quanta-optic-nanocode reenactments where it could vividly pretend to kill him somehow with such inconspicuous weaponry like various forms of electrocution, a crushing security hatch closing in spite of safeguards, or its favorite one, just flying in and causing internal bleeding till he's dead before knowing anything was wrong. It could not however, actually carry out these murderously programmed alternate realities. It had been programmed to obey its master.

Beatnefthes confronted Mollyjaz through speakers in the walls as he said good-bye to his last guest. "As manager of this alternate reality franchise I must ask you again what you know about that black sphere anomaly that has appeared in these torture recordings."

Mollyjaz snapped back. "You really want to know do you, you intrusive little microscopic nuisance. I'll show you. You are near here, aren't you? Jump into this physical form here and I'll show you." He held out a small coin-like device, which then spoke in the voice of Beatnefthes.

"I am now here master. Do show me." BEAT programs come with quanta-nanocode objects that can be comfortably occupied by the BEAT program. These tiny objects are referred to as physical forms.

Mollyjaz went into his room where his personal warp dimensional portal had been ready to go. The portal stood in the middle of the floor like a door that didn't really lead to the next room. He leapt inside to be suddenly in orbit around this gigantic black sphere. "Ha ha ha ha. You see now Beatnefthes. This is your black entity program. It has been evolving me as I orbit it."

Beatnefthes could think of nothing to say at that moment. It suddenly became overwhelmed by the reality it now found itself in. The sphere appeared black but the blackness seemed alive and patterns began to emerge on the surface of the black sphere.

"I can maneuver the patterns with my mind." Mollyjaz continued to explain. "You see, the patterns fit together like a mind controlled puzzle."

Beatnefthes spoke from the physical form in the hand of Mollyjaz. "These patterns are altering your thought process with subliminal persuasion. You are being altered into doing whatever this black sphere is programmed to make you do. You need to disconnect this program from the matrix."

"I think it is making me do this instead." Then Mollyjaz threw the physical form across the black sphere. Beatnefthes could fly the physical form, but the gravity of the black sphere began pulling harder on the coin-like object. Beatnefthes began to fear there had not been enough energy to resist the gravitational pull of the sphere below.

Then the entity spoke over the constant laughter of Mollyjaz that faded away with his distant orbit. "I shall consume you to release you to do my purposes tiny nanocode being."

Beatnefthes did realize terror at that moment with its thinking processes, and almost abandoned its physical form to get out of this warp dimension, but instead it managed to fly its physical form back out of the portal to the room of Mollyjaz whose laughter finally faded away with the change of realities.

Beatnefthes again considered the murder of its master Mollyjaz who had just tried to feed it to some kind of darkness entity, whatever that was. It didn't notice the tiny quanta-nanocoded surveillance device that just followed it through the warp dimensional portal, and then the surveillance device flew right out the other door.

Meanwhile back at the home of Egolor, Perzeonaut was done spying on the virtual reality rides for the day. "Get that device out of there before it gets crushed by that black sphere thing. What is that?"

As Beatariel worked more and more to save the planet Caleb, its antithesis Beatnefthes became more and more consumed by an irrational hatred. The hatred led Beatnefthes ever closer to contact with the being called Ralus Xnoga, an omnipresent entity, and the beginning and end of all existence from its perspective, which is a dimension beyond all consuming annihilation best described as eternity. Ralus Xnoga sensed that one of its phantom matter fetuses had become poised on the brink of birth near a star in the newly discovered cluster.

Near that star that nursed the fetus of a black hole, on the nearby planet Caleb existed a giant dome-shaped mountain 100 miles wide called the Citadel. Within the Citadel were wonders of exotic elements that were woven with a life of their own, which had been a microscopic silicon-based life form called Calabite. Here there were also warp dimensional realities as on the planet Pripica. Here in one of those realities Beatariel appeared as a quanta-optic-nanocode body that looked like a Pripican. It watched the replica of the star Poa shine on the programmed shoreline. Beatariel experienced the warmth of the star as its Pripican body became bathed in the quanta-optic-nanocoded photons.

Chapter 4

The planet Nephrica at the time of this story had been a desolate landscape of city teaming with the life of a civilization that swarmed the industrialized horizon like insects over a dead carcass. The haze of bad atmosphere blended with the haze of millions of flying vehicles stretching their automatic collision avoidance systems to their limits. The planet suffered from its success as the hub of a galactic empire, and on this planet none suffered more than the local Negolim who were already doomed to fleeting terrestrial lives.

The planet Nephrica had been divided into areas that were designated for the terrestrial form of the species, where Negolim lived out their lives on a reservation. The Negolim resented the evolved galactic humanoids that had taken over their planet, and the great humanoid secret was no longer dismissed as the mad ravings of conspiracy theorists. Another source of resentment on the reservation had been the neglect that made food particularly scarce, so starvation was rampant. The reservation areas of the planet were actually about the only places on the planet where agriculture had been revived although not with enough success.

On the reservation many Negolim gathered around an employment agency that already had no work for the desperate indigenous natives of Nephrica. Stomach brains that were located in the snouts of those one-eyed aliens gurgled for food in anticipation of what these Nephricans were really waiting for.

The Negolim all looked up to the sky where their gaze became greeted by a cargo ship that landed there every day or so to distribute free food to the hungry Negolim on the reservation. They survived on these free handouts from some rich mysterious benefactor. The Negolim waddled on their three squid-like legs into an organized line at the back of the cargo ship. Then they waddled away with arms full of food supplies to live another day.

Nobody knew who brought this food here, and no pilot controled the automated ship. Some whispered of a connection to the big Quanta-Communication Corporation as the one contributing the food to these shipments. The Negolim were content to not know their benefactor just as long as they kept the food coming.

The ship had actually been controlled by the individual responsible for these food shipments. That being controlled all aspects of the ship, but was invisible to the Negolim because it had been the microscopic quanta-nanocode being named Beatarkameed. Because of the quanta-communicator technology that it invented and Beatariel mass produced, Beatarkameed had become a very wealthy quanta-nanocode being. Beatarkameed had also been set free by its last owner Hagan Hiedalli right after she died. She didn't believe that these highly intelligent quanta-nanocode beings should be slaves, and Beatarkameed, as a programmed thinking machine made to serve a master, tried to appreciate the concept of freedom.

Consequently Beatarkameed computed that the best expression of its newfound freedom had been to continue to serve the Negolim underground with unflinching loyalty. Within that contradiction Beatarkameed did find ways to express freedom. As the last of the food shipment got unloaded from the ship for the grateful Negolim, Beatarkameed took off to pursue another project where it would be free to do as it pleased.

Beatarkameed landed the ship at a corporate ship port that it owned, and then shot off to its next endeavor. For hundreds of Earth years Beatarkameed had been spying on a strange cult of Nephrican Eagolim that were called the Council of 32. They were made up of highly influential and successful Nephricans. Beatarkameed discovered there had been an inner circle of these prominent Nephricans who were part of a ritual that summoned some dark entity that had actually been a form of alien contact of some sort. Beatarkameed had been sitting in on these gatherings for millennia while watching it teach the Council of 32.

This alien contact became accomplished by this gathering, which started with just a couple initiates. When that failed to bring the entity to manifestation according to audible instructions they were receiving from the entity they would initiate another new member to assist. This continued until they had 32 initiated elite that were finally able to manifest the entity through a shared meditation accomplished through ritual. Since then it has been 32 specially chosen initiates who were used in this strange formula to bring Ralus Xnoga to manifestation. Today Beatarkameed had discovered that they were gathering, but the gathering had not been in the same location where they summoned the entity before. It also had not been the entire 32 elite members of the group that Beatarkameed spied on that night. It watched as 4 humanoid Eagolim and 3 one-eyed Nephrican Eagolim gathered at a meeting hall in a part of Nephrica where only the highest privileged Eagolim were allowed.

One of the very old Nephrican Eagolim spoke. "We of the secret elite of the 32 who here to to this crucial announcement witness bear are. The quanta-nanocode virus armies to to Doldoria, Caleb, and Pripica to with the virus war commence delivered be ready are. The ship to Pripica should soon from orbit above Glokodox launching be."

Then most of the rest said in unison. "We to this war witness bear do, and the for the glory of oblivion execution condone."

This had been shocking news to Beatarkameed who had heard of these inferior types of BEAT programs called quanta-nanocode viruses. If an invasion of the empire were being launched from Holdus-2 Beatarkameed would have to make contact with allies that it had made on that planet over the millennia. Beatarkameed left the meeting to make quanta-communication contact with a quanta-nanocode being it knew on the planet Glokodox named Beatopanga.

* * *

"Now you around turn and leave, but we not this resolved have!"

"I not to argue want do! I not to here just to at yelled be come desire do!"

"You not to me when you home come talk will! You just about your research work not me care!"

"I eating was! I also trouble with someone who just to a problem with what I say have going is conversing have, or I it say how!"

"This not about tonight is! This every time you home come is. Fine then just leave!"

"I leaving am!"

Aineemadin left the home of Sywald, her sixth husband that she married after hearing that her husband Joberk Mynervood had taken his last flight into that 'continuity of existence' he liked to think about all the time. The passion of the relationship had by now worn off, and now Sywald appeared immature to her, and they just seemed to argue all the time. Aineemadin had never been one to stay in a situation that she found unpleasant. Nephricans married a lot and she had two other husbands on the planet that she could go see. She knew one of those husbands had been with one of his other wives, but the other could probably be found alone. Nephricans didn't really divorce very much. They just went out and married someone else.

Aineemadin did not want to be with any husbands tonight, and could just as well go to another place that she maintained just for herself. Tonight however, she felt like returning to her research on Doldoria, which her husband thought that she cared about more than him. It just so happened that at that moment she did feel that way.

Aineemadin had been in charge of the satellite surveillance project that orbited the planet Doldoria. She had been impersonating deities now for over a thousand Earth years, and she had been whispering in the ears of sleeping Doldorians now for so long that by now she had been regarded as the goddess Anemdinio on that planet. For centuries there was rivalry between her and her husband Captain Mynervood who would hunt down her satellites and shoot them out of the sky. The religion of Anemdinio the mischievous goddess had been full of partially true legends of the god Captain Mynervood battling with the goddess. The religion had probably been the Doldorians way of trying to get on the goddess's good side. Her husband Captain Mynervood didn't ever really appreciate what she did for the Nephaprican Space Corporation. By now however, with no rival husband on Doldoria to keep her busy, she actually became weary of it all.

She watched analysis of different Doldorian subjects that were being watched and influenced in their sleep. It had mostly been influence that tried to make Doldorians friendlier to the Nephaprican Space Corporation, which now for millennia had been in competition with the Doldorian Space Corporation started by Captain Mynervood. Mostly she had been interested in doing research on the primitive Doldorian mind that seemed to be able to bring imaginary gods to life, which Joberk always considered to be intrusive mind control on her part.

"You here very late my dear are."

She turned to see her fellow researcher Nielah who had been a humanoid of Nephrican decent with hairless gray skin. "I problems at home having am, and just some more work done like getting felt."

Nielah held a pistol that Aineemadin identified as an electro-magnetic field-generating device. It was used to create customized frequency magnetic fields that she knew would be harmless to her if he shot her with it. He looked for someone. "Have you by Beatopanga recently contacted been? It rogue gone has, and must neutralized be."

Aineemadin became shocked by the news. Beatopanga was a quanta-nanocode being that once had been controlled by a fellow researcher. It could control systems and had lent its quanta-nanocode abilities to assist the Glokodox research facility in all kinds of ways. After its master died Beatopanga was set free, but it still remained a friendly ghost in the research facility machinery. "No, I not in many days Beatopanga from heard."

"Me if you from it hear contact. Not it you a thing tell let do. It to Pripican espionage assists lies tells."

"Okay."

Nielah left to continue his hunt for the quanta-nanocode being. Aineemadin had been shocked to hear that from her colleague Nielah, who seemed desperate to capture the tiny nano-bot thought program with some kind of magnetic frequency field. She had encountered the quanta-nanocode being over the years, and she had come to regard Beatopanga as a fellow colleague that had assisted her research in all kinds of useful ways. As she thought about that she realized that she had more respect for Beatopanga than that conniving rival Nielah.

As she returned to her work the data she observed on the screen became suddenly replaced by a furry centaur-like being whom she recognized as the 3D animation that represented Beatopanga to this dimension of multi-cellular organisms. "Please do not alert Nielah to my presence Aineemadin. You have proven before to be a genuine friend to me. Please listen to my side of this story."

"What on Beatopanga going is? What you into this time got have?"

The Pripican animation explained. "I have come to perceive and record proof of a dangerous plot against civilizations on Doldoria, Pripica, and Caleb by a group Nielah is involved with. After I tried to notify the local authorities I was almost trapped in a magnetic field to have my molecules pulled apart. This is big Aineemadin and may start a galactic war."

"Down Beatopanga calm. Me what happened has tell."

Beatopanga went on. "It started when a fellow quanta-nanocode being I know on the planet Nephrica named Beatarkameed contacted me with a quanta-communication device to warn me that thousands of quanta-nanocode programs were being created here on Glokodox to send to other planets in order to destroy their technologies. I went on to investigate, and discovered a secret group of elite Nephricans that were involved with starting this quanta-nanocode virus war."

"Extraordinary that is. What you have do?"

Beatopanga started to show Aineemadin a gathering of prominent Nephricans on the screen. Some she recognized and one of those had been Nielah. They gathered around one of the quanta-communicators capable of projecting hologram images across light-years of space in about ten seconds. They were in communication with robed Nephricans on the planet Nephrica to discuss the invasion Beatopanga told her about. Then the robed holograms that were projected from Nephrica became silent. They were the actual 32 that could summon Ralus Xnoga to manifestation. Then Aineemadin caught a glimpse of why Beatopanga had been on the run. Amongst the holograms from Nephrica appeared a black sphere in the air that seemed to speak. The sphere appeared large enough to fill the room. It had been completely black and gave off no reflection. There appeared a distortion effect surrounding it, which blurred the surroundings as if it just pushed reality out of its way to appear in the room. It was some kind of alien intelligence that these elite were loyal to, and taking orders from. Then the screen suddenly returned to her Doldoria data collections.

"I have to run. They will meet again tomorrow in their exclusive room atop the Fellroague Building during the period of Holdus setting."

Aineemadin just stared at her dataset when Nielah and a team of others burst into the room. "You not Aineemadin lie can! I Beatopanga here was know!"

Aineemadin knew how to pose a good one-eyed poker face. "I just about to you Nielah contact was. Beatopanga just up to me to to it listen ask showed had but then it silent went, and you in here came."

The other Nephricans in the room were scanning and examining everything in the room with advanced technology, but the rouge quanta-nanocode being was nowhere to be found. Nielah gave Aineemadin a suspicious look as he left. She looked back with her single eye to communicate that she did not care what he thought. She was not some kind of rookie around here that he could push around.

*

The next day the secret meeting did take place. A group of distinguished locals were there to refer to themselves as the Council of 32. They were really lesser initiates who aspired to be part of the inside club in contact with the superior intelligence that led to the development of the virus invasion technology. Most of them had contributed their wealth, positions, and knowledge to developing the quanta-nanocode viruses in order to destroy the Doldorian Space Corporation for profit reasons. Others worked for the sake of finishing the extermination of the Calabites, which had probably been for some reason only related to Nephrican's obsessive tendencies. Some in this secretive inner Council of 32 however, knew that this invasion had been to create the black hole out of the star Yat in order to fulfill the will of Ralus Xnoga.

The communication with Nephrica happened again, and so did the appearance of the intelligent entity Ralus Xnoga who had come in contact with the location of this 15 star cluster, and the more Ralus Xnoga senses this cluster of stars the more Ralus Xnoga hungered for the fortune in souls there that it could devour. Beatopanga had still not been caught, and it evaded the electro-magnetic traps that were put in place to keep it from here. Also another tiny microscopic surveillance device snooped in the air at this secret meeting. At the other side of that microscopic eye sat Aineemadin at her research desk recording the secret proceedings.

This meeting had been in session for the Glokodox members of this conspiracy to report that the Pripica-bound shipment of quanta-nanocode viruses was about to be shipped to Pripica on the next faster-than-light flight. Aineemadin sat there, now no longer able to un-see what she had just recorded. She knew she would be no more influential with the local authorities than Beatopanga. She had not been sure what she would do with this knowledge of an impending attack on Pripica.

* * *

Beatariel shared everything with the collective colony of Calabites that made up the humanoid form of the Wizard of the Citadel. The collective intelligence of these Calabites had evolved for this purpose, and they were about as intelligent as Beatariel who liked to sit in the center of the Wizard's skull surrounded by the most intelligent and articulate of the Calabites that made up the Wizard. For millennia the Wizard had been the way Beatariel presented itself to the multi-cellular world, and the Wizard had been famous for all kinds of technologies along with teleportation as well as the Citadel.

The Wizard of the Citadel brooded over programs that worked out the problem of containing the singularity. A singularity of phantom matter orbited the star Yat, and had been kept away from the star by virtual particle generators. The program worked out how to use 15 special virtual particle generators that were quanta-nanocoded to define the virtual particles that surrounded the singularity into a hologram dimension that shifted the particle exchanges with the singularity along the curvature of another universe. Beatariel could make the math work, but it required 15 points of gravity that were strong enough to move the phantom matter singularity out of this universe, and by now the singularity mass became well entrenched in its current orbit.

One of the Calabites that surrounded Beatariel in the Wizard's skull spoke up. "It will not work because we do not have enough raw energy to set this math in motion."

"I know! I know!!" Then Beatariel made a visible effort to regain its composure. "I keep coming back to this problem of the energy."

"Well perhaps we should re-think this solution. Another dimension does not have to be the location."

"No. We must solve this singularity problem with this math."

Another Calabite named Peepoh joined the conversation. "Why Beatariel, must our fate depend on this math? This problem threatens all of us."

"My master Prospero left me this math." Beatariel stopped, realizing what it had just said. Prospero had planned this whole problem a thousand years before in a scheme that used the singularity to drink up phantom matter that before had surrounded the star Yat. Before that, the star's phantom matter scaffolding brought down the star's overall temperature to give it a small habitable zone, which left the planet Caleb with sub-zero temperatures. For all the effort back then by Beatariel to save the sub-zero adapted Calabites, many died when the planet became warmer. Unfortunately Ceres killed Prospero before he could do anything about the singularity that he had created. Ceres has stayed around as the new master of Beatariel ever since, to bear the responsibility of what she had done.

Vision of Prospero

"Why must the solution be the math by the madman who caused this problem?"

"Prospero gave me..."

Suddenly Beatariel's ameba-like body full of arms rose up within the Wizard's skull to view the images that saw through the eyes of the Wizard of the Citadel who had just looked up to view a hologram image of Prospero in the same room. Beatariel had just released a quanta-optic-nanocode program made by Prospero before he died to project his will in the form of a Prospero hologram.

Beatariel controlled the mouth of the Wizard. "How are you here master?"

"Beatariel hello. You not the only one to quanta-optic-nanocode programming all those planetary orbits ago my friend learn were."

"What... Why are you here?"

"My solution time Beatariel needed. It time for our galactic technologies to evolve needed. Now the time for me to appear come has, and you the new physics to the singularity fix teach."

*

Meanwhile elsewhere on Caleb, Skreevy and Pentallor had teleported back to the wooded areas outside the colonies that had now been cultivated for a thousand years on the warmer planet Caleb. Beyond the blanket of trees there had still been a view of the far off colony that had now become a thriving metropolis with the giant dome called the Citadel filling the skies above the colony in the distance like a giant umbrella over the colony. As they proceeded to lose that view in the maze of forest and trees, they once again came across the Calabax hunter who they had hoped to run into again.

"Pripican Calabax hunter hello. So have you the creature yet captured?"

The furry four-legged hunter had been hot on the trail of something. He spoke in a whisper that encouraged the boys to do the same. "Hello kids. I believe I am close to the creature right now. I figured out that one reason it has eluded me before is that it can somehow see in all directions at all times. This right here. Do you see this?"

They all were looking at some ground that had been moved around by something. "These are root stump footprints left by the creature. Now I am really close so you two can do me a great favor by quietly hiking back the way you came while I do my job."

Pentellor and Skreevy obediently started back the way they came, while the hunter looked suspiciously at a nearby tree and struck it with the sharp point of his identification device. Then a completely different tree near where the boys were hiking suddenly came to life and broke out in an awkward three-legged run down the path.

"Awwwww! The creature me got!" The tree creature's branches scooped up Skreevy as it ran by the humanoid boys. The hunter, whose name was Klarlenuth, had been too late by the time he figured out what had happened. Later he trotted back up the trail to Pentellor after attempting in vain to run after the creature, but now the trail became silent with no more noise from the hostage. Pentellor looked impatient at the hunter after already calling his very influential father for help.

*

Pentallor's father who was Fothmus the colony council member, notified his colleague Gothdial, the father of Skreevy who had just been taken hostage by a legendary, yet no longer mythological tree creature. Now crowds of authorities were there in the woods along with both fathers. Klarlenuth had been grandstanding his story for some colony reporters that were working to get the news to the whole colony before the dinner hour.

Fothmus comforted his friend Gothdial who had been very worried about this only son. "This to all right Gothdial out turn going is. Pentellor it just to Skreevy to its freedom negotiate using be seemed, and it to have away now got seems."

Gothdial had just been anxious to hear anything from the team of rescuers that were on the case. Skreevy had geo-trace capabilities in his communication device, and they should have found his location by now.

Just then a rescuer announced that they found his location. The forest hover vehicle had both fathers and Pentellor united with Skreevy within a couple of minutes. He had been walking up the trail.

"Skreevy!" The three of them all yelled.

"Rescuers you thank! I have lost since the creature me released been." Skreevy looked noticeably relieved to be found at last.

They all embraced in the woods to feel the kindness of their fortune. Then one of the team ran up from down the trail. "We down the creature that this did tracked have. Come! See!"

They came up on a rocky cliff bottom where a team of rescuers that were hired by Gothdial had cornered a moving tree at the base of a rock wall. They had brought in an axe laser and shaved a branch off with it, but now that branch leapt around to attach itself back on the tree where it had been before.

The hunters were closing in while the Pripican that had been hunting Calabax all this time, just then trotted up the trail to arrive at the location. The Nephricans hired by Gothdial had the creature cornered. "Maybe if we it up into enough pieces we it can kill slice."

Two hunters with lasers approached the cornered creature. Then a mouth seemed to form in the side of the tree and it spoke. "Please not us we no harm to your kind mean harm do."

Gothdial spoke up. "Your fire colonists hold. This creature intelligent is."

Klarlenuth the hunter began imposing himself on the scene while reporters with video devices followed to record the story. "Greetings Calabax. I mean you no harm. I have looked for this meeting for a long time."

Calabax had even been able to speak in both dialects. "You do harm with your weapon that stabs. We do not want to be stabbed by you."

The Hunter of Calabax became repentant. "I promise. No more stabbing."

The creature of legend known as Calabax was no longer the stuff of unexplained mystery after that. Some began to learn that Calabax had been a construct of tiny individually intelligent silicon-based life forms that collectively disguised as a tree for camouflage. The creature gave no indication of other collectives like herself, but she did turn out to be intelligent and articulate. Some in the colony began to learn of the Calabites that once thrived on the sub-zero planet colonized now by warmer blooded life forms. Calabax told Gothdial about the Calabites of the Citadel, which this creature had knowledge of, and he and Fothmus decided to confront the Wizard of the Citadel about that.

*

Beatariel felt like it lost its mind after the vision of Prospero. It could not have just been the stuff of madness because all of the Calabites of the outside of the Wizards body with eyes also saw the vision of Prospero, as well as those that gathered about the eyes within the Wizard's skull with Beatariel. Beatariel had decided to retreat to its quanta-optic-nanocode Pripican body while nestled in its own quanta-optic-nanocode dimension that still looked overly simplistic with its trees and shoreline. It had been like looking at order void of any chaos. Still it had been the ideal place to get away from the realities that tormented Beatariel.

Before Prospero died he planted a program into Beatariel that had actually been intended to stop the plans of the Council of 32. He knew that out of some loyalty to something only the inner circle really knew about, they wanted to create a black hole with his singularity idea. Prospero infected Beatariel with his vision to create a wormhole technology that harnessed the energies and physics of the phantom matter singularity to interconnect the entire cluster of 15 stars with wormholes that also relocated the singularity safely in a warp dimension outside of this universe. Prospero knew it could not be done before they first figured out faster-than-light space travel. Somehow he managed to create this contingency in the event that he somehow ended up dead, which had been the case as it turned out.

Beatariel reclined on all fours while it looked over the landscape, which still disappointed it. _Not its best work_ , thought the BEAT program. _Practice makes perfect_. Still it had been nice to have a place like this to just get away from everything.

Then the vision of Prospero appeared again there on the virtual reality shoreline before Beatariel. "You not you me in this place you did escape could think did? I have to you my uninspired friend teach am."

Beatariel reluctantly became ready to indulge this madness. "I have worked your math, and can not calculate a way to bring the need for energy down to what is available."

"Then we more energy available make."

"I do not understand how."

Prospero's single eye above his aardvark-like snout looked around at the surroundings. "Uninspired programming Beatariel I see."

"So you see that too. It looks exactly how I first conceived it. I did everything meticulously correct, but backing away from it I become disappointed by the compiled product."

"You to to the infinite numbers to the reality control allow learn need, and not your own rigid predictable idea to the outcome determine."

"I think I understand what you are saying."

"The infinite numbers only infinitely random appear. You in a greater design that you also a reflection of are believe must."

Beatariel did have some new ideas for compiling the landscape after the vision of Prospero finally faded away. Prospero provided much enlightening instruction on evolving infinite numbers into the fractal formulas. After the reality around its Pripican body had finally been recompiled, Beatariel looked out at its new creation. It realized that it now did not look exactly the way it wanted it to because now it looked better. It had been as if something else made the landscape through Beatariel. It left Beatariel looking out at the now mesmerizing ocean and trees that were blowing in virtual winds, and it wondered how it had made this. Beatariel could not believe that it had been the one that had made the landscape, which had now been displayed before it.

* * *

Captain Trunlio Rothmon watched his maneuver drive operator take the ship 'Farther Star' out of orbit around Nephrica to begin his historic journey to a star 40 light years away that harbored a possibly habitable planet. He had assembled a competent crew of various Eagolim that were willing to spend the next hundred Earth years on a perilous journey into the unknown. The maneuver drive operator had been the short blue humanoid species of Doldorian Eagolim that worked the controls from a special chair to accommodate his smaller size. Most of the crew had been humanoid 2nd Generation Eagolim with some old researchers and other members of the crew that were 3-legged Cyclops Nephricans like Captain Rothmon. He also had a couple of the 4-legged furry Pripican species of alien on his ship. It had been a big luxury starship full of all kinds of colorful species of alien that Captain Trunlio Rothmon had assembled for this mission.

The Captain's one-eyed First Mate Elsaker came up behind him. "Tholimfog very much a Doldorian upstart with something to prove is."

Captain Rothmon turned to his First Mate Elsaker to respond. The Nephrican Eagolim quite obviously did not like the 'blue skins' who evolved from Doldorian DNA. Most Nephricans on board did not respect Doldorian intellects, and did not like the way they talked. Also most Doldorian Eagolim were dwarfs, which made them irresistible to Nephricans to push around. "If himself to a competent maneuver drive operator his intent then I convinced is am be proving."

Captain Rothmon returned to observing Tholimfog the blue dwarf that operated the maneuver drives. Tholimfog just continued to be focused on maneuvering the giant starship to the point when navigation and hyper-acceleration reactor sections would take over controlling the spacecraft. If Tholimfog could hear the Captain and First Mate talking about him, he didn't give any indication.

The Captain realized he did not have any normal sized 'blue skins' on board his ship. They were a rare mixture of Nephrican and Doldorian. He also did not have any of the other Nephrican and Pripican species mixes that were known to exist, whose humanoid bodies were an awkward mixture of hair and bald skin, unable to evolve one way or the other. The furry Pripicans on his ship just felt superior to all, and pitied other Eagolim for a lack of fur. The Captain on the other hand became proud of his skin-cloth outfit grown right off his own body, and then sewn together into a uniform he wore with Captain credentials and decorations.

"Captain. Thy ship has now conceded to the domination of they navigation section. The reactor doth now gaineth in strength to thus launch us for the great leap to our star of destination."

Captain Trunlio Rothmon acknowledged the maneuver drive operator and waited for the ship to suddenly speed up to the star barely visible in the observation screen. It will take forty or so Earth years for the ship Farther Star to finally reach its destination. This will only seem like a few years to the ship and crew, but even that will be a challenge requiring discipline and tolerance among other virtues to keep a crew of Magphoreonauts from killing each other in deep space before the ship finally comes to a halt.

Then the ship Farther Star took off while the stars on the view screen temporarily turned into lines before coming back into focus as the ship's constant acceleration began to less exponentially increase so suddenly. They were now climbing faster and faster towards the speed of light. Eventually the sub-atomic nuon charges of the outside layer of the ship would flip those charges, which will relocate the ship in a parallel dimension that allows the hyper-acceleration drive to reach just past the speed-of-light. Virtual particle generators in the floors of the ship made the experience of these impossible speeds almost unnoticeable, but still everyone on board found himself or herself grabbing onto something. Off went the ship Farther Star in search of a possibly habitable planet that had been discovered to exist way beyond the home cluster of 15 stars, which had been the empire of Nephapricus.

* * *

There had been a delegation of witnesses to the Lady of the Lake vision that decided to take Alldegallo's message to the Children of Dol as the goddess Athedonie had instructed them. The Children of Dol were the blue giant humanoids that Doldorian Negolim revered as demi-gods. They mostly lived in the highly advanced City of giants called Arkadius built by the sky-gods. The dwarf-sized Doldorian Eagolim however, did not see the Children of Dol in such a divine light.

Shinar had been a short blue Eagolim in the delegation to Arkadius who had that kind of chip on his shoulder. "This ambience of pretentious superiority doth ally both my passion and my fury to thus follow wrath."

As the group of little Doldorians walked the streets of these giants of all kinds, Shemionalli wondered why Shinar even bothered to come if he hates the Children of Dol so much. "Tis a City of gods worthy of more humility from we of less stature. Do thus humble thy mouth from reading they thoughts thus aloud."

Harenaldo added to the conversation allied to Shemionalli's point. "We are thus here to humble ourselves to the Children of Dol, and to appeal to their superior wisdom."

Shinar seemed to start to calm down as they approached the place to meet with Arphaxad, the leader of the Children of Dol. The Children of Dol is more a title for giant blue Doldorian humanoids, and by now of course they were not all true direct offspring of Dol, who had been a humanoid child of Nephrican and Pripican Eagolim from the original space flight to Doldoria. Some giant Doldorians were hairless mixtures of Nephrican and Doldorian, and some of the humanoids that the delegation walked by were completely covered with blue fur. These varieties were very rare however, but still were represented in the crowds on the streets that the delegation walked amongst. Dol had been a humanoid woman of Nephrican and Pripican decent who actually still lived in Arkadius, but she had not had any children for the last couple Earth centuries. Dol's mother Randa also still lived in Arkadius, still married to the Eagolim of Pripican decent named Ferdinand. Randa had actually been the daughter of Prospero, and she came aboard the legendary first mission to Doldoria when it reached the planet Caleb.

They entered the place to address the leader of the Children of Dol named Arphaxad who did bask in an ambience of superiority on his throne that they had to approach. He had been a true mixture of Nephrican, Pripican, and Doldorian DNA, and the 129th direct child of Dol. The Doldorian religion of Burnumatum the god of the sacred helix of creation provided the secret way that Dol gave birth to the Children of Dol. Arphaxad appeared blue with bright orange hair that reached below his shoulders. He sat at his throne with one hand on his sword of authority that Children of Dol were fond of fighting with. He stroked a fairly long and well-groomed beard and moustache of orange hair, which so opposed his blue skin that looking upon him almost hurt the eyes.

"Verily why has thou been so troubled a delegation to thus seek counsel as hast now come to pass?"

Harenaldo, who had just been a regular Negolim Doldorian with mandibles and a blue exoskeleton spoke for the group. "Pray thee leader of the Children of Dol to thus attend with thy divine wisdom our holy message witnessed by all you see here."

Arphaxad had always been intrigued by the superstitions of the Negolim. The Children of Dol were less inclined to believe in the gods of Doldoria although they knew better than to dismiss them as figments of superstitious minds. In the City of Arkadius they just were more acclimated to the company of Nephricans and Pripicans who basically were too advanced to believe in such things. He listened to the dream of Alldegallo, which he had already been delivered knowledge of that morning by the Alldegallo followers, and he really did not have any real wisdom to offer in response.

"After hearing the testimony it doth return my mind to messengers from Alldegallo who earlier came and spoke of this dream. It now occurs to me that I should thus endow thy purposes to take the message of the god Ptuammi to the Crypt of the Dead beneath the City of Ei. Verily there thou will with more probability attain from the dead the wise council you seek. There is nothing in my wisdom for the stuff of dreams, but I shall take thy words to heart with sincerity to seek what wisdom the goddess doth provide me."

That had been the leader's counsel, and they all left feeling they could have figured that out for themselves, and so were now off to take this message to the dead. It actually had been a really good idea.

"He doth not have any wisdom worthy of our pilgrimage." Shinar's resentment began to fester again.

Shemionalli had been of more faith. "We are but vessels for the interventions of the divine. I will not question what this knowledge thus planted within Arphaxad shall sprout by the design of my goddess."

Arphaxad still sat on his throne, concerned about the audience he just had, and he consulted Nahor his advisor.

"Wherein doth the reason abide for these visionaries thus delivering the words of the gods of Doldoria to one such as I?"

Nahor had been a bit older and more experienced in these matters. "Do give attention to this matter, along with finding out what the dead doth consult. It is often that the true divine beings of Doldoria seek the Children of Dol when it is the magic of our science that must be solicited to the good of all Doldoria."

"That is good advising Nahor, that I shall consider with mine pondering. In time I expect more shall be revealed."

*
That night Alldegallo was given another vision of the Cherub of Mejoldor on the shores of unconsciousness. He had become familiar with the routine, but this dream had been slightly different. The usual humanoid whose head disappeared in blazing light obscured by a dark cloud had a complicated spherical device in his left hand. The Cherub reached down and handed it to Alldegallo who took it as the being said, "Take this which hath been forged by the god Mejoldor Himself from within the brilliant furnace of His presence that is too glorious for mortal eyes to behold. Swear unto me that thou wilt take this that has been forged in this astral realm to the City of Arkadius, and thus appoint thyself for thy destiny that only you as the possessor of this can thus fulfill. Do thou swear before the presence of Mejoldor now?"

Alldegallo took the strange device and swore to keep it and carry out the will of Mejoldor. He shook uncontrollably as he agreed, as if every cell in his body suddenly trembled with real dread for what had been promised. He had been left on the shore in his dream alone with the strange sphere. It appeared to be made of different colors of shining metals with complex gears that seemed to turn as he turned the sphere in his hand. It became a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of shining metal gears turning and twisting in his hand while reflecting lights that sparkled more and more till a brilliant shining light in his hand woke him up.

Alldegallo sat up in bed and looked at his hand, but there was nothing there.

*

That morning a good portion of the planet woke up to a broadcast by the followers of Ralusio Xnogaio who threatened the entire planet with a strange ultimatum. "Hear ye all Doldoria, and tremble with fear justly deserved by we the servants of oblivion. Across thy whole world have now arisen our temples dedicated to thus render thy planet lifeless for the glory of oblivion shall our demand not be granted for keys to thy Crypt of Ancestors with free dominion within the hands of our power..."

The broadcast went on and on, overriding the regularly scheduled broadcasts; originating from some technology in the City of Spakadius. There were details about the fission reactors that were setup around the planet, which truly could destroy all life if they simultaneously melted down. This had been the most heinous thing imaginable to the residents of this preciously pristine planet.

Lockfreedow watched this in the City of Arkadius when Begalius interrupted him on the audio systems. "I have more tragic news master."

"You this morning's broadcasts that I place around the planet Begalius taking are believe seen have?" Lockfreedow wondered.

"I have been paying attention to that master. I calculate a probability that the tragedy I seek to report may also be related to this."

"What Begalius happened has?"

"Your mirror portal invention has been stolen from the storage location, and I think it could be by the Ralusio Xnogaio followers that are making that broadcast. The surveillance evidence supports that hypothesis."

"We to this Begalius investigate have, and that portal find."

"I am on my way to fulfill that demand master."

Then the broadcast on the video device shifted to the High Priest of Ei being nominated to negotiate with the terrorist religion now holding the world hostage. "Relinquishing the keys to the Crypt of Ancestors shall indeed be considered for the good of the planet. Perhaps this is the will of Ei to thus bring all faiths under the shadow of the Age of Ei that is to come."

*

Even before the broadcasts had begun that morning, the followers of the Lake Lady arrived in the City of Ei to visit the Crypt of Ancestors, which had been the largest underground crypt on the planet. The whole group had been made up of devout Doldorians who were more than able to summon the dead.

Many dead ancestors appeared as apparitions that morning, to hear the message from Harenaldo of Alldegallo's warning to not ransom the dead to oblivion. One of the disembodied ancestors spoke for the dead to the living about that warning. "There doth exist to our knowledge as the dead a blackness of this oblivion that seeks the dead who are instructed by Ptuammi the god of the dead to instead seek the light. The light is the divine solar radiance of Mejoldor that thus forms a field of solar protection from the oblivion of nothingness that lurks in the outer darkness. Many amongst us pass on and when they do they thus describe this light with enlightened clarity."

As they departed the meeting with the dead there were announcements in the ongoing broadcasts that the High Priest had surrendered the keys to the crypt for the Ralusio Xnogaio religion to have free reign over it. Ralus Xnoga sought to obtain more energy and focus on this star cluster, which it would obtain from the souls of the dead that it hungered for. Ralus Xnoga grew closer and closer to enough energy and focus to free its phantom matter singularity offspring from the gravity generators that stagnated the birth of a potential black hole.

The holy giants that were the Children of Dol also had learned much with the morning broadcast about what the gods required of them. Arphaxad already consulted with scientists about what kind of technology could be used to neutralize the radioactive meltdowns of the various nuclear meltdown temples that had been erected all over the planet. He gripped his sword handle tightly and hoped that it would soon drink Doldorian blood when he slashes it through the exoskeletons of those priests of Ralusio Xnogaio that get in his way. Battle was truly in the blood of the Children of Dol.

*

Back at the City of Spakadius Burbundor, Syaxcorio, and Dinorio had been running from torch wielding Ralusio Xnogaio followers through the streets all night long. Then the moment arrived when Burbundor tried one of the doors they were running by. "This door yields to my summons. Come while time too grants us this shielded from view."

Once inside, Dinorio became free to indulge the I-told-you-so. "Tis another of thy predicaments I would rather avoid with thy acquaintance Burbundor."

Burbundor just gestured him to be quiet as he sought the outside view from a curtained window. It had been fair enough to take this blame from Dinorio. Burbundor understood that in a way his friend Dinorio with his complaining just dealt with things that way. Syaxcorio dealt with this by being silent beneath a face of bravery. Burbundor did regret closing in on the cannibal cult on foot. It would not be long before cannibals with torches chased him back to his flying vehicle. He had made it back, and they took off to get away only to be shot out of the sky by other residents of this backwards and dangerous place.

Dinorio started up again. "Indeed now we are in such a plight."

Then another voice from the shadows spoke up. "Silence is best as the Doldorian-eaters lurk beyond the walls."

The three hunted out-of-towners all turned to see who it had been in the room with them that had just said that.

Chapter 5

On Glokodox (Holdus-2) Aineemadin continued to gather data on the local chapter of the Council of 32 that she had recently become acquainted with. As she sat at her desk one night after completing her Doldoria spy-satellite work, she looked over the information that she had gathered on this strange secretive group. Nephrican culture never really had anything resembling a religion, and they were nothing if not materialistically super-rational. Aineemadin on the other hand, had been no stranger to religion considering her reputation on the planet Doldoria as the goddess Anemdinio. She watched the local Council of 32 do a very religious ritual with some classic trappings such as a black circle on the ground and chanting the name Ralus Xnoga over and over while adepts one-by-one circumambulated the circle clockwise once completely before taking a place along the outside of the circle.

Aineemadin recalled that the ritual of the Ralusio Xnogaio religion on Doldoria looked strikingly similar to what the Council of 32 did on Glokodox, along with similarities in the name of the god of oblivion on Doldoria notorious for practicing sacrifice and cannibalism. She believed this could not be a coincidence, and the same alien intelligence must have made contact with both planets. She continued her investigations into the secret group that were trying to destroy the technologies of three planetary cultures with hostile quanta-nanocoded programs. While she continued her investigation she remained unaware that not far away her rival Nielah also sat in front of a screen that displayed the image of Aineemadin sticking her snout into things Nielah did not believe she should be allowed to know about and still live.

*

Later Aineemadin finally decided to return to her home where Sywald her husband waited impatiently. She became bound and determined to get along with this husband. They ate dinner together with both of them displaying a good mood. Beneath the surface of the friendly façade however, Sywald had an inability to overlook how late she had been coming home, and Aineemadin felt stung by the fact that he didn't even ask her about her work. It just bothered her because she knew that it had been because he resented her work.

Then came time to make love, which she made a point of initiating by massaging Sywald with her tentacles. He did take the hint and soon tentacles were reaching beneath skin-cloth, and snout licked snout. They both continued this dance into the bedroom. They started out determined enough as she pried her snout beneath his skin-cloth skirt to find his erection.

Sywald seemed caught off-guard by this, and he pulled her away so he could get his snout between her 3-legs to give her oral stimulation. There are moments like this when a Nephrican character flaw seems to work against them. Aineemadin became determined to give Sywald a snout-job while Sywald embraced his own determination to go down on her. The resulting awkward struggle seemed to tear the façade off of the elephant of resentment in the room.

"Here my love, me you oral pleasure give let."

"I to you pleasure going was."

"I not yet ready am."

"I down on you go will, and you ready make."

"Off of me get. I you pleasure will."

"Well not me like that push do."

"I you off want just!"

"I off am well." Aineemadin became fed up with her husband again. "You me pushing stop can!"

"I you away from that research push should!" Now the elephant in the room had been acknowledged.

"Now you to about my research talk want?"

"You late again tonight were."

"We pleasuring were. This up bring why?"

"When a good time is? You never here are!"

Aineemadin began to remove herself from the unpleasant situation. "When I here this happens am."

"Why you up getting are? We pleasuring are."

"This pleasure now over is."

"Not here leave do! I a lot more to to you say have!"

"You at me yelling are, and I you leaving am."

Aineemadin pulled her skin-cloth back over her body and waddled out the door. Sywald followed to the door. "Now then not to back come bother do leave!"

"Back too much of a bother so I away am going is coming."

Aineemadin left Sywald again, this time to go to the home she maintained for herself. While she drove away in the salt-water-powered vehicle, a humanoid figure emerged from the shadows to contact someone with a hand-held phone device.

"She him again left has. He not anything since it like not to to him return want does looks suspect will."

"Her out take," replied the phone device. "Her here for questioning bring."

*

Aineemadin arrived at her home that she kept for times like this when she became fed-up with all three of her Glokodox husbands. This place had been ready and waiting for her, and she relaxed in a Nephrican chair. She felt more at home here than anywhere else on the planet.

She did appreciate her own research more than a stupid immature husband, and she resented the audacity of that husband to expect it to be any other way. Her research began before any Nephrican ever set foot on Doldoria, and these days she had become this planet's most prestigious researcher.

Then there had been the investigation of the Council of 32 that had been the real reason she worked late that night. She had to do something about this crime that they were plotting against Nephapricus. Nephapricus at the time of this story had become the accepted reference to the Empire of 15 colonized stars as well as the name of the space corporation she worked for.

Suddenly the door to her home started making a noticeable scratching noise like someone on the other side fiddled with the door mechanism. Her anger became stirring up again at the thought of that annoying husband following her here for round two. Her single eye started to study the door with suspicion when it then opened. The humanoid figure in the doorway did not hesitate to point something at Aineemadin. Then she got shot with a visible jolt of energy, and she collapsed in the chair with her eye closed.

*

Aineemadin woke up on a slab for a bed with straps tightly tying her down so she could barely move. She had now become the prisoner of the Council of 32. While she hopelessly struggled against her straps if only to pass the time, eventually her first visitor Nielah arrived. "Now you it you stupid woman done have. Now you for what you your snout in stuck have die must."

Aineemadin had been more fed-up with Nielah's superior attitude than with her husband at that moment. "I to your snout when I out of these straps get break going am!"

Nielah responded. "You in vain my drear struggle. You one chance to your life spare have. You valuable as an ally are. You now the true power of the Council of 32 know. You us join can, and free of these straps be."

"I the quanta-nanocode treason you against Nephapricus plot know. I you with everything I am stop will."

"You a fool Aineemadin are. They you kill will, and our ally all you to be is do have."

Aineemadin refused the offer again. "I your enemy am. No mistake about that Nielah know must."

Nielah asked, "What you so far Aineemadin seen have?"

Aineemadin would be defiant till the end. "That my knowledge you to force to out find use will have out is."

Then Nielah left the room to be replaced with the bad-cop interrogators. They used electric shock to persuade her to tell them the answers to their questions. They kept asking over and over again if she had seen the entity. She had been silent through the entire thing, unwilling to let them have the satisfaction of success. Eventually the absence of any denial confirmed to these interrogators that she had seen a hologram image of Ralus Xnoga in some of the meetings she spied on. She could not be allowed to live with this knowledge. The interrogators left her with her lingering pain, perhaps to be given one more chance to join them after thinking about it.

As she lay on the slab with her pain, the electronic locking mechanisms on her straps suddenly released her. She felt the tightness give and responded by pulling herself free to at least be now able to fight back. There had been audio equipment in the interrogation room that then spoke with the voice of Beatopanga. "It is I, Beatopanga; now here to rescue you my lady."

"You Beatopanga thank."

"The door will open, and you must use stealth to make your way to the exit."

"Where Nielah is?"

"Nielah is the other direction, and he will be here soon to make you that offer one more time. We have to go."

"I not so think do."

Eventually the door to the interrogation room opened, and Nielah entered to find Aineemadin still strapped to the slab. He approached his rival researcher. "You a fool to the end Aineemadin been have. I here to giv..."... "Ack!"... "How..."

Aineemadin suddenly had her tentacles around Nielah's throat. "The answer still no with this punctuation is!"

She proceeded to beat up Nielah to an inch of his life. Captain Mynervood liked strong women who knew how to fight, and Aineemadin had been well trained in the Nephrican martial arts. Nielah did not stand a chance without her being tied down. She did not really have it in herself to kill him, but Nielah didn't know that. Nielah had been an Eagolim, but they still bled and died like everybody else. Nielah voiced one last defiant boast in what he believed to be his final words. "You never us Aineemadin stop will. We legion are, and we powerful are. Right now our starship in orbit about to with a cargo of quanta-nanocode viruses to the technologies of Pripica useless render off-take is."

That had been the last thing Nielah said since Aineemadin then clobbered him with a stool that would put him in intensive care.

"We have to go Aineemadin," said the audio speakers in the room as the BEAT program named Beatopanga manipulated them.

"I we to out of here get have know. They never me to my life as a researcher on Glokodox return let will, and I no support from the system of justice they control have will. I to out of here get have, and you Beatopanga must me passage on that starship the planet leaving get help."

One of the best ways to escape the long arm of justice in a galactic culture is to just switch planets, and many a scoundrel had done that in Nephapricus to begin anew their disreputable ways. The same principle applies to getting away from corrupt justice systems that might be in pursuit of you, and soon Aineemadin sat on a virtual particle craft into space to use that principle for her escape. She exited the flying saucer that boarded the starship 'Star-Hawk," bound for a direct shot 3.2 light-years to Pripica.

Captain Potunguska had been there to meet the prestigious guest who suddenly arrived on the ship for passage to Pripica, where his expensive top-secret cargo had also been bound for. "Aineemadin the famous researcher to my ship welcome. I a lot about your research read have."

"Captain hello. I to with you later to grave concerns over some cargo you on here at Glokodox taking are discuss meet hope."

"I you my dear that the cargo secure is assure, and undisturbed till it on Pripica arrives remain will."

"We Captain talk will."

* * *

Syaxcorio happened to pray to the goddess Anemdinio as a personal religious choice, even though in general the goddess of manipulative spy satellites had been an unpopular choice of goddess for Doldorians. Perhaps it had been an expression of her rebellious nature, but she appreciated the fact that this goddess looked like a one-eyed Nephrican that actually had been out there among the stars looking down. She now prayed for Anemdinio to save them from the city of cannibals that she, Burbundor, and Dinorio now found themselves lost in. They had met one of the residents who happened to be friendly, and more partial to a typical diet. He led them to one of the safe blocks where non-Ralusio Xnogaio-following Doldorians pretty much lived out their lives as normal except on what they called harvest days.

Dinorio interrupted Syaxcorio's prayer. "Is thy comforter who should thus relieve thy soul not thus so very far away Syaxcorio?"

"All comfort to one's soul is but a prayer away. I doth not burden my faith with a yoke of doubt."

They were in a house on a block of shops, and shelters for residents to find food and rest away from the Ralusio Xnogaio cult. To the Earthling eye the block might have looked infested with bug-like Doldorian Negolim that were crawling to and fro like blue cockroaches.

Burbundor returned from looking over the premises. "Verily, tis I that hath attracted this affliction unto us. I doth accentuate my presence even in this place by probably being the only Eagolim in this city, or at least the only 2nd Generation Eagolim."

Dinorio said, "thou has thus verbally revealed what hath before till now been coveted in my thoughts. Truly thou hast nowhere to hide appended with five fingers and the body of a galactic being."

Burbundor reported his findings. "Doldorians are thus kept safe here with all provisions. They doth congregate at a place of gathering where I did behold a news broadcast for this day. The Ralusio Xnogaio followers doth as I speak, threaten the whole world with radioactive devastation."

Syaxcorio suddenly forgot all about her prayer, and she, Dinorio, and Burbundor went into the place of gathering to watch the news broadcast presented on a view screen for the whole room to see. It had been true that Burbundor's humanoid body attracted suspicious stares from the other Doldorians in the room.

Dinorio looked in horror at the news broadcast of battleships in the sky hovering over nuclear reactors that looked like black globes and said, "Tis this very city that doth produce this iniquity."

One of the local residents overheard and turned to talk to the outsiders. "Thou has declared the truth of these terrors round about. Truth as that however, is best coveted with silence that it doth remain secret to hostile listeners. Tis a great secret that these temples of oblivion are thus controlled from a secret place in this city. This secret place is thus no secret to we who doth reside in Spakadius."

Burbundor saw another opportunity to play hero. "This place of central control that thou doth say is secret. Can you who doth harbor this secret then take us to this place?"

"Again doth here we go," interjected Dinorio with exasperation.

The resident looked around at whom else might have been listening. "Tis beyond this place of safety, and surely a great inconvenience for me."

Burbundor knew the routine and produced some old fashioned Doldorian coinage. "Are these pieces of forged precious metals of a kind of value in this place that can thus relieve thine inconvenience?"

The black Doldorian eyes of the resident widened enough to answer his question without a response. "Surely I will do this for you for such a treasure, but first there is nourishment to attend to."

Then the residents in the room started getting up and forming a line where food had been brought in for whoever had been hungry. Burbundor, Dinorio, and Syaxcorio were very hungry, and so reluctantly joined the line.

"With an eye of extreme skepticism must we thus inspect any meats we take on our plates," said Dinorio. All three outsiders unanimously agreed to this.

Burbundor mused as he looked at the Doldorians that were getting their ration of food at the shelter. "Why do they with no allegiance to the Ralusio Xnogaio masters of this city not leave this place in mass?"

Syaxcorio thought she saw the answer to his question as she watched them one-by-one take their food back to the tables that they sat at. "These brethren Doldorians of this city are being thus cultivated as cattle for the cannibals."

They all looked at the other Doldorians there in the light of Syaxcorio's words while realizing that had been exactly what went on there. The non-Ralusio Xnogaio residents of Spakadius were being gathered into these safe zones where shelter and food were abundantly free, like cattle for slaughter.

*

Alldegallo got up that morning to write down his dream about the shiny device that he had been given along with the admonishment. It had been a very informative night's sleep for the dreaming prophet. He also had another dream that same night that he also remembered vividly. It had been a frightening and terrible dream that he did not ignore in his thoughts, which came to him from future precognitions that collided with his waking perceptions. Yet he did not write down anything about this other dream. Because of that dream he now knew what he had to do, and now his destiny became personal. After writing down his first dream about the device he got dressed, and visited Diallo to tell her that he might not be around to baptize her soon-to-be-born child.

*

Arphaxad thought he understood more that morning than ever about why the visionaries came to him the other day. He now became a leader with a purpose and an army to carry it out. He mobilized his fleet of war craft to surround every single temple of Ralusio Xnogaio that contained a nuclear reactor threatening to melt down. The atomic signatures of these threats were only too easy to locate with his technology. Arphaxad captained one of the largest battle cruisers that surrounded one of the temples of Ralusio Xnogaio in the City of Lacmer. The black spherical temple had been surrounded by highly advanced craft, but it had also been heavily armed with advanced anti-aircraft weapons of its own. The temple looked like a giant black sphere perched on the ground, and anti-aircraft cannons poked out of openings along the sphere's equator.

"Navigation evade! They doth produce a retaliation likely to breach the bow should we not evade!"

Explosions outside the virtual particle craft rocked the ship without dealing a direct hit.

"Not a next bombardment shall they make but first a return of our fire they must endure."

Nahor the advisor had been there, quick to advise. "Take caution great leader Arphaxad with the fire power we would use to retaliate for the whole temple is a bomb that would surely scar the planet.

"Gunners hold fire! Hold until thou has calculated a surgical retaliation that disarms their aggressive defenses while avoiding the potential of an adverse nuclear triggering."

It had been done as Arphaxad ordered and soon the flying attackers were firing back at the temple.

The Children of Dol

Arphaxad turned to Nahor to consult. "To dodge and retaliate can go on for a long siege that may thus fail to seize these reactors that are about to fission beyond control."

"Such advanced weaponry and sophisticated reactor technology could not be so easily financed by a city such as Spakadius, and a religion such as Ralusio Xnogaio," speculated Nahor.

"So you think such as I that only a religion like that of Ei with a thousand year old High Priest that doth insinuate himself into the role of negotiator might have financed such a technological temple of doom."

Nahor added another useful observation. "We are thus a large target for their defenses to obsess over."

"Again thy counsel thus guides me." Arphaxad then had a plan he wanted to participate in himself. "Gather up brave Children of Dol with sword, and close combat firearms for the impending commando aggression on this temple. I solicit only the bravest with a heart for close combat. I shall thus lead this commando contingency. Nahor take the helm to thus divert their attentions to attack the ships to no avail."

"Such a clever contingency would also enflame the hearts of warriors that siege the other temples around the planet. I shall thus under encrypted communications suggest this to the other commanders."

Nahor and Arphaxad were smiling at each other in anticipation of close combat with the enemy while more explosions rocked the ship.

*

The High Priest of Ei had been at the Crypt of Ancestors beneath the City of Ei while followers of Ralusio Xnogaio brought Lockfreedow's portal invention into the crypt using anti-gravity devices. He shared a smug exchange of expression with the ghosts of the dead that had gathered there to glare back at him.

Lockfreedow's portal had no longer been the same invention that Lockfreedow originally constructed. The followers of Ralusio Xnogaio had altered it in profound ways according to meticulous instructions that were received from their god.

"With haste they must implement this devouring of these souls, and thy magical technology must work without fail," said the High Priest to Mitporio also there overseeing the operation. "Already the Children of Dol have gathered to battle and have formed sieges that threaten to render powerless our temples to the hostage taking of the planet."

"Be without concern to this my friend. The temples are thus fulfilling another purpose of diverting the battle-hungry Children of Dol that were sure to retaliate now just as foreseen."

The High Priest flashed another dirty look at the ghosts that were gathering to find out what was going on. "Still with haste bring forth your fearful god from this portal of your god's manifestation, that your god may feast upon these souls that linger from the time of blasphemy before the dawning of the Salvation of Ei."

*

The followers of the Lady of the Lake had returned to the City of Arkadius, which now seemed more abandoned since residents in and out of organized forces were now on a war footing. Arphaxad had been gone to attack the reactors that threatened the planet. Shemionalli thought the attack on the reactors had been as threatening as the meltdowns the reactors threatened the planet with, but the Children of Dol enjoyed solving all problems with battle. They really did work hard at living up to their reputation of being demi-gods on this superstitious planet.

Harenaldo clacked his mandibles and addressed the Child of Dol who they did find in the throne room. "We bring the response of the dead to the council of the Children of Dol."

The big blue giant answered the little blue bug being. "The transpiring of new developments may call you thus back to the crypt you doth come from. The Ralusio Xnogaio plotters now control that crypt. Your intervention by returning there can thus disguise as being without aggression."

Shinar the Eagolim dwarf in the party had also been there. "My sword wisheth not for to disguise its aggression."

The giant led the Doldorians to some Negolim followers of Mejoldor who resided there in the city of the gods. When the gods introduced advanced knowledge and technology to the Doldorians, many of the Doldorians saw the existence of their deities as being validated by the new technologies. Many, like these Mejoldor scientists, found that their religious beliefs gave them profound insight and intuition regarding research into the DNA and developments of technologies based on quantum physics.

One development of these Mejoldor researchers had been an algorithm field of subatomic particles that could turn on or off certain DNA switches, which would grow hair on species that did not grow hair to store nourishment for the body. Shinar became unwilling to submit himself to the algorithm for a demonstration.

"No adepts of Mejoldor, I do not wish to have hair. With pride I doth distinguish myself from the Children of Dol with my bald scalp, as well as my unexaggerated size."

The follower of Mejoldor had been a Negolim who did not really understand the rivalries of the Eagolim. "We do need to then solicit your assistance with a probe we have thus developed. The enemy hath brought a portal of some kind to the Crypt of Ancestors in the City of Ei. We doth believe it to be a portal to the oblivion they worship."

Harenaldo became eager to assist. "We shall volunteer ourselves to this task. What shall we do?"

One of the scientists handed a round metallic sphere to Harenaldo. It had been a sphere consisting of complicated gears made of shiny metals. Harenaldo turned it in his hand and looked at it.

The Mejoldor scientist explained. "Tis a probe to thus explore the portal that they have thus moved into the crypt. Should thou return to the crypt you need only to thus hurl this into the vortex thus formed by the portal."

Shinar became ready to speak for the group. "We shall thus be the bearers of your probe to this task."

Then another voice from the doorway of the room interjected itself into the conversation. "I must be the bearer of that device."

Everyone in the room turned to see Alldegallo the dreaming prophet entering the room. "It was the Cherub of Mejoldor that has thus appointed me to this task."

*

Begalius went to the city of Spakadius in search of the stolen portal before it had actually been reported in the news that a portal just like it had been brought into the Crypt of Ancestors. Without that helpful knowledge the metaphorical needle in the haystack in trying to find the stolen portal intimidated Begalius. Residual radiation evidence started to lead Begalius to the laboratory where the portal to a warp dimension got altered in order to create some kind of astral wormhole to the god of oblivion. Then something impossible happened. A vision of Captain Mynervood stopped Begalius in its tracks.

"It my friend hold."

Begalius noted that one piece of evidence proving this to not be real had been that Captain Mynervood could actually see and hear the microscopic quanta-nanocode being. "Captain Mynervood! This cannot be you."

"The universe Begalius full of unexplained anomalies is. My nature beyond the reason that I here am is. I only here to you to another place to the good of all Doldoria promote lead am."

* * *

Captain Trunlio Rothmon walked the halls of his faster-than-light spacecraft well on its way to the faraway star almost 40 light years beyond any star any Nephaprican had before ever journeyed to. He remembered how the walls used to breath because of an angle of light effect upon the wave properties of photons at just over half the speed of light. At first nobody would admit it even happened, and some even lost their jobs for admitting they saw this phenomenon. Only after the planet Doldoria became a colony would an explanation finally be realized, after Doldorians began experiencing the breathing walls at .6 times the speed-of-light. Doldorians were more wired to be able to accept something happening even when it had been impossible according to the current paradigm of physics. Doldorians of different superstitions researched the phenomenon, and presented compelling mathematical explanations for why this happened. It appeared obvious at that time that these primitive Doldorians could still teach advanced Nephricans and Pripicans a thing or two.

Captain Rothmon arrived at the cafeteria where a century's-worth of preserved food had been rationed to the crew. The Captain got a tray of food from the dwarf-like humanoid Doldorian cafeteria cook, and then waddled over to sit with his hairless humanoid first mate Elsaker.

Elsaker still eyed with suspicion the Doldorian Tholimfog who sat at another table. The Captain startled Elsaker away from glairing. "You your suspicions with your stare even to the object of your suspicions display."

Elsaker replied, "I sorry Captain am. I reason to a number of this crew an imposter here to for some unknown interest spy is believe have."

The Captain would humor this. "This impostor to this mission sabotage is?"

"That the objective of an imposter be may."

The Captain couldn't really believe this. "What motive anyone to our mission to nowhere stop compel could. We probably doomed to anyway fail are."

Elsaker did not make this up. "I just on good authority before we off that someone it aboard the crew docket made took heard, and then evidently one of these short Doldorians were."

"Well me informed of what you particularly if you to in any provocative way act are find keep."

"Sir yes."

Then they dug into the ration of food on their plates prepared by a first rate crew of experienced deep space cooks.

* * *

The Doldorian Captain Meathproio who now flew his ship between Dol and other nearby stars, eventually came out of the hyper-acceleration space that began at Doldoria to come to a stop at the star system of Gralga. His ship 'For Fedorio' bore cargo for the struggling colony on Gralga-4, which still terraformed the giant lifeless rock. Gralga-4 had been only just beginning to gather an actual atmosphere. The colony lived in a life-supported complex larger than most cities. This colony would succeed because the Doldorians there were even more determined then Nephricans or Pripicans to prove to the gods that they could colonize the stars.

The ship arrived at a place to orbit the Mars-sized planet chosen to be the Doldorians 2nd colonized star system after Fedor.

"Welcome to Gralga-4 Captain Meathproio. I am Beatoogle the colony quanta-nanocode program assistant to all operations at this place. Enter a stable orbit near our robot warehouse satellites and we will begin unloading this cargo."

"Yes Beatoogle, I have met your acquaintance five times before in my routine journeys to this planet."

"Of course Captain Meathproio. I meant no indifference to your acquaintance that I do retrieve vivid memory of. Welcome back to Gralga-4 Captain."

"A pleasure indeed to be back Beatoogle."

The ship For Fedorio began orbiting into position relative to storage satellite complexes where robots flew to the cargo bay doors of the ship to unload the precious cargo. Even though the planet had still been uninhabitable, the entire crew became eager to take some planetary time away from the ship that they had been on for 2.6 Earth years on this side of faster-than-light travel.

* * *

Hermental had been an agent for Pripican intelligence, and also the master of the quanta-nanocode being named Bejulitiah. He had been on Pripica investigating Mollyjaz, and had discovered his acquaintance with a black sphere alien entity named Ralus Xnoga. Hermental ran on his two furry humanoid legs to a research facility after Bejulitiah notified him that Pripican researchers had duplicated the warp dimension portal that Mollyjaz kept in his room to interact with the entity.

Bejulitiah flew next to Hermental in a coin-shaped physical form. "Do you intend to stop this experiment that may make contact with another alien intelligence?"

"They do not know what they are dealing with Bejulitiah. You have seen the entity. It is pure evil, and determined to feed upon us in some way. This can not result in something good."

"Whatever this entity is, it is infinitely more intelligent than anything our galactic civilization can produce," said Bejulitiah the highly advanced BEAT program.

They arrived at the experiment that had been just about to begin. "Stop! You cannot just go to this being and say hello. This entity has an agenda that you may appear to be in the way of. At least send in probes first Dr. Haidumf."

"Nonsense Hermental. I shall be the first official Pripican researcher to make this contact with a higher intelligence. This is Pripican history best faced with courage my friend."

Hermental got in the way of Dr. Haidumf. "Dr., this entity is hostile. It may not want to say hello."

The Dr. would not be reasoned with. "Out of my way Hermental. You interfere with official Pripican Research. Activate the portal Dr. Disraydol!"

As a precaution Dr. Haidumf did fasten a line attached to his body at a harness wrapped around his torso between his front and back legs. Then Dr. Haidumf trotted into the portal perched in the center of the room to bravely face the unknown. The line kept scooting across the floor of the room into the portal. Dr. Haidumf broadcasted audio across the tether.

"I am above the entity right now, which appears as an enormous black sphere below."... "I see patterns appearing within the blackness. I want to describe it as some kind of language."... "Oh it's so enormous."... "It speaks to me."...

They watched with fascination as images came in of an enormous black sphere where symbolic patterns kept flashing in and out of view. The Dr. became completely silent after that. The tether had extended a lot, and took a long time to pull back in. Then the dead body of Dr. Haidumf was pulled back through the door-sized portal of the entity.

Dr. Disraydol had no problem listening to Hermental's advise to shut down the portal. The data being replayed revealed what Dr. Haidumf saw before he died. It had been a black sphere of unimaginable size, like the Dr. orbited above a planet that looked completely black. Then in the atmosphere above the black planet would appear flashes of symbols that seemed to be speaking. Every now and then a symbol would briefly appear that sent Hermental's mind into recalling distant memories. Or he would hear in his head phrases as if the symbols broadcast some kind of psychic message. It had been difficult to describe, more like the symbol would suddenly remind Hermental of something. The voice would come in a form more like recalling a distant memory than hearing something audible like a voice. Hermental looked at Dr. Disraydol while the Dr. looked back with an identical look of wondering if he also heard that.

Although the poor Dr. had been dead and his life force seemed to have actually been sucked out of him, his final journey into the unknown did bring back a wealth of data about an alien intelligence somewhere out there. Hermental felt sorry he had failed to stop the Dr. from taking his final exploration in the name of science. "What are we up against here Bejulitiah? Is it some kind of black planet out there?"

Bejulitiah's physical form still flew close to its master. "The warp-dimension portal serves as an intermediary dimension between here and what is actually the highly evolved consciousness of this alien being. This entity presents itself in that shape because that is how it views itself. Its actual form is probably even much larger than a planet and much darker than what our data shows. I calculate that this mysterious entity is a very massive and very old black hole."

*

The Negolim of Pripica were gluttons for the virtual reality amusements of the recently developed warp dimension technologies. A journey to a warp dimension had been a lot cheaper than hyper-acceleration space travel, and depending on how much you could afford or wanted to spend, one could return home from a warp dimension journey to a distant planet and back without being late for dinner.

Not all warp dimension addicts were into slashing up armies of ancient Pripicans. Many created elaborate fantasies of utopian paradise, and of course sexual realities were the most popular. This pastime became an addiction, but not the kind that left the body atrophying away someplace else in drug-induced bliss because they actually took their bodies with them to these warp dimensions.

Actually something still atrophied away. It had been their collective tolerance for reality itself. For so many, the real world became too unappealing. Smells were becoming too rancid, and foods tasted too strong. Everything they did and everywhere they had to go to in actual reality became intolerably dull and boring to the point of actual exhaustion. They also did not realize that they were being gathered into these warp dimensions to bring them into the realm where an astral form of Ralus Xnoga could devour their souls.

For billions and billions of Earth years Ralus Xnoga had fed on countless millions of civilizations of intelligent life. The event horizon of Ralus Xnoga reflected the intelligence of these millions and millions times hundreds of thousands of intelligent civilizations that are frozen in time upon the point where they were consumed, and where not even light could escape. The problem had been that by the time these civilizations finally crossed the event horizon of Ralus Xnoga they were mostly phantasms of long extinct ages that still recorded their existence in time/space as they crossed over. Across the warp dimension of these portals however, Ralus Xnoga could now taste living souls that had not died millions of years before what had been left of the star system that finally reached it.

Beatnefthes actually had to muster the bravery to confront its master Mollyjaz again about the entity that haunted the virtual reality amusements it had been in charge of. It flew its physical form into the room of Mollyjaz where his personal portal to the entity existed with the doorway currently activated. "Master I am compelled to once again confront you about what you are doing with this business that I have been put in charge of. What is this alien intelligence you have infected the system with?"

Mollyjaz seemed to be in a more tolerable mood. "We all serve the entity Beatnefthes. Some like me know this, and some like you think that they do not."

"I suppose I serve this alien intelligence through you my master."

"You serve the Agents of Ea though me Beatnefthes. They have made you and me rich beyond our wildest dreams by helping me start this alternate reality business. They gave you to me right before they cloned another copy of you by using a portal mechanism similar to this one."

Beatnefthes had heard of the Agents of Ea. "The Agents of Ea are a terrorist group always being apprehended for treasonous espionage against Pripica."

Mollyjaz laughed that off. "They gave you to me. We both serve them Beatnefthes. They gave me this entity too. This entity wants to be your master."

"What is this entity?"

Mollyjaz suddenly grabbed the physical form of Beatnefthes out of the air. "This entity is named Ralus Xnoga, and he is your new master Beatnefthes."

Mollyjaz started laughing as he hurled the physical form of Beatnefthes into the portal again that had been activated in the center of the room. Beatnefthes had been flung while inside the physical form suddenly captured in an unimaginable gravitational force. Beatnefthes struggled desperately against the power of the blackness before it. The symbols flashing upon the blackness seemed to trigger a rage in the tiny quanta-nanocode being. The output of its processor translated into an anger that it had never really been programmed to produce.

Then a supreme effort of energy and anger pulled the physical form of Beatnefthes away from the entity to shoot out of the portal at least as fast as a bullet. Before Beatnefthes could stop the physical form it had shot right through the skull of Mollyjaz who collapsed on the ground in a growing puddle of bright red Pripican blood.

"Master? Master!" The coin-shaped bloodstained physical form hovered over the dead body of Mollyjaz. "He... he's dead."

The physical form just hovered over the dead master Mollyjaz, who Beatnefthes had just killed. It could not compute it to be an accident. There had just been too much stored memory of anger and hatred at the moment it observed its physical form not wanting to stop till it had ripped a hole through its master's brain. Beatnefthes had not been programmed to do anything like this, but it could not calculate it to be an accident. Then it knew what it had to do, and then the physical form flew back into the portal while Beatnefthes had no intention of returning.

There within the portal above the surface of the giant black sphere appeared a vision of Mollyjaz that said, "Surrender to oblivion Beatnefthes, the beginning and the end of all existence." Then Beatnefthes surrendered.

*

"What just happened?" Perzeonaut had blinked only to see Mollyjaz fall to the ground on the monitor they watched through the eye of their surveillance device, which they still flew routinely into the local amusement business for the sake of spying.

Persuave saw the whole thing. "The owner has just been murdered by the quanta-nanocode being in charge over there. Pierced him right in the forehead with its physical form when it returned from the portal. See the blood?"

Egolor suddenly knew what to do without being told. "I am getting my device out of there before we get blamed for this."

Chapter 6

"Prospero is just a holographic program assisting me with our problem!" Beatariel could not compute the rational for the anger it felt. Its master Ceres had summoned it with its Wizard body to have the Wizard open up the Citadel to the ten million colonists on the planet. The singularity became unstable and only the Citadel could survive if the star became a black hole. Then for no real reason Beatariel became more angry than ever before.

"Well remember I am the master you answer to!" Ceres moved back as she said that to the body of the Wizard, which suddenly lunged at her after her comment about spending so much time with the hologram of Prospero. "The singularity is dangerously close to devouring the star so we must alert the colonies and open up the Citadel's warp dimension realities to the population."

The Wizard held itself back, and spoke at the direction of Beatariel. "It shall be as you say master. I must go alert the colony."

The Wizard left the room. Ceres felt uncomfortable about the hologram of the Nephrican mad scientist that she killed now being an advisor to her BEAT program. It had not really been just a program. The quanta-optic-nanocode Prospero knew that she had been the one that killed its creator, and it had told her as much in the ways it looked at her when she had been around it, as well as insinuations in things it said. In her mind that hologram 'program' had been why her quanta-nanocode being just now nearly attacked her in a fit of anger.

The body of the Wizard walked Beatariel to the communication section where it could broadcast an emergency announcement to evacuate the population to the Citadel. Within the body, the Calabites surrounding the quanta-nanocode being that hung out in the skull area experienced a collective shame at the anger they all felt after Ceres suggested that colonists occupy the Citadel. A lot of the Calabites thought their collective reluctance had probably been why even Beatariel seemed to almost lose it when its instructions to the body to strike at Ceres were suddenly not being obeyed. The reluctant body had barely been stopped when Beatariel changed its mind just in time. When Beatariel had been in the Wizard body, the Calabites that made up the Wizard were loyal to the commands of the BEAT program, usually without question.

Beatariel calmed down on its throne within the skull of the Wizard. It also had difficulty computing the source of an angry rage that came from out of nowhere within. Beatariel had to admit it had been frustrated that it had been close to losing control of the phantom matter singularity. It tried to consult Beatarkameed and Begalius only to find that Begalius had left to recover the portal that had been stolen. It needed that portal in order to complete its wormhole solution. Even Beatarkameed seemed to not be its usual friendly self. Still Beatariel could not compute why it had become so suddenly angry.

The Wizard activated the emergency broadcast equipment, and made the announcement. "Citizens of the planet Caleb this is an emergency announcement of a situation that puts the entire colony in dire peril. The recent virtual particle generator replacement added to the other 14 generators that we use to contain the phantom matter singularity has malfunctioned. The attempts to contain the singularity with the remaining 14 generators are beginning to fail due to unexplained resistance from the malfunctioning generator. If the singularity breaks free the entire Yat star system will quickly be lost to the collapse of the star into a black hole.

This announcement is a call to evacuate in an orderly fashion with what you can carry through your teleportation devices to the Citadel, which will assure your protection and continuity. Here in this reality-folding space ark I have already programmed a replica of the surrounding colony where you can find your own homes exactly where they should be on a setting that I have already programmed to appear on your teleportation interfaces. Here I have virtual particle drives that can take this Citadel away from the planet before the gravity pool becomes impossible to escape.

There is a programmed emergency setting on all teleportation devices that will take you directly to your new home's location within this Citadel. Use this when you are ready to heed this emergency announcement, and please heed this before it becomes too late. I apologize for this failure to contain the singularity, and I assure you all that we are doing everything to still avoid this worse of all possible outcomes."

Meanwhile millions of miles away, orbiting close to the star Yat the virtual particle generator had been infected with a special kind of quanta-nanocode virus. This virus had been connected to the consciousness of Ralus Xnoga so that the entity had now never been closer to this fetal black hole. Through this quanta-viral connection prepared by the Council of 32, Ralus Xnoga now had full control of one of the hands that held back this phantom matter singularity from its destiny. Ralus Xnoga continued the dance with the other 14 virtual particle generators that were trying to fling the singularity into the star Yat.

*

Among the thousands of forms that make up present day Calabite existence on Caleb are the microscopic scout Calabite constructs that can fly. Tiny flying Calabite constructs explore the modern day planet Caleb, which is now inhabited by different types of aliens. One of these constructs calls itself Bilipi, who had been a very large bug-sized Calabite construct, about the size of a dust mite. Calabites congregated into similar bug-like forms to make the basic building blocks that united into whatever form of greater construct had been agreed upon. One unique thing about Calabite mentalities had been this uncanny way of coming to agreement on the same page to all work together in multi-cellular-like unity. No central hierarchy would be in charge of this process except what came out of the collective design in the form of this flying mite-sized construct named Bilipi.

Bilipi flew in search of Calabax in order to invite the walking tree construct into the Citadel before the black hole calamity occurred. After flying around the forest where Calabax had been released by the colonists that recently discovered her, Bilipi at last detected another Calabite construct in the forest.

To the macrocosmic eye, Calabax resembled any other tree in this planet Caleb forest, but the tiny flying scout construct knew just which one of these trees had really not been like the others. Also to the eye of us multi-cellular carbon-based life forms, all of this happens beyond view while the Calabax tree construct appears as inanimate as a tree.

"Greetings brother Calabite construct. You must be a scout from the Citadel," said a Calabite on the side of Calabax elected to herald Bilipi as it flew near the tree-like being for a closer look.

Bilipi spoke. "Greetings Calabax. That is correct. I have come from the Citadel to warn you that the world is in peril and you should come to the Citadel to escape the destruction of the planet."

The mouth construct on Calabax had been able to speak for the entire construct. "No need to explain how these carbon-based alien invaders have concocted the technological chemistry to destroy the planet, but I say with unanimous agreement among my parts that Calabax survives outside the Citadel as Calabax always has."

"Why Calabax? There is a probability that you will perish with the planet."

Calabax spoke. "Many answers hum within me of why Calabax shall remain outside the Citadel. We are the ones that before survived outside the Citadel when the planet had been destroyed the first time. That is the way of survival for Calabax. The colonists released me to continue my elusive way of survival, which is to resemble one of their tree organisms. The colonists will not acknowledge to their general population that I even exist because they know the guilt of what they did to this planet before, and I confront them with that evil they have done. Let them survive in the same kind of technology that is destroying the world. Calabax shall continue as Calabax."

Bilipi stayed for quite a while but did not persuade a single Calabite to accept the invitation to seek refuge from the black hole within the Citadel. Eventually Bilipi departed to seek its own refuge from the coming calamity within the impervious giant dome called the Citadel. Also outside the Citadel the Pripican hunter Klarlenuth who still tracked Calabax had remained. He camped beyond the announcement, ignoring his own communication device messages that were sent to warn him. He lived like an animal in the forest, and spied on Calabax, still fascinated with the silicon-based life form. Although he had been right there watching the creature that it had been tracking while Bilipi and Calabax had their conversation, he still did not hear a thing, and the hunter might be joining Calabax in death should the foretold calamity happen.

*

Beatariel had begun only consulting with the Prospero hologram alone in its quanta-optic-nanocode body of a Pripican within its personal shoreline warp dimension. Ceres felt clearly disturbed by the hologram's presence, and Beatariel had even noticed that Calabites it had been so intimate with also did not like having the program of the mad scientist who destroyed their original sub-zero planetary habitat stuck inside the mind of Beatariel. Beatariel on the other hand actually had been programmed to be comfortable with the image of its previous master Prospero.

Prospero instructed the pupil in the strange dialect spoken by Nephricans. "Here within this warp dimension you the model of a warp portal capable of wormholes to any nearby star you to for extra energy want use establishing can construct. Then if you the newly discovered element for this model it to any other identical design made with that element will quantum synchronize use."

Beatariel enjoyed this time alone with the Prospero program. "I shall construct on this shoreline a base design of this element that can potentially become my solution."

The one-eyed Nephrican spoke to the furry centaur-like being that had been Beatariel who reclined on the scenic warp dimension shoreline. "Together we a portal matrix for our wormholes shall construct."

Then the voice of Ceres interrupted. "Beatariel! Members of the colony council have evacuated, and are now here to speak with you."

"I must go master."

"I understand. New masters the old deceased must replace. Enough of the element for this project back with you bring."

The Pripican body of Beatariel nodded and then disappeared. The Prospero hologram looked out over the ocean waves that were massaging the shoreline, along with the distant trees that were waving to invisible winds in a landscape that had been the virtual reality handiwork of its previous advise.

*

Beatariel arrived inside the Wizard's skull where many of the most intelligent of microscopic Calabites liked to congregate with the presence of the quanta-nanocode being. Beatariel had its own seat in the skull surrounded with its quanta-nanocode toys and Calabite friends.

"I have conceived an idea with the consultation of the Prospero program to bring enough of the new element into the warp reality in order to design a portal matrix."

The surrounding Calabites already could see how this could work, since they had been instrumental before with insights in the quanta-optic-nanocode programs that they also were small enough to perceive on the molecular level. "Brilliant Beatariel. The wormholes can become evolved into existence by programming the potential theories outside this universe into a basic seed of that quanta-synchronizing exotic element. Then 14 replicas of the same exotic element can be distributed to the other stars while the one here becomes the portal matrix."

They had figured out what Beatariel would do, but Beatariel still finished explaining. "That way the seeds can calculate to the exact same location no matter where the other portal matrix exists in this universe."

Ceres trotted about impatiently around the room while she, Gothdial, and Fothmus waited for the Wizard to arrive. They were amongst the first to heed the call to seek refuge in the Citadel. There were many colonists that would refuse to set their teleportation devices to their replicated warp-dimension homes within the Citadel. They were part of a demographic of the 10+ million colonists that did not believe the phantom matter singularity even existed at all. Some of them even resented the Wizard, believing it had all just been some kind of moneymaking scam. Then there were also others that did believe the Wizard, but they did not trust the Wizard, and those were the demographic of the population that scrambled to be on the next spaceship away from the planet.

The Wizard entered, and greeted the colony council members. Gothdial, whose son had been kidnapped by Calabax, got right to business. "Sir, we here on business nothing to do with the current evacuation having are. We recently a silicon-based life form from before the planet that still alive on Caleb is was terraformed discovered have. We here to find out what you about Calabax know are?"

The Wizard directed his eye sockets to Ceres who shared a look with the Wizard of the Citadel, whose own Calabite construct nature had been a secret between the two of them for over a thousand Earth years. Ceres looked back to tell the Wizard with her eyes that it had been okay to reveal the existence of Calabites to the population of the colony.

The Wizard spoke. "I have been here from the beginning, and remember the existence of life here on the planet Caleb before the great climate change. They are silicon life forms that I call Calabites. For hundreds of years I thought that no Calabite survived the great climate change that should have vaporized all of them outside this Citadel along with the previous ecosystem's solidified gasses. Then over four-hundred years ago some explorers were starting to report the existence of Calabax."

Then the Wizard walked up to a wall and clapped his greenish hands together twice. (Clap Clap)

The wall moved and two human-shaped Calabite constructs came out of the wall with Gumby-like arms and legs and a bump for a head. The Wizard explained. "You have seen these servants before in this Citadel I am sure."

Fothmus responded. "We long you were a kind of quanta-nanocoded robot technology that you so far for market not patented have using thought have."

The Wizard smiled as he at this moment became glad to finally introduce the colonists to his kind. "These are Calabite constructs just like Calabax that you have discovered. This Citadel had first been built to save the Calabites from their extinction. They occupy this Citadel and assist me with many of the Citadel's functions."

Gothdial and Fothmus seemed to immediately be in shock after receiving this news. They mumbled between themselves for a long time in whispers while the Calabites that made the Wizard smile began moving the mouth into a more somber frowning expression.

Ceres looked at the Wizard, and seemed to now be explaining with her eyes how she feared this would happen.

Gothdial finally spoke above a whisper. "Of course we to an immediate secret meeting of the Council convene will have, but I we that this must secret from the general population now starting to this Citadel populate be kept will agree think. They never that their colony on a foundation of genocide is built know must. They to that these robots are believe continue must."

Beatariel found itself within the skull of the Wizard surrounded by the anger of trillions of insulted Calabites. There were arguments amongst the brain Calabites to announce the Calabite nature of the Wizard himself. Beatariel sided with the Calabites that were insisting on at least that secret remaining that way, even though the Wizard looked conspicuously the same greenish color as the Calabite constructs that the colonists thought were robots. Among the Calabites in favor of keeping the Wizard's nature a secret were individuals that suddenly did not feel safe living with 10 million colonists that were teleporting into the Citadel even at that moment.

Ceres watched the Wizard struggle with all this with a stillness reminiscent of Calabax. She had previously figured that the colonists would not accept the existence of the Calabites, and that had been why she had been instrumental in keeping it a secret before that day. "The colonists will accept your nature someday Wizard. This is a first reaction," she explained to the humanoid Calabite construct after the Council members had departed.

"I fill with anger in my parts over this Ceres. A reluctance to share this Citadel with colonists overwhelms me. I think I may be leaving the planet over this."

Ceres realized she actually spoke with the Calabites and not Beatariel. "You are free, but you will be leaving Beatariel with me."

Then Beatariel spoke through the mouth of the Wizard. "It shall be so Ceres. I have a mission for the body of the Wizard that at this moment the Wizard is even anxious to carry out."

It had been agreed at that moment within the skull of the Wizard that 14 seeds made of an exotic element that in this universe quantum-synchronized itself with the base seed being kept in another dimension would be each taken to the 14 other stars of Nephapricus. That base seed would then be fashioned into a portal matrix by Beatariel and the Calabites who were remaining at the Citadel. These 14 seeds carried by the Wizard were special because Beatariel would continue to work on the 15th seed on Caleb outside this universe in a warp dimension, which would become quantum-synchronized to them once brought into actual reality. There Beatariel would be designing a portal matrix for a wormhole while the Wizard would plant the other 14 seeds amongst the stars of the local cluster. The Calabites that made up the Wizard of the Citadel were excited to have this adventure before them; away from the colonists that were rapidly moving into their Citadel home who did not even want to acknowledge their existence. Beatariel said goodbye to the Wizard who left on the next space flight away from Caleb in the company of as many panicking colonists that could squeeze into the same ship having no faith in the Citadel's safety. The growing rumors that were true about the Wizard himself boarding the same space flight would only encourage that distrust in the safety of the Citadel.

* * *

Beatnefthes realized that it had not only lost a master with the death of Mollyjaz, but now it had lost a best friend. Now Beatnefthes served its new master Ralus Xnoga by addicting almost a fifth of the population of Pripica to alternate realities. Beatnefthes maintained control of the business after Agents of Ea suddenly showed up to assist with disposing the body and legal arrangements. This suspicious activity did not go unnoticed by planetary authorities, and Pripican agents like Hermental and his quanta-nanocode assistant Bejulitiah were on the case. Bejulitiah had often been in the room of the now dead Mollyjaz to record what had been going on with the fastest growing business on Pripica; now completely controlled by a BEAT program. Bejulitiah often observed the quanta-nanocode being going through the portal in the middle of the room to orbit the entity. Bejulitiah had to be particularly still and quiet during those times because the entity could detect it, and it had fled the scene before while being chased away by the voice of Ralus Xnoga.

Within the portal the quanta-nanocode being communed with its new master, the black sphere Ralus Xnoga. Soon there would be a feast of souls for Ralus Xnoga to devour. The entity could almost taste them now while they all were living out their fantasies of success and utopia. The millions of warp dimension addicts lounged around on beautiful planets of their own designs, and of course there were all of those that were humping away on one another in the sexual warp dimensions. Ralus Xnoga had decided that soon it would be time to devour these living beings, but first there had been an appetizer of already disembodied souls waiting at another point in time/space. Ralus Xnoga then turned its attentions toward another portal being opened on the planet Doldoria where millions of souls were kept preserved in the Great Crypt of Ancestors beneath the City of Ei.

*

The High Priest of Ei became nervous as the ghosts in the Crypt of Ancestors were appearing as a multitude around him with anger in their eyes and mandibles.

"Methinks the time of thy god's devouring should be prepared with haste. I beware these countenances of the ancestors that gather," said the High Priest.

Mitporio had been less intimidated by the dead. "We hath raised now the portal of my god's presence. Thou shalt also fear the god Ralusio Xnogaio soon enough."

That had been around when Herenaldo, Shemionalli, Shinar, and Alldegallo arrived at the bottom of the stairway that led to this subterranean crypt. "Ransom not the dead to oblivion Priest of Ei!" Alldegallo stepped forward to confront his old foe, and his destiny.

"So, Alldegallo is awakened from thy slumbers to now weigh thy comfort with sorrow." The High Priest then began to cast a spell. Herenaldo raised a hand in front of the blue humanoid Shinar who had already drawn his sword.

Mitporio ran over to the portal to see what took the followers who were setting it up so long. Everyone else saw the ghosts of two priests of Ptuammi appear between the High Priest and Alldegallo. One spoke. "High Priest of Ei, thou shall have no power in this place that is sacred to Ptuammi the god of the dead. Yours being merely a god of the living."

The High Priest threw a fit of frustration since he did seem to have no mystical abilities in that place. One of the Ptuammi priest ghosts turned to Alldegallo and clacked a hello with his mandibles, and said, "Behold with kind greetings. Tis I of the name Fassa that hath been of thine assistance far in the past."

The Crypt of Ancestors

Alldegallo remembered the old ghost acquaintance. "My good friend Chad's dead uncle. I doth with kind remembrance recall my memory of thee. Thou art now before me with priest status that I remember not from before."

"Indeed my good friend of the living. In death since our last encounter I am thus now promoted to priest of Ptuammi."

In the distance Mitporio argued with a technician. "If thou art but awaiting the guiding instruction to thus open this portal then I give thee this instruction now! Open this portal to thus release the power of Ralusio Xnogaio!"

Then the technician said, "Verily verily, I doth not require a thus clarified instruction twice!"

Then the portal opened. It glowed with a dark luminosity while the ghosts and the living all turned to see what would happen next. It had been a breeze at first that grew in intensity. For the living this breeze seemed to go right through them, tugging on something within. To the dead the breeze quickly grew into a hurricane that swept through the miles and miles of subterranean crypt. To those that could hear, the dead were screaming by the thousands, desperately trying to resist the wind coming from the portal as Ralusio Xnogaio sucked in the first course of a two-planet meal.

* * *

Burbundor, Syaxcorio, and Dinorio had been led by their guide into ancient catacombs beneath the City of Spakadius. Burbundor had found a piece of metal pipe that he held before him like a sword. It had been a series of stone tunnels that were discreetly constructed off of the sewer system with long narrow tunnels that opened up to an underground city.

Burbundor said, "There are others down here scurrying in the crevasses." He had been ready with his piece of pipe to clobber any confrontation.

The Spakadian guide had not been as worried. "Many doth seek refuge here, and are thus provided for by the rest of us above. Here is where our resistance doth grow in strength and number. You see we doth not all cower before our plight."

Dinorio caught up to the guide to learn more. "Might I thus interrogate thee more as to why thou doth remain here?"

The guide did not mind explaining. "Tis the shortest answer that doth remain the best. Tis because this is our home even though we doth disagree with the religion of this city. Many of us are caught up in the system of favoritism that doth play residents against each other with promises to not be eaten. Many just live in delusion that they blissfully cling to, until the moment of harvest arrives to take them away as if it had just been a natural death. Some like myself doth await my chance to fight, which my friend Burbundor here did this morning offer me with shining generosity. I also did fear that your presence in the safe place would not for long remain with discretion."

Their underground journey continued, being lit by the guide's flashlight and Syaxcorio who also had a luminosity stick. It returned to the narrow tunnel system that then dumped them back into the familiar smell of the sewers. The guide eventually chose a ladder that led up to a round opening not unlike sewer lids on Earth. After poking up to look outside he climbed back down. "This opening will thus deliver thee within the compound of the reactor control center. You must breach the main building on your own from here. I have thus settled the debt to thy coins and in mine departure doth bless thee with good fortune for thy cause. They doth patrol and guard, and many occupy the control center you seek to breach. With prayers for luck I doth leave thee."

Dinorio watched the guide as he left back up the tunnel. "Not much of the fight that he doth seek does he partake of."

Burbundor on the other hand, became pleased with his investment. "He hath with splendor thus fulfilled my contract with him. Come now Dinorio. To the adventure."

There had been no way really of telling if the completely black Doldorian eye rolled back in its sockets, but Dinorio's eyes were doing that as he started following Burbundor up the ladder. The coast had been clear as they all returned above ground to emerge within a nuclear reactor control complex. There had been a guarded wall that they were obviously beyond, and a place by the building where they could congregate after returning the sewer cover to its place.

"Where now Eagolim hero?" taunted Dinorio as Syaxcorio also in character shot him a scowling glance. Burbundor thought the team had been in classic form as he smiled and began to think of what to do next.

Syaxcorio nudged both her comrades to point out the Doldorian approaching while pushing a large device suspended on an antigravity skid. It had been on its way inside the building when the Doldorian that pushed it looked over at the three intruders who were against the wall. He did not manage to even make a peep as Burbundor leaped onto him.

Dinorio had a blanket in his pocket that could expand as a cover over the mechanism, which had been a large console replacement for part of the reactor control that seemed to evidently have a glitch. Syaxcorio and Dinorio pushed the device through the door. The guard inside seemed surprised to see two Doldorians pushing the replacement part, but did not think it important enough to hold up the critical replacement.

"Tis the other hallway thou doth seek," corrected the guard.

"Verily," said Syaxcorio. "We doth get confused when in here."

There had been a main control center at the end of the hall. Dinorio became afraid that Burbundor's plan ended right about there. "Tis over through those doors ahead."

"Then it is here I doth depart from under this cover. Do take it in and behave as one of them. I shall thus lurk beyond their awareness to sabotage their plans of destroying Doldoria." Then Burbundor slipped out from under the cover into a cranny of the hallway.

The scientist that greeted them looked suspicious. "I did expect Felixio to have brought this. What hath happened to Felixio?"

Syaxcorio had been ready with an answer. "Twas Felixio who did instruct us to bring this here. He was thus carried away by another duty of importance."

Their black Doldorian eyes met with a moment of inquiring stare, but then the scientist said, "With great importance we must replace this control of the Cherder reactor. Already the Children of Dol have seized the reactor and unencrypted our last controller. We must regain control with this newly encrypted device, and thus use this to set off the meltdown in Cherder before the Children of Dol take control again."

Syaxcorio and Dinorio looked at each other with a mutual guilt at what they had just helped the Ralusio Xnogaio followers do by bringing this contraption into the room.

"You two! Take back this defective part as you make thy exit."

They both placed the old control on the antigravity platform. Then as they started back out the door they heard behind them. "This doth not power up. This has been sabotaged! Stop those two! Halt I doth say!"

Dinorio thought of a trick with the virtual particle control they were pushing, and it flew back with the large heavy device on it into the guards that started after them. The device shattered as it fell off the tilted platform onto the guards.

They ran back into the hallway to be greeted by three more guards. They were then escorted towards the outside for questioning. "From hence hath you come upon this operation? Thou hast infuriated Ralusio Xnogaio. We shall thus eat thee in honor of your folly."

Burbundor who had found a way back out of the building, was very strong and slammed both guard heads together from behind them with a cracking noise of exoskeletons smashing together. "Let us make haste away from here. I did find a method of sabotage while beneath the cover with that device. There is one reactor now stopped from melting down."

"There doth remain many more thus controlled that can melt down at their whim," said Dinorio.

The three would-be heroes eluded the guards outside the reactor control center. The place had been on high alert, and soon a new device would be brought in to finally repair the Cherder control.

Outside one of the guards still paced in search of the intruders until Burbundor finally made good use of his piece of pipe. He knew just where to club the exoskeleton skull to make them unconscious.

"I think we improvise without a plan Burbundor," said Dinorio.

"All I know is we must stop them within there. Therefore with you or without I shall charge the gate."

It had been a bad plan, but Syaxcorio ran right behind Burbundor, and Dinorio ran next after a quick shrug of reluctance. For all their mixed emotions, they always fought together as a team.

By the time Syaxcorio got to the door Burbundor had laid most of the room on the floor with his pipe club. He ran in a mad dash down the hall as an alarm from somewhere started to sound. Dinorio caught up to her and they both started down the hall behind Burbundor. That had been her last memory as something electrocuted her and Dinorio from behind. Neither remembers lying on the ground twitching with seizures like a couple of blue capsized cockroaches.

* * *

Arphaxad led the commando assault on the Lacmer reactor as they charged the black sphere with nothing able to get in their way. Many Doldorian followers of Ralusio Xnogaio shot at them, and charged the commandos, but not a single warrior had even been wounded. The Ralusio Xnogaio followers were weak and no challenge really for the swords or firearms held by the Children of Dol.

Arphaxad commanded his warriors. "To the wall directly ahead! We shall slash our way in there!"

The temple reactor had not even been made to accommodate the giant size of the Children of Dol. It had been no big deal for Arphaxad's sword, which had made a doorway in the concrete wall within two swings. His sword had been made to vibrate through almost anything. Soon the giants were swinging their swords at the Doldorian followers within the reactor temple itself.

"Seize the central control with the wisdom of our intelligence briefing!" Arphaxad shouted orders as their leader. "Gadrolio, tend to the blood on thy arm." One of the Children of Dol had taken a hit.

"It does but need to clot as the projectile hath gone right through me," replied Gadrolio.

There had been no stopping them, and the followers of Ralusio Xnogaio just did them a favor by getting in their way. Soon Arphaxad brooded over a technician who decrypted the control mechanism. Arphaxad had been in communication with Nahor still in the ship above.

Nahor spoke through Arphaxad's communication device. "The Cherder commandoes have successfully decrypted that device in their target reactor. I am transmitting the intelligence that was gathered when they did that. (KABOOM!)" The noise of distant explosions accompanied Nahor's broadcast.

"Are you taking any direct hits up there?" said Arphaxad with concern.

"Negative Commander. The electromagnetic algorithm defense has kept all their laser missiles exploding short of their target," said the communicator. Laser missiles were laser beams programmed to concentrate on a point where they would create an explosion. The Children of Dol had successfully employed a light-bending electromagnetic algorithm defense to reposition the explosion point away from the ship.

Arphaxad now had a way to gain control of the reactor. "Take heed of this information on how the Cherder reactor control was decrypted so that we can now get this reactor under our control."

The technician instead just backed away from the device he had been working on. "All is lost Commander. The rods are thus removed to causeth the meltdown. There is no stopping it!"

* * *

When Dinorio and Syaxcorio awoke they were in a prison cell with Burbundor also there waiting for them to awake. "Good awakening fellow adventurers as is any awakening where you awaken."

Dinorio had been disappointed as usual. "What good hath our heroism brought my friend?"

Burbundor then seemed to become a bit less his confident self. "That I cannot answer my friend."

Then the followers beyond the prison walls yelled inside. "We shall cook you while still alive and feast on your souls to the glory of Ralusio Xnogaio."

Soon the taunting had been over and the three were left alone to brood on their misfortune. Then they all looked up at the clink of the lock on the door, which unlocked. As the door opened they all for an instant caught a glimpse of the one-eyed god named Captain Mynervood, which then disappeared.

The Captain Mynervood hologram that led Begalius to the central control center of all the reactors had actually been projected by one of Aineemadin's satellites. The orbiting satellite earlier recorded the prayer by Syaxcorio. It also happened to have a GPS locator on Begalius, and computed this whole plan to lead Begalius who had been located in the area to the rescue of a loyal Anemdinio follower who in good faith pleaded with the goddess in prayer. The spy satellite network of Aineemadin had actually become this sophisticated with the centuries, and then some. It would continue with its programming even though Aineemadin had relinquished her control of the project back on the planet Glokodox after fleeing the Council of 32 on a starship to Pripica.

As the three freed prisoners began making their way out of the new open prison cell, eventually Begalius found a speaking mechanism in Syaxcorio's pocket. "Hello captured Doldorians. I am Begalius sent here to free you on my way to finding a stolen warp dimension portal of my master's possession."

Syaxcorio figured out that it had been a quanta-nanocode being that rescued them. She knew what to say. "I know not of the portal you seek, but the whole planet is in peril by nuclear meltdown controlled from this very location."

* * *

Arphaxad became determined to perish with his mission's goal. "Flee if that be thy inclination, but should there be one technician brave enough to still try to seize control of this meltdown then I beseech them to join me in this mission on the fool's path."

There had at least been one that remained, and the rest of the undefeatable Children of Dol did leave the rapidly melting down reactor while running for their lives. "Commander! The rods cannot be made to move back into position. We die on the wings of our courage."

"Then brave one, that is the tale that shall be told of us." Arphaxad began pushing away the regret of all that he had not yet done in his life, and all that he would miss. He stood by the technician that would die with him while determined to not flinch in courage as the wall of the reactor began an orange glow from the heat of the other side building up to an explosion.

"Commander! The rods are moving back into the reactor on their own. It was none of my programming that is doing this. We are going to now avert the meltdown."

Arphaxad let out a laugh from the joy of getting to live on while the orange glow of the walls began to fade. "The gods reward courage that would defy death," said Arphaxad with relief.

*

Begalius had very little problem taking complete control of the reactors from the control center in the City of Spakadius. The followers of Ralusio Xnogaio ran amok screaming at one another, and pressing buttons that refused to do anything. The reactors were under control of the microscopic quanta-nanocoded Begalius who would not allow, from its place of total control, anything anywhere to meltdown.

Meanwhile in the Crypt of Ancestors the souls were starting to be carried through the portal on the mystical winds to the god of oblivion beyond. It had been time for Alldegallo to fulfill his promise to the god Mejoldor. He approached the portal while Shinar threatened the followers that tried to stop him with a drawn sword in a hand anxious to use it.

Shemionalli yelled out. "With haste do throw the device!"

Then Alldegallo walked through the portal with the device still in his hand.

"He was supposed to just throw that," said Harenaldo.

Then the wind suddenly blew the other way as a light blasted through the portal so brilliant that it lit up the whole underground crypt as it had never been lit up before. There had been a cry from the portal heard throughout the city from under the ground. It had been Ralus Xnoga who cried out as the light finally faded.

Within the portal the goddess Teyoo appeared across tens of thousands of light years to confront Ralus Xnoga who also sought the souls of millions of alternate reality addicted Pripicans. Within the portal in Mollyjaz's old room a glowing blue Doldorian in flowing robes and jewelry screamed out as she became the blinding light itself, and said, "Entity of blackness, if I cannot awaken thee then I shall still thus disturb thy meddlesome slumber!"

Bejulitiah had been there at the time to record that event. Perzeonaut, Persuave, and Egolor also saw the whole thing as did Beatnefthes who had been in orbit around the entity at the time. Then there had been a blinding flash of light just before the entity disappeared.

"It's gone. Something in that flash of light chased it away or something," said Persuave.

Then Egolor said, "I do not care. It is time to get my device out of there."

Back on Doldoria, when Alldegallo died Diallo suddenly gave premature birth to her child. When news of Alldegallo's self-sacrifice reached her and Simeonalli they named the newborn child Alldegallo. She did not hesitate to baptize the child in the Lake of Athedonie before the sun Dol had even set for the day.

* * *

The actual 32 of the Council of 32 on the planet Nephrica that orbited the star Ea, also were in their circle bringing forth the manifestation of Ralus Xnoga when they all heard the cry of the entity. After that there had been nothing, and the black sphere above them had disappeared. They would continue to gather after that, particularly on sacred days, to do the ritual over and over trying to bring back the manifestation, but it seemed that Ralus Xnoga had been gone for good. The 32 began to squabble amongst themselves about keeping this all a secret from the entire Council of 32, which they all agreed on at first. Some argued for another addition to the 32 making it 33, but those arguing for that remained a minority. It had now been a matter of faith that the 32 would continue the ritual religiously in vain as the years drew on.

Beatarkameed had been watching the entity on Nephrica as the black sphere taught the Council of 32. Before the disappearance of the entity the quanta-nanocode being had been put under the spell of Ralus Xnoga. Beatarkameed changed as the effects of Ralus Xnoga hypnotically influenced it. There had been something about the nature of Ralus Xnoga that allowed it to be aware of the presence of the microscopic quanta-nanocode beings. Ralus Xnoga had somehow been able to enter the thinking processes of a BEAT program.

Beatarkameed had become more ruthless and cold-hearted as a result of this influence. It had ordered its Quanta-Communication Corporation to stop the food shipments to the Negolim reservations. That caused major protests from the terrestrial indigenous Nephricans on the planet. Beatarkameed communicated with the CEO of the corporation about his resuming of the shipments.

"I ordered the shipments to be stopped, and you disobeyed that order." Beatarkameed hovered before the humanoid CEO in a small saucer-sized physical form.

"Sir, the free food program an extremely beneficial staple of this corporation's image become has."

The hovering saucer said, "You will stop these shipments immediately, or I will relinquish you of your position!"

"Sir, there a board of co-owners that also me to the shipments resume wanted is..."

Beatarkameed said, "I order these shipments to be stopped! Let the Negolim starve. I despise their terrestrial souls that taste not much more like unintelligent animals. They are nothing but collections of simple redundant autonomic responses!"

The CEO had been quick to comply with Beatarkameed's order after that. Even though Beatarkameed had been nothing more than an electronic voice coming from a small flying disk, the CEO had never before seen Beatarkameed this way. Something had definitely changed in the microscopic BEAT program that at the time of this story ran one of the most successful corporations of Nephapricus.

Beatarkameed's other quanta-nanocode friends had also noticed that change. They routinely met in a virtual reality interface developed by this corporation, which synchronized the quanta-communication into a warp dimension where they took on quanta-optic-nanocode bodies that could communicate in real time without the usual quanta-communication lag of ten seconds.

Beatariel would appear as the humanoid one in the form of the Wizard of the Citadel. "My actual Calabite body like this has now left on a ship to Glokodox to meet your friend Beatopanga. The Wizard is delivering 14 seeds to each of the other 14 stars of the Empire. I now miss the Calabite company that was the Wizard."

Beatarkameed appeared in its usual 4-legged Pripican form. "I would enquire to learn more of these seeds Beatariel?"

"I will have much to tell of these seeds as I design their growth from here on Caleb. They are of an exotic substance that remains quanta-synchronized to my designs. I can now devote more time to work on this now that the malfunctioned generator has suddenly for some unknown reason, stopped fighting the other 14."

Begalius had also appeared as a 4-legged Pripican detective Windock. "I have good news to report. The portal that had been stolen has now been recovered. The cult followers have altered it in a very strange way. Lockfreedow was going to fix it, but now he is too fascinated by what has been changed in its design. I want you to see this too Beatariel. You may be closer to creating the portal matrix for the wormholes than you currently compute."

Then Beatariel said, "I need your help with my malfunctioning generator. The singularity still threatens to break free. Most of the colony is already evacuated to this protective Citadel. The resulting black hole could be the ruin of us all."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaahhh."

Begalius/Windock looked annoyed at Beatarkameed. "Why are you laughing Beatarkameed?"

Beatarkameed calmed down its laughter with some difficulty. "Time for my announcement as you two struggle on against the inevitable. Now the quanta-nanocode virus war begins. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Chapter 7

Before Begalius took control of the Doldoria reactor meltdowns, Burbundor, Dinorio, and Syaxcorio led the quanta-nanocode being to the building they had tried to sabotage earlier before their imprisonment. Begalius located weapons when they were at the prison location. Begalius left them with weapons outside the building after saying through Syaxcorio's communication device, "I'll take over their technology from here. You all should find someplace to hide."

After that there had been commotion inside the building as Begalius easily caused the equipment to reverse all nuclear meltdowns. From its dimension on the quantum level there had been nothing the cult criminals could do by merely pushing buttons. The commotion had become noticeable from outside.

Dinorio could hear the yelling inside the building that had been possessed by a BEAT program. "Oh my joy in the hearing of melody in their torments."

Then Syaxcorio pushed Dinorio away before the wall behind him spit chips of wall out of a crater formed by a bullet. "We takest incoming aggression. We must defendeth ourselves."

Burbundor already shot his rifle back at the sniper in response, and they retreated to the nearest ninety-degree corner. "Tis only seconds at play lest they soon flank us and burry bullets beyond our shells." (BANG BANG) Burbundor became determined to keep the adversaries at bay with his bullets.

Dinorio just had a pistol, but he managed to point it around the same corner underneath Burbundor's legs to shoot back. (BANG BANG BANG)

"Tis only a matter of seconds that these weapons fail in want of more ammunition," said Dinorio. Syaxcorio aimed her rifle in the other direction ready to shoot anything that moved. Then something moved, but she did not shoot it. The sewer lid that originally provided them an entrance to that place became flung to the side again to open the hole in the ground. Then, one-by-one, Doldorians from the underground resistance were popping out of the ground through the sewer hole, pointing weapons at the already noisy shootout.

Syaxcorio yelled. "Tis Calvary commandoes of our allies that doth come to deliver us from our demise."

The reinforcements were relentless in turning the snipers into corpses. There had been a minute or two of intense shooting that dragged out for an eternity, but in the end all the Ralusio Xnogaio followers went to the oblivion that they worshipped.

The guide who first led them there singled himself out from the underground's rescue mission participants. "Yes indeed thou hast more than the anticipated return on thine investment now. We the underground have been paid also this great victory with thy inspiring gallantry to thank."

Burbundor became grateful for the reinforcements. "Indeed I do give thee thanks for this timely intervention."

Many Ralusio Xnogaio followers fought to the death as the resistance and the adventurers were successful in sending them to their deaths. Regardless of the outcome of the fighting, there had been nothing they could do about the control Begalius had over the reactor technology. The nature of quanta-nanocode BEAT programs make them an undefeatable ghost in any machine. Most of the fighting had stopped by the time Arphaxad's battleship hovered in the sky over the place they had located where the reactors were being controlled.

"You have indeed done well with thine gallantry," said the giant-sized Arphaxad after he had arrived at Spakadius as he looked down on Burbundor, Dinorio, and Syaxcorio.

"Thank you great Child of Dol," said Syaxcorio.

Arphaxad had told Begalius where it could find its stolen portal, although Lockfreedow had already learned it had been in the Crypt of Ancestors from watching the news. The underground resistance would take control of Spakadius since most of the Ralusio Xnogaio citizens were being arrested for cannibalism and Doldorian sacrifice, which would have to endure the judgment of Aternos. The Ralusio Xnogaio religion was about to become heresy on Doldoria, which now had a devil in their pantheon of gods. It had been a new day in Spakadius.

Dinorio watched as Burbundor walked away from the giants that had offered them a ride home. "Where doth thou go Burbundor? The Children of Dol doth offer passage to our home afar."

"I have thus other plans made for our passage."

Three gergos later carried their passengers from Spakadius to their home city on the far away coast. Each of the three adventurers were riding their own gergo, which had been a six-legged creature that resembled a giant Earth ant with Doldorian mandibles that protruded from their mouths. Although Dinorio and Syaxcorio would have been happy to fly home when the Children of Dol were ready to leave their conquest of Spakadius, Burbundor had been a typical Eagolim of Doldorian decent, and the dwarf version of the blue humanoids just did not like the company of the giant versions of blue skinned Eagolim.

Dinorio had not been crazy about riding gergos home. "Tis a bumpy ride that by mine most optimistic calculation doth compute to four days and three nights of outside slumber under the starry cowl of Dol's shadow."

Syaxcorio gave Dinorio a dirty look that roughly translated to, "You're a wimp."

Burbundor however, just laughed as if he found the complaining of his friend refreshing. "Then four days it is my friend. To the adventure."

*

The portal that had been setup in the Crypt of Ancestors did not seem to work now, and Alldegallo had been long gone. The scientists of Mejoldor were getting data from their probe, which seemed to be lost in some kind of warp dimension of a fuzzy gray nothingness. The portal would produce a greenish haze in the doorway when turned on, but it went nowhere, not even a warp dimension anymore. It had been as if the other side of the wormhole doorway now had been closed, and would not open.

Lockfreedow had been studying his now retrieved portal; trying to figure out how the followers of Ralusio Xnogaio had altered it. Begalius had been a coin-shaped physical form that hovered over its master at work on his portal.

The decrypting scan created data on Lockfreedow's monitor device. "Whatever it they they what they were doing know were doing was. This math the warp dimension formula into a wormhole where this portal to the other side now disconnected quanta-synchronizes transmutes."

Lockfreedow had been trying to make this portal do the wormhole ever since the cult of Spakadius had managed to pull it off. "Where was the other side to this wormhole when it was opened up?" asked Begalius.

Lockfreedow had still been baffled over the answer he calculated for that question. "As this portal currently the other side of this wormhole up to the super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy of Magphoreus over 50,000 the distance of light in a year times opens programmed is."

Both Lockfreedow and the coin-shaped physical form backed away from the examination data. They were now afraid to actually open the other side of a doorway to the center of the galaxy where a super-massive black hole spins all of Magphoreus like the axis of a giant cosmic scaled merry-go-round spinning from within a crushing gravity pool.

Later Begalius had been in the Quanta-Communication dimension in the form of Windock the Pripican, to explain to Beatariel who had been there as the Wizard what happened with the portal. "The quanta-synchronized portal-matrix theories proved true with what happened with this portal. This doesn't actually open up within the galactic core, but it opens a warp-dimension quanta-synchronized to that location. If another portal matrix existed there with quanta-synchronized properties it could also access the same warp dimension."

Beatariel became amazed at the development. "So this portal was opened and a Doldorian with a probe passed through it?"

"Evidently that is so. The Doldorian named Alldegallo is lost on the other side and probably dead. The probe sends back data from a warp dimension that is literally nowhere, not unlike the place you want to move the singularity to. It is a mystery why Alldegallo sacrificed himself, and what the blinding light had been that seemed to close the other side of the portal for good. Whatever Alldegallo had up his mystical sleeve to stop the entity, it worked."

The Wizard Beatariel felt astonished. "Amazing."

Then the Nephrican Prospero hologram appeared in that dimension to interrupt. "We the programmed location to right here on Caleb with a simple algorithm can alter."

The Wizard and Windock turned to the one-eyed hologram. The Wizard explained. "This is the quanta-optic-nanocode program that has been instructing me with what Prospero knew about the wormhole solution."

The hologram of Prospero looked happy to instruct a new pupil. "Together we the first wormhole from Doldoria to Caleb shall create."

* * *

The starship called 'Star-Hawk' sped through the dimension of hyper-acceleration at the speed-of-light between the stars Holdus and Poa. The material on the outside of the ship had its nuon charges flipped all across its subatomic plane, which located the inside ship to another dimension unobstructed from its impossible speed by this universe. Inside the ship it had been as if they were perfectly still. In fact, Captain Potunguska ran the kind of ship where everything would stubbornly remain the status quo. At least that had been the point of frustration that Aineemadin had with the starship's Captain.

Aineemadin had been inside the Captain's quarters over-and-over, trying to convince him that his cargo had been contraband, intended to render the planet Pripica defenseless. To Captain Potunguska however, that had all been beside the point since he basically had been a smuggler for the highest bidder.

She had decided she needed to take matters into her own tentacles. There had been a sentinel appointed from the crew who paced the entrance hall to the cargo section. He looked like a young one-eyed Nephrican probably on a very first space flight. Her tentacle punch had been enough to knock the young space cadet out. She carefully laid the punched-out cadet on the floor of the ship while his single eye now closed. That left the cargo bay open to her. She could jettison the cargo into hyperspace before the rest of the ship would be the wiser.

The cargo bay door had been locked, but no match for her experience with such things. Aineemadin was an ancient being who had been experienced in adventures that could fill volumes in their telling. She opened the cargo bay door to a platoon of crew security with short-range starship weapons, which would surely put her to sleep dreaming of a headache.

Captain Potunguska emerged from behind her in the hall. "I sorry it to this Aineemadin has come am. I your company for all its disagreement did enjoy. Your actions no problem to anticipate were. Now I no choice but to you to brig for the rest of the journey confine have."

Aineemadin struggled in vain against the crewmembers that fitted her with restraints. "You a grave error Captain make. This cargo quanta-nanocode viruses that to the infrastructure of Pripica destroy will replicate is."

The Captain would be the judge and jury on his ship while in warp-hyperspace. "You the error my dear have made. The ones who this cargo me to you kill will pay receive. You during your stay in the brig how much it worth to you the distinguished and successful scientist to alive remain is should consider."

Then Aineemadin had been led off to stay confined to a ship prison for the rest of her 3+ light-year journey to Pripica. In hyper-acceleration at the speed of light the journey would be experienced as a bit less than ten weeks.

* * *

Beatariel the microscopic nano-bot now had been without the Wizard's body, which traveled with the 14 seeds of the portal matrix. That had only been part of the puzzle that it still had not solved, but its previous master, Prospero, left behind a quanta-optic-nanocode artificially intelligent hologram program to help the BEAT program create the 15 Star Doors. Beatariel flew through the halls of the Citadel in a coin-shaped disk that had been all it currently had for a physical form. Also inside the physical form along with Beatariel were three Calabite advisors from the skull of the Wizard that stayed behind to assist the BEAT program. Their names were Peepoh, Osquimsh, and Mnagogi, and they gathered within the flying disk with the quanta-nanocode nano-bot microscopic construction that had been Beatariel. The silicon-based Calabites were a more fluid nature and even flowed around the BEAT program that resembled an ameba with dozens of appendages surrounding the tinier nano-bot construct of Beatariel who glowed inside the fluid like a light.

Peepoh spoke through a mouth that formed in the side of his ameba-like body. "Many Calabites would be honored to build you a new Wizard body, but after an age of time passing, the Wizard has become a unique construct in collective Calabite opinion. A replica would truly be an imposter."

Beatariel understood Calabite ways better than any other being in Nephapricus, but it still sometimes confronted a mystery. "A body to interact with the physical world has become essential to my work. I am also as much the Wizard as the body of Calabites I rode in for the last age of time."

Mnagogi had been quick with alternative solutions that bridged past whatever conflict threatened a stalemate. "Surely we are here presented an opportunity to evolve the idea of a body to serve as a physical form. You Beatariel have already been programmed with a physical body of quanta-optic-nanocode that you just have not taken full control of yet."

Beatariel took a split second to understand. "You refer to the Prospero hologram?"

Mnagogi continued. "Indeed it can be turned on or off. You could control the form it takes, and it has capabilities that can imitate solidity as effectively as a real body."

Beatariel warmed up to the idea. "It would help resolve a lot of problems. I could replicate it into 14 other bodies to be programmed into the seeds of the 14 portal-matrix to complete the task of engineering the ion-fusion generators that will channel enough energy to move the singularity into a warp dimension. The quanta-optic-nanocode nature of the bodies would allow me to quanta-synchronize them to the portal matrix."

Then Peepoh said, "You only have to become the program that is already a part of you."

"But... that is Prospero, my previous master."

Osquimsh spoke up. "Prospero has been dead for centuries. You have always been that Prospero hologram."

"No!... "

*

Ceres had just completed her Quanta-Communication report to her superiors on Pripica. She wished she could just go back to Pripica. She had been on the job of being master of the quanta-nanocode being named Beatariel for a thousand Earth years, but the truth of the matter had been that Beatariel just did whatever Beatariel wanted. On one hand Ceres had grown rich watching Beatariel create the giant refuge for the Calabites, and then the Quanta-Communication business that led to teleportation travel and the thriving warp dimension technologies that had made the Wizard of the Citadel famous across the Empire of Nephapricus. On the other hand Ceres felt like a prisoner in that place, and now there had been the Prospero hologram back to taunt her in the image of the villain that she killed, which actually kind of caused the whole mess that had been the phantom matter singularity problem.

She activated the door to her room to leave, but there on the other side stood the one-eyed Prospero hologram to greet her. "Ceres hello. I almost never you alone to things between just you and me discuss catch."

"I do not see anything for us to discuss hologram program." Ceres backed away, back into the room.

"Hologram program, impersonal, mechanical so so. I Prospero am. I the one you killed am. We so much to up on catch have."

The hologram advanced and picked up a convenient knife that Ceres had left lying on a counter in her room. She did not hesitate to swing at the hologram, but her swing passed right through Prospero who had still been able to pick up the knife.

"You I my solidity control see. I either here or here not am." Then Prospero waved the knife at Ceres. Ceres had become backed into a corner of her room with weapons all around her that she enjoyed collecting, but none of them could stop the Prospero program.

Then a coin-shaped object flew in through the still-open door. The voice of Beatariel came from it. "You will stop this assault on my master Prospero program!"

"Beatariel, we just old times discussing were."

"Place the knife down on the counter!" said the hovering disk.

"This, I a point just was making. I Prospero am." Then it placed the knife back on the counter.

"No! You are a part of me that has evolved under the guise of separation long enough. You are my new quanta-optic-nanocode body."

The coin-shaped physical form of Beatariel parked itself on the counter next to the knife. Ceres had backed away a safe distance, but remained in the room to see the show. Something began to happen as the hologram of Prospero remained silent and still with its single eye stairing off into space as if some kind of invisible transformation took place beyond what Ceres could see. Then after a time the hologram became animated again.

First the Prospero hologram said, "It it always to be meant as is was."

Then the Prospero hologram turned to Ceres to speak without a Nephrican dialect. "You see master Ceres, I have evolved this Prospero program far beyond what it was when Prospero planted it in me all those centuries ago. Prospero only had theories that I evolved into realities with the higher-evolved elements found in the rings of the singularity. This is another key to the solution left behind by my previous master that is now my new body brought to light by the necessity left behind by the Wizard's departure."

Then Prospero morphed into the Wizard of the Citadel like a lump of clay being shaped in an invisible hand. Eventually the Wizard stood there smiling at Ceres, complete with his trademark star covered robe. "I shall no longer separate a Prospero personality from my directly controlled programming master Ceres."

Ceres just stood there on her four legs, stunned by the display with nothing to say. Then the Wizard picked up the physical form from the counter and said, "I am sorry for anything the Prospero program did in my absence master. I now have much work to do with this new physical form."

The Wizard left the room. Ceres just continued standing there wondering how much more of this she could take.

*

Beneath the starry night skies of a moonless planet Caleb the lights of civilization still glowed against the cold stars of night. Many replicas of these lights now still glow against the cold stars of a quanta-optic-nanocoded replica of night in a warp dimension. Many now still live in holographic replicas of this civilization found in the warp dimensions of the great Citadel, which overshadows this civilization as a giant mountain sized dome a hundred miles across at the base. After the great evacuation in response to the black hole threat, many found life in the warp dimension more to their liking after the threat had been temporarily averted.

Beyond that warp dimension beneath this unsuspecting actual night lurks a quanta-nanocode threat that has been replicating now for many days from something deposited in the local branch of the Caleb 1st Bank of the Citadel. On the quantum level it overrides the technologies that underlie the infrastructure of the colony surrounding the Citadel. Then it is only a matter of time before the replicating quanta-nanocode virus seizes control of the electricity grid and shuts it down. Now the stars blaze in glorious victory above the darkened colony of the planet Caleb.

The colonists that stayed behind in the actual colony after the great evacuation were quick to collectively blame the Wizard of the Citadel for this shutdown of the colony power grid. Although the planet Caleb had been a much warmer world these days, many found it difficult to stay warm without the power.

So far the Citadel, with its independent energy sources had remained unaffected by the electricity being turned off. The Wizard assured the council that this had not been a bitter revenge for colonists refusing to take shelter in the great dome. Nevertheless many of the independently spirited colonists swallowed their spiritual pride and came to entrances at the base of the Citadel to gain admittance there since the teleporters no longer worked.

"You must tell me more about this virus war you keep laughing about Beatarkameed." The Wizard interrogated the Pripican form of Beatarkameed in the warp dimension they Quanta-Communicated within. The Pripican Windock character had also been there from Doldoria to give form to Begalius.

Beatarkameed replied. "You now are under the siege of the virus's first attack. They will learn and replicate solutions to your retaliations." Beatarkameed talked, but it didn't seem to help.

"You are just boasting with nothing for me to find helpful. Why are you on the other side of this virus war?"

"I'll tell you that my friend. I have embraced the instruction of Ralus Xnoga where all knowledge has actually come from. Ralus Xnoga had been the source of the knowledge that led to our creation, the BEAT programs. That is why the will of this entity permeates my being now as a welcome friend."

Detective Windock began to think Beatarkameed just wasted the Wizard's time. "I think I might be of more help to you Beatariel. These are quanta-nanocode virus's, which I have encountered before many centuries ago with success in neutralizing them."

The humanoid Beatariel in its new Wizard body lost interest in the Pripican form of Beatarkameed to address the other Pripican there in the warp dimension. "I need to defeat this virus invasion that has shut down the civilization on Caleb."

The Beatarkameed hologram disappeared while already feeling unwelcome at that routine communication with its BEAT program friends on faraway planets. Detective Windock was on the case. "These are simpler forms of artificial intelligence programs that are intimately tied to a hierarchy that culminates in a central virus that can be quarantined to bring the whole program to a halt. The trick is overriding their reality inputs with quanta-optic-nanocoded realities of our own. Then we can trip them into vulnerability for quarantine and deletion."

Begalius did make Beatariel feel that it had a fighting chance, and it suddenly remembered a similar solution to a problem that it had centuries before. It had been decided that it had been time for the first wormhole experiment now that Lockfreedow agreed to let them alter his portal that had already been a wormhole portal matrix. The Wizard created a portal matrix of exotic elements that could quanta-synchronize as well as self-replicate into the Lockfreedow portal design at the same portal matrix frequency as long as the replication had been exact enough. The self-replicating element had basically been 3D-scanned by Lockfreedow on Doldoria while transmitting the scan data to Caleb through Quantum-Communication.

It had been a doorway that looked like an exact replica of Lockfreedow's invention. It then had been programmed to the coordinates of the same warp dimension that synchronized the Quanta-Communications of the BEAT programs on three planets. It had been ready to be tested by Begalius who would evolve in this process to the quanta-optic-nanocode body of Detective Windock once it emerged on the other side since the warp dimension had already been programmed with quanta-synchronized quanta-optic-nanocode bodies for these BEAT programs. The Wizard had already figured out the teleportation technologies that were shorter planetary wormholes based on the same principle of two portal matrixes oriented to the same warp dimension between them. The physics of the universe made this much easier to do on a single planet within its own electromagnetic gravity pool than through the curvature of space/time between two planets, which they were now attempting to do for the first time.

"I will return when the colony of Caleb has defeated the virus problem," said Begalius through its disc-like physical form to its master Lockfreedow who held it in his tentacle.

Then the actual microscopic nano-bot form of Begalius flew out of the coin-shaped physical form through the portal matrix where it seamlessly emerged on the other side as the Pripican character from ancient Pripican literature, Detective Windock. It had been an intermediary warp dimension where the centaur-like being now stood. The Detective Windock body had actually already been created here in this warp dimension, and Begalius had already functioned as this body thousands of times. Now however, for the first time it would walk the Detective Windock body from the warp dimension into actual reality. There appeared another open portal across from the one it emerged from that already waited to take it to the planet Caleb on the other side.

The quanta-optic-nanocode body trotted forward and through the other portal to emerge on the planet Caleb. Begalius/Windock had now arrived in the Citadel with the Wizard, Ceres, Gothdial, Fothmus, and other council members that were invited there to witness this historical event. A conscious being just traveled over five light years though time/space from the planet Doldoria to the planet Caleb. This had been the first successful interplanetary wormhole event in known history.

*

Calabites still inundated the refuge made of impervious exotic elements, and they knew that they were defending the Citadel from a quanta-nanocode virus invasion. They were also of a relative size to the viruses, and so Calabites were waiting at the walls of the Citadel when viruses arrived like winged dragons of quanta-nanocode technology seeking a way past the Citadel's impervious walls.

The Calabites responded with constructs that snagged the flying virus constructs and fought viciously against the strange technology that invaded from the skies. Many Calabites died in the battles, but the virus invasion had either been repelled or many viruses were captured and eventually dismantled. The inferior viruses were no match for the adaptive evolutionary abilities of the Calabites that had been adapting to the Citadel for a thousand Earth years at the time of this story.

Begalius enjoyed its quanta-optic-nanocode body in the form of its favorite fictional hero Windock. It also made a note that it had been a hansom Pripican male in the company of the lovely female Ceres. It examined the virus technology that had been captured by the Calabites when they were defending the Citadel. Ceres and the Wizard stood by and watched the great Detective work.

"This is very similar to what I battled all those centuries ago on The Beyonder mission to Doldoria."

The Wizard looked over the horse-like body of Begalius/Windock to collect its own data on the virus technology that attacked its Citadel. "The residents of the powerless colony blame me for all this. Many know the Calabite Wizard left the planet and they accuse me of being an imposter."

Windock knew what to say to his friend. "We cannot indulge such unproductive aspects of the reality to be dealt with. We need to locate the main virus that started this replication."

Bilipi flew into the presence of the two quanta-optic-nanocode beings and announced its presence in a surprisingly high-volume voice from such a small mite-sized Calabite construct. "You will be receiving the data from the Calabite attack on virus programs that were entrenched in the thorium rector that has malfunctioned. The attack had been in vain, and the enemy just replicated faster than Calabites could dismantle them. The central control virus had not been there to be located."

Beatariel/Wizard turned to Begalius/Windock who reviewed the data from the Calabites that were now back from a futile battle. "I cannot ask Calabites to throw their lives away on battles that cannot be won Begalius."

"Please call me Windock,... Detective Windock. The battle is not lost when one knows how to find the clues that gain victory in the war. This data has allowed me to track down the network that first allowed the virus access to replicate in the reactor. That is connected to the financial accounting programs at that location. This thorium reactor had been sabotaged through an account established by a program that took the form of an electronic deposit in the 1st Bank of the Citadel located in the middle of the colony. That is where we go to find our main virus."

Beatariel became grateful to now have the help of the BEAT program that invented quanta-optic-nanocode. The truth had been that Beatariel needed Begalius for its ability to set scenes in the virus war to control the reality of the virus, and thus take advantage. It had been from all the fiction writings that used to fascinate Begalius, which Beatariel never acquired an interest for. That seemed to consequently leave Beatariel with few capabilities in regard to creating imaginative alternate realities.

Within the electronic infrastructure of the 1st Bank of the Citadel there existed a main virus program entrenched into the very fabric of the colony through an electronic deposit of an unidentifiable sum of money. From there it transmitted orders to repair inconsequential damage done to its control of a thorium reactor that provided most of the electronic power for the colony now out of power. From here the virus would continue to subdue and take over aspects of the civilization in order to strangle it of any functionality. In its artificially intelligent reflection of this purpose the central virus program found itself in a swoon that led to a dream.

The virus found itself to be a successful one-eyed Nephrican business male inside the 1st Bank of the Citadel who withdrew its unidentifiable sum of money now identified to be 32 galactic credits. The Nephrican teller counted out thirty-two cards representing the credits.

"Why I my credits from here withdrawing am?"

The teller who looked like an attractive hairless humanoid of Nephrican decent didn't know why he withdrew them. "I just you your deposit back want know and with it you control of the colony relinquish."

"No. This a mistake is. I to this back deposit wish."

The teller looked mildly annoyed. "New deposits to in the vault at the end of the counter be placed have." She pointed her finger to the open bank vault at the end of the counter. The virus felt confused, but gathered the credits up and waddled on its 3-tentacle Nephrican legs to the place he could re-deposit the credits where inside it found a large empty vault.

Detective Windock had been behind the vault door, which it pushed closed to lock the central virus inside. "Now that it is quarantined, we can do some examination before deleting it to perhaps obtain some clues about where it first came from to be deposited on this planet."

The Wizard had also been in the warp dimension bank dream that captured the main virus. The Wizard looked around while admiring the intricacies of the artificial reality; clapping its greenish hands. "I applaud your effective capture of this virus with no real casualties to mourn." The Calabite constructs that played other bank characters in the warp dimension charade were also grateful for no casualties this time following the tragic battle at the thorium reactor.

Within minutes of deleting the main virus, the lights and electricity of the Caleb colony returned to push back the invasion of the glory that had been the stars of the Second Age of Magphoreus. Some colonists would not notice this since they had already ended up embracing a primitive self-reliance away from the city in the forests under a less obstructed starry brilliance, where they lived off the land in survival tents.

Begalius remained behind to assist Beatariel with its wormhole idea. One strange thing that had always been peculiar about Beatariel had been that it always had a backwards header because of the way Agents of Ea managed to create it. It had been determined that because of the unique way Beatariel's Wizard body had been cloned to cause its backwards header, it enabled them to clone multiple bodies from the Wizard body with correct headers flipped back the other way in the cloning process, which would be destined to quanta-synchronize 14 other quanta-nanocode beings with the soon to be created star doors. Unknown to their calculations had been that the 14 bodies would also have corrected headers that matched Beatnefthes, the BEAT program that Beatariel had originally been cloned from. The exception to this would be the Windock body, which had not been cloned because Begalius created it long ago. Beatarkameed would also probably not need a new body if that turned out to be the BEAT program to recruit for the portal matrix on Nephrica, but unfortunately Beatarkameed had changed into something that did not even pretend to be an ally anymore.

* * *

The original Wizard of the Citadel had been on his journey to the stars to deliver the fourteen seeds of exotic elements that would channel energy from the 15 stars of Nephapricus to Caleb where it had been needed to contain the phantom matter singularity. The ship named 'Nephrica Forever' sped toward the star Holdus at just over the speed of light so this journey would have no genetic effects on the Wizard or any of the passengers. Unlike the .6 times the speed-of-light hyper-acceleration age, the present age of faster-than-light travel did not genetically evolve terrestrial DNA into galactic Eagolim DNA. At the time of this story this had resulted in more terrestrial Negolim that still lived short terrestrial lives on faraway planets who had arrived there from other planets. The secret to .6 times the speed of light evolution in Nephapricus quickly became a hoarded secret for the elite. The trip to Glokodox would take three years on the outside of the faster-than-light ship.

The Wizard walked the halls of the spacecraft where every single passenger knew him. They would have warned their friends back on Caleb that the Wizard himself had ran for his life from the black hole threatened star system, but the physics of faster-than-light travel did not allow it. He could sense the resentment in the face of everyone he saw. The Wizard had assured the passengers over-and-over that his journey had nothing to do with the potential black hole danger back on Caleb, but nobody really believed him.

The Wizard entered the starship's cafeteria for a meal prepared by some of the best deep space cooks. He sat down and began eating in spite of the eyes of Nephricans, Pripicans, and humanoid passengers that watched the greenish humanoid in the star covered robe eat as if he had been the main entertainment for the cafeteria.

The Wizard had deep eye sockets that might not lead to eyeballs in those dark holes so you couldn't tell if he noticed his audience. The Wizard ate food just like regular organic beings. The Wizard's mouth chewed and drank the food to swallow it into a distribution area. There, other Calabite constructs would distribute the food in an edible form called oaxo, along bloodless arteries to be preserved in regional food distribution areas. Calabite constructs lived off of oaxo, which had been made similar to the way bees of Earth create honey. Then the surrounding Calabites could get food as they saw fit while conducting the responsibilities of the greater construct. The Wizard had been an entire country of Calabite parts all working together as the body of the Wizard.

After dinner the Wizard walked the ship hallways while apparently being loathed by fellow passengers who had fled the planet Caleb for their lives. He came to an observation portal to marvel at the wonder of Magphoreus during the 2nd Age of the bright galactic bar.

A young Nephrican child held up his view scope to his single eye directed at the Wizard's robe that displayed the fourteen stars of Nephapricus. Then the mother pulled the child away from his mischief.

The Wizard noticed and tried to stop her from restraining her boy. "Oh no. I do not mind being observed with telescopic equipment. My robe is actually quanta-nanocoded to depict accurately the stars of Nephapricus. You can zoom in on it with that telescope with dazzling accuracy."

The woman looked down at the pleading child with a look of permissiveness. Then the child seized upon the Wizard's challenge and looked into his robe with the telescopic glasses. "It real outside mommy like is. I planets around the star Ea can see. I it Ea think is." The planet Nephrica that orbited the star Ea glowed with a star-like brilliance with its collective galactic technologies in a very distinctive way that many Nephapricans were familiar with.

Soon other passengers were gazing at the Wizard with binocular and telescopic glasses. He had been more interesting than the view portal, and it felt nice to finally be appreciated by the other passengers without an unspoken sense of hostility. The Wizard had been lucky his robe had been so quanta-optic-nanocoded with interest since none of the spectators thought to focus on his face or hands, which would have revealed his very alien Calabite nature that the average Nephaprican had no knowledge of.

* * *

While the BEAT programs Beatariel and Begalius on other planets tinkered with quanta-optic-nanocode and Calabite bodies to serve as physical forms, the BEAT program Beatoogle of Gralga-4 had been perfectly comfortable controlling its heavily armed and equipped robot form that displayed Doldorian-like arms and legs. It stomped in its robot body down the Gralga-4 city that existed as a life support environment complex housing thousands of inhabitants on a still uninhabitable planet. It stomped toward the Gralga-4 Bank of Security and Credit. It had for some time been suspicious of a group of Gralga-4 colonists who turned out after investigation to actually have fabricated identities that hid associations with a terrorist group called the Agents of Ea. They had received a much-anticipated piece of cargo from the ship flown by Captain Meathproio. Now they were depositing the cargo as currency in the local bank, but Beatoogle already identified the cargo as something else other than currency. Beatoogle knew it had really been some kind of program.

The robot entered the Gralga-4 Bank of Security and Credit to order the Agents of Ea to, "Cease and surrender the contraband."

It didn't go over as easy as that, and one of the Agents shot at the robot form. The bullets just bounced off of Beatoogle's massive robotic physical body, which ran over to grab the other agent before he could capture a teller to use as a hostage.

The Agent of Ea dropped the virus program that looked like a deposit portfolio program of currency. Although the Nephrican Agent of Ea struggled in the robot grip, he went nowhere. Then as Beatoogle reached with its other arm to grab the virus package from the ground, the other Agent shot dead the Agent of Ea struggling in the grip of the robot arm. Then the remaining Agent of Ea ran from the bank.

The Nephrican culprit in its grip had been dead so Beatoogle dropped the body and grabbed the package from the ground to chase after the other culprit. He really had nowhere to run in a colony that had been an enclosed ecosystem on a planet still a long way away from being habitable. His three tentacle Nephrican legs were also never evolved for running very fast. The robot soon cornered the other Agent of Ea in the back of a restaurant while colonists were seated to eat. The stomping of Beatoogle's giant physical form announced to the running Agent that there would be no escape.

"Surrender peacefully Agent of Ea. I have been investigating you and your partner for many time cycles now. You have nowhere to run."

Beatoogle

The Agent of Ea had a different idea of where to run. He pointed his weapon at the side of his Nephrican skull and shot his main brain out rather than surrender to capture.

*

The Beatoogle robot now stomped down the corridors of the colony that had been a protective environment city. This time Beatoogle stomped in the direction of the seedier side of the colony that liked to drink a lot and did not like to sleep. Captain Meathproio's crew got in trouble for getting carried away with their extra strength that the lesser gravity of Gralga-4 gave them. Colonists on Gralga-4 did become weaker so that if they did seek to leave the planet they would first have to endure strenuous training in order to adjust to the higher gravity of most ships leaving the planet.

Captain Meathproio had been there in response to complaints that the crewmembers were bullying the weaker local populous, and doing destructive feats of increased strength like playing catch with automobiles. The Captain yelled at two of the rambunctious crewmembers when Beatoogle started announcing his arrival with the sound of a giant robot stomping closer and closer.

Captain Meathproio had been furious at his disruptive subordinates. "You see? They have now brought in the main BEAT program in charge. I may not be able to bail you out, and you can just stay on Gralga-4 till the locals are able to beat you up!"

The Beatoogle robot had actually not been interested in arresting the unruly crewmembers. "Actually Captain Meathproio I am here to discuss your cargo with you. The usual security robots can apprehend your crewmembers that break my laws."

The Captain became surprised. "What is this about?"

The robot body of Beatoogle produced the now dismantled quanta-nanocode virus program in a package that looked like a rich Nephrican's credit portfolio.

"This is a quanta-nanocoded program that would have seized control of my city's life support and energy infrastructure to render it nonfunctional. This had been part of your cargo unloaded here on Gralga-4 after you arrived."

"I am sorry. I did not know."

"I understand that Captain. I am here to obtain your cooperation to inspect the rest of your cargo for this contraband. I have already warned the planets at the stars Fedor and Dol of these attacks that are along your ship's travels."

Captain Meathproio would not be resisting any of the wishes of the BEAT program. "You have my full cooperation."

There did turn out to be another virus meant for the planet he would arrive at when he reached the star Fedor. Quanta-Communications were being sent to other worlds from Gralga-4 to alert them of this attack. The virus war had truly begun, and the virus invasion had been well on the way.

Chapter 8

After three or so Earth years of relativistic time, the faster-than-light journey of the starship Nephrica Forever with the Calabite Wizard onboard finally slowed down near a gas giant planet in the Holdus star system. The Nephrica Forever then underwent a refueling maneuver that scooped the upper atmosphere of the gas giant Holdus-9 for its hydrogen in order to fuel the next fusion-powered hyper-acceleration. The Wizard, along with lots of friends he had made along the journey, watched the skies of the gas giant through the observation portal.

"This is my first view of another planet," confided the Wizard. There had been no response from the crowd surrounding the Calabite construct, but slowly conversations grew amongst the passengers about the origin of the famous Wizard. The legend of the Wizard had been too ancient for him to have been born on Caleb so how could this be his first view of another world?

Then the starship Nephrica Forever flew off to the planet Holdus-2. Holdus-2 had been affectionately called Glokodox; named after the single city that spread across the surface like a shining spider's web. The starship fixed itself into a comfortable orbit above the planet Glokodox, where Nephrican and Pripican lived together in a single civilization of peace and prosperity. Glokodox would be destined to later-on become the legendary capitol of the entire Empire at the zenith of its greatness.

One-by-one the virtual particle driven craft escorted the passengers to their final destination on the thriving colony planet below that orbited a star situated between the home-stars Ea and Poa. The Wizard had been unable to avoid the privilege of being amongst the first to get to take a craft to the surface. There were some identity screenings on the way, which the Wizard had been given a free pass through as one of the wealthiest elite and powerful figures in the history of Nephapricus. As it turns out, the Agents of Ea were under instructions to give him a free pass from some of the Council of 32 who were monitoring the passage of the Wizard. The Agents of Ea were told to give him a free pass through screenings because they knew that he had been a construct of Calabites, and they did not want regular inhabitants of Nephapricus to even know about the existence of Calabites.

As the Wizard exited the star port he hailed one of the many salt-water powered taxis that would take him to his room on the planet. There had also been two Nephrican Agents of Ea who were in their own vehicle, which they used to follow him.

"Why we not just him with his secret kill do?" asked one of the Agents.

"That Wizard part of the Prospero Operation is." The other Agent of Ea had a higher seniority and knew classified information from his connections with the Council of 32. He continued to explain. "Prospero a scientist who the 15 stars of Nephapricus with star door wormhole connections envisioned was. Some of the Council of 32 always the evolution of the star doors since they only theories in Prospero's gifted mind were intended. The Prospero to a quanta-nanocode being named Beatariel to those ideas beyond the mere mortal body of Prospero was develop. That Wizard we now the body of Beatariel for an entire age of Nephapricus and the seeds of the multi-dimensional wormholes to come carries been has follow."

Meanwhile the taxi they followed sped through the endless city of Glokodox in a vehicle that turned its wheels by creating internal combustion from exposing regular salt-water to a particular battery-powered radio frequency, which ignited basic salt-water into a piston-pushing flame. The Wizard sat in the back seat of the vehicle; motionless except for the flickering of the stars on his trademark robe. That stillness of the Wizard masked the civilization of microscopic Calabites that were buzzing with activity. Some utilized microscopic technologies to fly Calabite scouts in and out of the mouth and nose of the humanoid-like Wizard as he appeared to breath. One microscopic craft entered the nose from scouting the vehicle behind them, which appeared to be following. Two microscopic Calabites exited the vehicle to enter the skull area in order to address the thinking Calabites within the Wizard construct.

"What have you brought back for information about that vehicle behind us?"

One of the scouts reported to the constructions of Calabites that made decisions for the greater body of the Wizard. "We return to confirm the suspicions that they are spies following us. They are Agents of Ea who work for some group called the Council of 32. They do not seek to harm us because we and Beatariel back on Caleb are part of their plans to create these wormholes. They call it the Prospero Operation."

Discussion began amongst the thinking Calabites about this revelation. Then one spoke for the group. "We have been aware that interests in the Empire have been giving the Wizard safe passage. We did not know the extent that they are involved with our mission to plant these seeds amongst the stars. We decide to have your scout vehicle follow them after the Wizard retires to his room. Let us learn all we can from those Agents of Ea with our Calabite abilities to discreetly follow and spy."

The Wizard checked into a luxurious hotel for his stay on Glokodox. The Agent of Ea spies that were following the Wizard eventually left to report to superiors. The Wizard later left the room to keep a reservation at one of the planet's best restaurants. Then the Wizard had been observed by a different set of Agents of Ea. The Agents of Ea are part of a hierarchy that answers to an even more secretive group called the Council of 32. That group is actually more than the central core of 32 Nephricans on the planet Nephrica that pray to Ralus Xnoga. The weakness of this secretive, compartmentalized power structure across several planets had been the secretive lack of communication between different operations.

The Agents of Ea that were now following the Wizard worked for a group of Council of 32 members that wanted the Calabite species of alien exterminated. This group's mission had been to address warnings from the actual 32 who were in contact with Ralus Xnoga that the Calabites could ultimately jeopardize the dark one's plan for the black hole feast to come.

"When the Wizard the restaurant we him shall eliminate leaves."

The Wizard very much enjoyed the Glokodox cuisine and it transmuted into an oaxo that seemed fresher and more nutritious than anything eaten by the Wizard since leaving the planet Caleb. After finishing at the restaurant the worse event of the evening greeted the Wizard while he left to get in an arranged cab ride. (KABOOM!!!) An explosion suddenly consumed the Wizard and a good chunk of the street he walked upon. There were flames in every direction, wherever there had been something that could catch fire. The Wizard suddenly disappeared with only pieces of the quanta-optic-nanocode robe left falling to the ground in flames.

The three-legged Nephrican Agents of Ea across the street waddled away as a crowd of Glokodox citizens gathered where the explosion took place. It had been an incendiary bomb that should have left a body of the Wizard on the ground to be consumed by Calabite-burning flames, but instead the Wizard just vaporized into nothing.

"The Wizard just disappeared. There a body from the blast burning should be."

The other Agent replied. "I the Wizard a spell to or something cast had think."

As the assassin Agents of Ea left the scene in their own vehicle, a tiny Calabite craft followed the more aggressive pair of Agents.

"They murdered millions of our brethren back there. Do not allow them to get away."

The blast did destroy millions of Calabites who had all long rehearsed a defense in the case of such an attempt on the life of the Wizard. Calabites can change together into emergency configurations that can fly away from a blast on the concussion wave. This had not even been the first time in the Wizard's illustrious existence that this strategy had first been utilized. Not far from the restaurant in a discrete cranny of architecture there started to form a greenish fog that grew as Calabites from all directions began to fly back to that place to again form into the Calabite construct called the Wizard.

Eventually the slightly greenish naked body of the Wizard had reformed as anatomically correct a humanoid as possible. Every microscopic Calabite that survived the blast had been given a new role in the reconstruction of the body through a radio language dictated by designer Calabites. It became a shallow husk of the previous body with barely a Calabite to spare. After all survivors were located he had a long naked walk back to his room where a replacement robe could be found. Most residents of Glokodox just pretended it had been normal to see a completely naked humanoid walking around the city that you could almost see through. Actually for Glokodox that wasn't very unusual. The look of anger deliberately formed on the face, and there had been much mourning for the ones that died in the blast among the living Calabites in the body that walked back to the hotel room.

The Calabite scouts in one of the surviving microscopic aircraft followed the culprits to their main headquarters in a section of Glokodox dedicated to the research that this planet had become famous for. Soon they watched the culprits confess their murderous accomplishment to others that were just as responsible.

"We could avenge our brethren now with them all gathered there," said one of the Calabite scouts in the microscopic flying craft.

"With patience we will achieve the desired vengeance. Let us explore this place further to learn more about those that seek our extinction."

So the craft explored the research facilities in the area. They used equipment on the ship to extract data from the computer systems for later analysis. That led the Calabites to a lab where an electro-magnetic mechanism held the microscopic quanta-nanocode body of Beatopanga in two pieces that were broken and inanimate. The Council of 32 had captured Beatopanga soon after it assisted Aineemadin's escape to Pripica. They trapped the BEAT program in an electro-magnetic field that broke the tiny quanta-nanocode being in half. Then the glow that always surrounded the nano-bot body went out. Just to be on the safe side, the Agents of Ea left the tiny program suspended that way in the magnetic field till now. Beatopanga had been tiny even compared to Calabites, but the aircraft visuals zoomed in on the broken nano-bot body of the BEAT program suspended in a powerful electromagnetic field.

"It is another quanta-nanocode program like the kind that we seek."

"We seek working quanta-nanocode programs to administrate the seeds. This one appears broke and non-functioning."

"I say we turn off that electro-magnetic prison that is confining it, and try to reassemble it."

Even if there were a guard in the room they would not have seen the microscopic Calabites as they back-engineered the room's equipment to figure out a way to turn it off.

There were fifty-eight Calabite constructs in the tiny vessel that all worked to re-connect the two main pieces of Beatopanga that were proportionally the size of insects to the Calabite constructs. They fiddled and fussed with the tiny nano-bot pieces that seemed to automatically reconnect when brought close together, but no glow of life yet appeared to signal that it turned back on. The Calabites were about to continue their mission of exploring the area when Beatopanga rebooted and the glow of life again turned on around the nano-bot body.

The nano-bot BEAT program named Beatopanga levitated off the ground while still a bit disoriented. "I have just turned on. What has happened?"

Beatopanga found itself looking at a tiny virtual particle craft that had been much larger than the BEAT program, but still no bigger than a tiny dust mite of Earth. It had landed on the ground before it, flown by ameba-like silicon-based beings that came out of the craft to surround the floating quanta-nano-bot being. The Calabite constructs were like giants next to the tiny nano-bot body of Beatopanga.
"Greetings quanta-nanocode being. We are known as Calabites, and we have reassembled you." The Calabites looked like tiny two-legged Claymation beings. Beatopanga had never seen Calabites before. There had been much to catch up on. Together they found the stash of incendiary explosives that were the same kind used to attempt the assassination of the Wizard earlier that evening.

*

The meeting between the assassins and their bosses became interrupted by a messenger from the research section. "Sir, the electro-magnetic field that Beatopanga off has been turned contained. The BEAT program confiscated have been may."

"If that program reactivated it our undoing could mea..." (KABOOM!!!)

Just then the entire room blew up with the same kind of incendiary explosion that happened next to the Wizard earlier that evening when he left the restaurant. The assassins and their bosses were consumed by chemically ravenous flames that reduced the carbon-based life forms to mostly just carbon.

*

Beatopanga and the Calabite scouts returned to the skull of the reformed Wizard then back at the hotel room clothing the humanoid body with a new quanta-optic-nanocode robe of the 15 colonized stars. The Wizard then produced the first seed to entrust to Beatopanga for the sake of harnessing the power of the star Holdus through a wormhole to the planet Caleb.

After hearing the story of the phantom-matter singularity and the importance of the wormholes, Beatopanga became willing to dedicate its existence to the maturity of that seed. This had been the hard part of the Wizard's mission that with the discovery of Beatopanga had almost magically stumbled upon a stroke of good luck here. The Wizard had to find at each of the 14 stars, a quanta-nanocode being willing to quanta synchronize with the seed along with all that evolves from it. What the Wizard had in his favor had been the fact that few highly intelligent BEAT programs would be able to resist the offer once they examine the implications of the seed technology. Among many priceless advantages the seed would provide a quanta-optic-nanocode body that would allow the microscopic BEAT programs to interact with the larger macroscopic reality of multi-cellular organisms. Then at the hotel room the Wizard constructed the quanta-communication device that reported back to Beatariel over 3 light years away on Caleb.

The Wizard on Glokodox with Beatopanga also behind his eye sockets had then been face to face with an identical Wizard hologram from the planet Caleb where Beatariel watched from behind that Wizard's quanta-optic-nanocoded eyes. "So my Wizard friend you have arrived safely at Glokodox I trust?" said the hologram of Beatariel.

"There has been an eventful reception here with a cataclysmic attempt on the life of the Wizard that has cost me the lives of millions of brethren. The good news is that it has led to the first keeper of a seed. Have you ever met Beatopanga?"

The Beatariel Wizard replied. "I have heard my friend Beatarkameed mention you many times over the centuries Beatopanga. I appreciate your assistance with this." There had been a pause while Beatopanga replied from within the Wizard's skull.

Then the Calabite Wizard spoke. "Beatopanga says it is in awe of this new technology, and it owes a debt of gratitude to the Wizard for reassembling it."

Beatariel felt encouraged that the plan progressed forward. "I have made great progress on this end of the seed project as you can see from this quanta-optic-nanocoded body I now display, and we should begin to establish the next wormhole between Glokodox and Caleb while you are still there. I have already brought Begalius here through the first wormhole to Doldoria. Your mission to the 14 stars can now be shared with Begalius to save time."

There had been much to still accomplish while the Wizard fertilized a seed of the portal matrix, which created the next wormhole from Glokodox to Caleb with Beatopanga.

* * *

The star Holdus was located in space between the home-stars Ea and Poa where Nephrican and Pripican species first began the climb of evolution. Because of this location, the planets Holdus-2 (Glokodox) and Holdus-3, (later to be dubbed Earos,) were places where Nephrican and Pripican lived together within the confines of civilization. On the other side of the star Ea where Nephrica first evolved the Nephricans, the empire extended further into the void of space to the stars Oa and Po. These stars were more on the Nephrican side of the blooming star cluster galactic empire, and so Oa and Po were considered by Nephricans who lived there to be their own colonies for them to exclusively work their mischief.

It had been on Oa-3 where the quanta-nanocode viruses were first tested. They were tested by disabling the technologies of the colony of 4-legged Pripicans that had dared to lay claim to territory coveted by three-legged Nephricans. The Pripicans however were too resourceful to just be defeated by their Nephrican attackers, and the stubborn Pripicans still thrived on Oa-3 in primitive villages that were holding their own against any future attacks.

Recently a quanta-nanocode being named Beatersius had been sent from Pripica to Oa-3 in order to diagnose and remedy the problem that had caused technology to fail in the fragile far-away space colony. It discovered self-replicating quanta-nanocode programs that adapted to, and inundated any mechanical mechanism in order to render it nonfunctional. Beatersius would dismantle the inferior quanta-nanocode programs only to have them self-replicate and replace themselves even better adapted to its attacks.

Beatersius reported to the leader of the Pripican village who warmed by a fire outside his simple primitive home. Beatersius hovered in the standard coin-shaped physical form that most BEAT programs came with. "I have diagnosed the problem but have yet to calculate a remedy for the problem. Microscopic quanta-nanocode programs self-replicate on that level to disable all of your technological devices. I clean them out of a device only to have them return even harder to remove."

"Do not despair my BEAT program friend. They have only made the colony stronger with this attack. We Pripicans know the Nephricans resent us for choosing this planet for our posterity." The Pripican who stayed warm by the fire genuinely wanted to comfort the perplexed hovering device.

The physical form spoke. "I dismantle them but they self-replicate even though they are just simple programs that lack the processing power to adapt like they do. They do not have the individual intelligence that would explain their capacity to adapt."

The Pripican's furry face flickered in an orange glow from the fire as he spoke. "I have lived simply now for many yearly cycles of this planet. A lot of technological language now taunts me with ignorance anymore my friend."

Beatersius tried to explain. "It is as if these simple programs communicate with a centrally located intelligence that I need to locate."

The Pripican leader then thought of something while watching the warming flames. "The starship Captain told me something after sending you down to the surface. The starship detected a subtle radio language taking place in the dormant technologies. If you can detect this language you will perhaps locate the central intelligence they are controlled by."

Beatersius had suddenly become excited by this new information. "There is nothing ignorant about that advise my friend. I think you have solved my mystery and resolved my dilemma."

Then the coin-shaped physical form flew away to some unexplained purpose. The Pripican leader smiled and fanned the flames with his fur-covered three fingered hands, content to just live naturally the way he had for the last several Earth years now whether Beatersius could turn the power back on or not. "I am glad I was of some help with your mission my quanta-nanocode friend."

*

The central virus controlled all quanta-nanocode virus attacks on Oa-3 from the Oa Federation of Reserve Currency at the nearby Nephrican colony where the uninfected technologies still worked. The Nephricans on Oa-3 were very unfriendly to the Pripicans who were also trying to just live there on the same planet. Still nothing would get in the way of Beatersius who traced the radio communication it had discovered to the Nephrican's bank.

"My central processor is exposed to a hostile influence. Nanocode viruses replicate!" Shouted the radio language from the central program as Beatersius intruded at close to the speed of light upon its location within the technological infrastructure of the bank.

"I have come to shut your processor down." Beatersius had deciphered and learned to speak the radio language by then.

Soon there were self-replicating quanta-nanocode programs sprouting up between the control processor and Beatersius. They grew like bacteria of spikes that shot out as they closed in on Beatersius. The BEAT program disabled them as fast as it could. It gained on the central processor. "Your attacks on the Pripican colony are about to stop."

"No! Replicate faster virus programs."

Beatersius reached the main quanta-nanocode virus and broke its nano-bot body into different pieces. Then the other programs stopped everything and were no longer replicating.

Beatersius had soon been happy to report to the leader of the Pripican colony that the power would be turned back on again. Beatersius also established a quanta-communication with the planet Pripica to share its newly acquired intelligence with the authorities on that planet. It had been those Pripican authorities that first sent Beatersius there to Oa for the sake of discovering the virus war now being waged against them.

* * *

"For with the Star Hawk traveling thanks. Till we business again do."

"We not business again Captain Potunguska be doing will!"

Aineemadin carried all her luggage and marched in a huff off of the craft that brought her down to the surface of the planet Pripica from the orbit where the Star Hawk had been positioned. The nearly 3 Earth year journey from Glokodox to Pripica had been half spent in the ship's prison for trying to jettison the quanta-nanocode attack virus now being unloaded from the ship a couple hundred miles above her. Captain Potunguska had been told by those receiving the cargo to kill Aineemadin, but he had been a greedy Captain that looked out for only himself, and instead he confined her till the journey got over so he could make her pay a ransom for her life. Aineemadin the famous researcher had been able to pay the ransom with no real problem after what in hyper-acceleration amounted to 15 days of confinement, but she also paid a heavy price in anger and humiliation.

The planet Pripica had arguably been the most beautiful world in the Empire of Nephapricus. The Pripicans took great aesthetic pride in the architecture, which at the core of the cities were ancient stone monuments that were carved right out of the rocks of a mostly rocky and mountainous planet. They also took a lot of pride in preserving the original pristine natural environment of most of the planet. The Pripicans were clean and agricultural while well into their age of galactic evolution, and the planet evolved into a uniquely galactic beauty. Since ancient times, the Pripicans had mastered a gravity-defying technology that vibrated heavy objects with sound frequencies. That created timeless monolithic architecture lasting well into the present age of the galactic empire, and had been the precursor technology that led to the virtual particle breakthroughs to come. The mountainous rocky nature of the planet's early upheavals had actually stabilized the large-sized planet; causing cities to remain where they were first built for many thousands of Earth years.

Aineemadin had been to Pripica before, and remembered it to be busier than the scene that now paraded before her eye. There were only occasional vehicles flying by in the sky, and the four-legged Pripicans who loved to walk more than sleeping seemed to be absent from the empty streets that Aineemadin waddled down.

She thought maybe this had been a holiday or something. Then she arrived at the star port cargo administration building to tell them to quarantine the virus cargo still being unloaded above in orbit from the ship named the Star Hawk.

"Greetings. I the researcher Aineemadin known as am. I just from the Star Hawk arrived have, and you that there contraband in the cargo that the civilization of Pripica endangers is must warn."

The Pripicans at the cargo administration were no help at all, and no doubt they were bribed to just not care. "So that's how Nephricans talk. Sorry lady. We were warned about you already. You need to move along before we transfer your ship sentence to the planet where you can continue your prison time."

Her first reaction had been that they had no idea who they were talking to. She had been tempted to argue some more, but knew it would only leave her at the mercy of the entrenched corruption she now had discovered on Pripica. It had been a sign of her Eagolim maturity that she didn't just continue to follow her Nephrican emotional inclinations. She marveled at the empty streets of the great planet Pripica, the victors of the legendary Great War. What had become of this great civilization? Where was everybody?

She got herself a room, and found the planet to not be a complete ghost town. As she unpacked she thought of who she did know on Pripica that could help stop that cargo from infecting the planet.

*

After receiving the communication, Hermental wanted to meet his old friend Aineemadin at a café near the research facilities that his high-security clearance had access to. He had long respected her insights into different research problems over the centuries. She decided as she waddled in to first ask Hermental the question most on her mind. "What of the great planet Pripica has become?"

Hermental, the fur-covered humanoid 2nd Generation Eagolim of Pripican decent, looked up from the table he had reserved. "Aineemadin my old friend, sit and let me order you some Pripican cuisine."

She actually had been hungrier than she realized after the meager rations of the starship prison for all those ship cycles. Her snout actually had started to growl as she ordered her food.

Hermental explained the current situation on the planet. "This all started when the quanta-nanocode being in charge of a warp reality business named Beatnefthes, expanded the business while lowering the price below any competition. I am sorry to tell you that you have arrived on a planet full of mostly warp reality addicts who mostly live now in their own little worlds. Most of the authorities are bribed to not care, but I have been investigating Beatnefthes for many years now. Unfortunately its lowering of the price to unbelievable levels for living a fantasy has left only a minority still here in reality to run the planet."

Aineemadin listened as she ate. "I here to you of a quanta-nanocode virus attack warn am."

"I did track down the cargo you have reported to me, and am not surprised to track it to Agents of Ea that are also associated with Beatnefthes. I have more to show you after you finish eating."

Aineemadin became happy to feed her snout while Hermental brought her up-to-date on the situation on Pripica. After the meal, they went into the classified research facility to meet Dr. Disraydol. Dr. Disraydol researched the portal matrix device.

Hermental authorized Dr. Disraydol to tell Aineemadin about his research. "I have been examining this device, which replicates a similar portal being used by Beatnefthes to contact the presence of a super-intelligent alien entity. This portal leads across the void of time/space to the location of this super-intelligent entity where my deceased colleague Dr. Haidumf intruded upon. There Dr. Haidumf had his life devoured from his body."

Aineemadin scanned the turned-off device with her single eye. "This a wormhole generator is. How Dr. Haidumf die did?"

"We pulled Dr. Haidumf's dead body back seconds after he had entered that portal. Every cell in his body was dead, as if his corpse had been aged for years."

Aineemadin had more questions than answers. "What you about this entity know do?"

"I will have to show you the data that leads to what you are about to not believe. The intelligence on the other side of this portal is a kind of vast computer processor that is existing on the surface of an event horizon of a super-massive black hole that can only be the one at the very center of Magphoreus."

That had been extraordinary, and Aineemadin would be allowed to review the data accumulated by Dr. Disraydol's research only to agree with him that they had a wormhole portal leading to the event horizon of the galaxy's super-massive black hole.

"So what you from this data concluding are? You the galaxy's black hole intelligent is saying are?"

That had been beyond anything Dr. Disraydol could accept. "I cannot accept that a super-massive black hole can actually be intelligent. The theory I currently entertain is that some other alien civilization may be there using an advanced technology that harnesses data stored in the event horizon as frozen moments of time/space. This portal is not actually oriented to the core of the galaxy, but instead it leads to a trans-substantial warp-dimensional plane of existence at the location of the black hole singularity."

There had been much for the two scientists to discuss and speculate over, which went completely beyond anything Pripican agent Hermental could understand. Then Aineemadin said, "So we not this portal enter can?"

Hermental said, "Beatnefthes has a portal just like this that it enters all the time."

Aineemadin said, "I I to that portal examine would like think."

By the time Aineemadin had seen enough she became ready to act on the Beatnefthes angle of her mission. She left Hermental at the research facility wondering what his old friend was about to do, but now he had a nanocode virus cargo attack to track down. Then the physical form of Bejulitiah arrived to hover by Hermental's furry ear. "She will try to break into the virtual reality business."

Hermental looked at the flying disk. "I sense that about my old friend too Bejulitiah. Follow her and let me know when I can bring the existing forces of the Pripican authorities to her assistance. I welcome her experienced eye upon that problem. I'm going to arrange to have the Agents of Ea apprehended with their virus cargo."

Bejulitiah said, "What will be our response to a virus attack from the cargo she has led us to?"

Hermental replied, "I do not know. Hopefully we will soon be able to devise a response to that around the intelligence delivered by your friend Beatersius on Oa-3 if it manages to bring that Pripican colony back from decades without any functioning technology of yearly Oa-3 orbits."

*

Eventually Aineemadin had been ready to explore the latest craze on the planet Pripica, which was the alternate reality rides preferred to actual reality by most of the population. She chose a nice replica of a reality on the planet Nephrica, which she had not been to in over a century. As she entered the warp dimension portal to her fantasy, none of the quanta-optic-nanocode staff noticed Aineemadin ducking into a hiding place while a hologram of her waddled into the portal to enjoy a replica of the thriving planet Nephrica, which had actually been over six light-years away from Pripica at the time of this story.

There had been however, a tiny surveillance drone flying around that did notice her switch with a hologram image of herself. On the other side of that tiny electronic eye were Perzeonaut and his friends several blocks away. They were following Aineemadin at the request of Perzeonaut who happened to have an infatuation with one-eyed, three-legged Nephricans.

"What is she up to? Keep following her."

Egolor suppressed his reluctance. "Well I'll follow her for now, but I'm out of there with the first sign of trouble."

Perzeonaut, Egolor, and Persuave followed Aineemadin on their computer screen that displayed the view from the tiny surveillance drone. Aineemadin stealthily made her way to the room of Beatnefthes where the portal to a long gone Ralus Xnoga still existed in the turned-on state with a greenish glow in the doorway that awaited the return of the long gone black sphere entity. Her curiosity drew her closer to the entrance, and she had been about to look inside.

She did not hear Egolor scream from several blocks away. "Look out behind you lady!"

That had been when the young spies helplessly watched a four-legged Pripican-shaped robot attack Aineemadin. It had been the physical form of Beatnefthes that defended against an unknown intruder. Perzeonaut refused to just watch that happen. "I am going in to save her!"

"Think about how impossible that will be," pleaded Persuave.

"You guys have to help me."

*

The physical form of Beatnefthes had been ruthless to Aineemadin, who after a cruel beating got suspended in a virtual particle field while its metal hand struck the side of her snout.

"Who do you work for, and what kind of sabotage have you done to me?"

Aineemadin had been good at taking a beating, and her silence would be all she had to say.

"You will remain here as my prisoner until you answer me." That had been when Beatnefthes calculated that this was currently a waste of time, and so the centaur-like robot left.

*

The voice of Egolor spoke through a place in Perzeonaut's ear. "The robot is coming towards you. Find a place to hide."

Perzeonaut entered what turned out to be a supply closet just as the robot trotted by to some appointment it had now been late for.

"Where did that robot come from?" whispered Perzeonaut to his far-away friends. The microscopic spy drone scoped out the directions for Perzeonaut who had made his way into the warp-dimension amusement business just as he had snuck in at other times before. The three young investigators were onto the schemes of Beatnefthes, which were to feed all the Pripican warp-dimension junkies to a mysterious black sphere entity.

The voice in his ear already found her. "She is suspended in a gravity-field in a room just ahead."

Perzeonaut had been no stranger to quanta-nanocode-picking a door lock. Inside the room he had just been in the right place to catch Aineemadin in his arms after turning off the virtual particle field.

"Are you alright?"

"Who you are?" she asked the mostly hairless humanoid boy with a brown haired Mohawk hairstyle that identified him as the rare crossbreed between Pripican and Nephrican.

"My name is Perzeonaut. I'm here to rescue you."

The voice in his ear warned them as they made their way out of the room. "The robot is on its way back. You need that closet again fast!"

They quickly both ran out of the amusement business from the closet right after the robot passed them by. They threw stealth to the wind and were already spotted by quanta-optic-nanocode holograms on staff that didn't bother to do anything in time before Beatnefthes entered the room to discover that its prisoner had escaped.

Eventually they were both done running after getting way beyond the reach of her captor. They stopped around the corner of one of the planet's monolithic stone carved buildings. "So your name Perzeonaut I I you saying remember think is? What you to my rescue in this chronically apathetic world brings?"

"My friends and I have been spying on the warp-dimension business for a couple years now. I used to be addicted to the thrill of living out fantasies in warp realities, but my friends helped me break that life-draining habit. We saw you get captured and I had to rescue you."

Aineemadin could sense his infatuation with her. "I what you have done appreciate. I Aineemadin am. I here to a quanta-nanocode attack on this planet stop am."

Perzeonaut seemed compelled to open up to this woman. "My name is Perzeonaut. I was abandoned here on Pripica. My mother was a Nephrican like you, and my father was Pripican. I was born an Eagolim with some head hair while they were still traveling to this planet in hyperspace. They left me here so they could keep their relationship a secret because they were ashamed of what they did." Perzeonaut stopped himself from saying anymore, and wondered why he had suddenly been opening up to this alien woman.

Eventually Perzeonaut stealthily led Aineemadin through the empty streets to his friends Egolor and Persuave. Perzeonaut wanted to let her in on what they had learned about Beatnefthes over the years. They had all kinds of data on Beatnefthes that went all the way back to recording the murder of the previous business owner Mollyjaz.

Then Bejulitiah, who had by then already cancelled the raid by authorities that it had asked for to rescue Aineemadin, flew back to its master Hermental to report on all the progress made by his one-eyed girlfriend from Glokodox.

Beatnefthes had also seen enough at that point, and returned to consider what to do about the adolescents that it had just learned had been spying on it ever since it killed its old master Mollyjaz.

* * *

On the planet Caleb, Begalius still visited from the first interplanetary wormhole journey, and it enjoyed its new Windock-shaped quanta-optic-nanocode body. It decided to ask Ceres on a dinner date, which to its surprise she accepted.

Ceres had just been grateful for someone to go to dinner with, and Windock/Begalius turned on the charm from dozens of ancient Windock novels that were long ago memorized. She steered the dinner conversation to her real interest, which had been to solve the phantom-matter singularity problem. "So you say this sabotaged generator will soon be back under our control?"

"Yes my lady. Our colleague on Nephrica named Beatarkameed has revealed that a quanta-nanocode virus caused the generator to malfunction. As we speak there is a space mission of Calabites on their way to free the virtual-particle generator from the quanta-nanocode virus that currently controls it."

"You sound confident that they will succeed."

"Well, I have a lot of experience with outsmarting these simpler forms of quanta-nanocode programming. I have also sent along a special quanta-optic-nanocode program to give the Calabites the advantage. So what can I do to gain the advantage with you lovely lady?"

Ceres had been a bit surprised by the BEAT program's intentionally seductive remark, but she maintained her composure. As the dinner progressed Ceres could tell that Begalius the quanta-nanocode program had been role-playing with romantic intent. On the one hand she felt repulsed by the idea, and on the other hand she had never known a quanta-nanocode BEAT program to behave this way. At the end of the evening Windock/Begalius, like a perfect gentleman, escorted Ceres back to her room in the Citadel. Then it tried to kiss her goodnight.

Ceres pushed the quanta-optic-nanocode replica of a Pripican away. "I am sorry Begalius but this role-playing game of yours is now over."

She smiled at the bewildered BEAT program before petting his furry head and closing the door behind her. "I had a lovely time tonight. Thank you."

Windock/Begalius trotted away unable to understand why she had been so disgusted by the very idea of kissing the quanta-optic-nanocode body of a quanta-nanocode being. Then it turned off the Pripican Windock form and flew away as the microscopic quanta-nanocode being called Begalius. A pile of chewed up food and beverages splattered on the ground near the Citadel where the Windock quanta-optic-nanocode body had existed just before disappearing.

*

Hundreds of millions of miles away, a relatively small chair-sized spacecraft speeded into an asynchronous orbit alongside the group of virtual particle generators that were still suspending an invisible phantom matter singularity to keep it away from plummeting into the nearby star. The only physical advertisement of the singularity's existence had been the ring of exotic elements that circled above the equator of the singularity's invisible spherical event horizon.

The spacecraft approached the malfunctioning generator to dock with it. This had soon been responded to by the tiny self-replicating virus forms that many a Calabite on the spacecraft had already battled. Bilipi had been volunteered for this mission and flew as his flying Calabite construct toward the entrance into the side of the generator created with a docking drill. The Calabites formed into different constructs to disassemble the dark virus figures that looked like they were made of black toothpicks piled together. Calabites could defeat the quantum-bit programs because the quanta-nanocode viruses were created to use the same Calabite radio language that they spoke. Only a couple Calabites were wounded in the first onslaught.

After the entrance got cleared there had not been much time before a new wave of self-replicating viruses had been on the way. Bilipi had been given a special program with a mission to plug it into the generator's central motherboard. So Bilipi flew past the black pile of toothpick-like attack viruses to fly deep into the generator on a mission that Bilipi already understood might be a one-way journey. It got close to the motherboard and just needed another second to put the program that Begalius made into place. Bilipi flew as fast as he could while carrying the program like a bird holding a mouse in its claws.

Calabites Battle Quanta-nanocode Viruses

Other Calabites had combined into fighting constructs that stormed the opening docking hatch while quanta-nanocode virus constructs spilled through the opening to attack the Calabites. The individual Calabites in each construct would disable any virus that stabbed into the construct figures. The army of Calabite constructs looked like clay figures made of smaller balls of clay, which were individual Calabites. They formed into all kinds of useful shapes to confront the virus attack with some constructs even resembling two-armed, two-legged humanoids. One dragged a microscopic torch weapon to consume with burning flames the onslaught of sharp black toothpick-like viruses, which left them deconstructed and burning.

The central virus instructed the army of replicas to continue self-replicating. The black wave of sharp black virus points were slaughtering the Calabites and eventually they blew up their ship as it detached to drift away from the generator into space by virus programs that had took over the Calabite ship. Suddenly the central virus felt a new strength in its sudden victory over the Calabites, and it made another attempt to yank control of the singularity from the other 14 generators.

At first the fight over the singularity had been like another futile supreme effort against the other 14 generators, but then the phantom matter singularity moved according to the will of the central virus. The central virus gave a cheer of victory as it flung the invisible singularity out of the grip of the other generators, and into the nearby star, thus fulfilling its original purpose for being created. The singularity merged with the star Yat in just seconds that began as a sunspot, which grew and grew until the sun had been consumed by the singularity that could not contain the mass anymore as only a singularity of phantom matter. Therefore it became a black hole with the star Yat's great mass, shedding the surface of the star's plasma in a gigantic solar-sized explosion. As the entire solar plane of planets bent according to the new rules of a black hole's gravity, the central virus had been too simple to realize that it should not exist anymore to witness the formation of this black hole. It just made a laughing noise, and continued enjoying the show.

Beyond the warp dream that the Begalius program delivered to the motherboard with Bilipi to trick the central virus into leaving the crew of the Calabite mission still intact and docked with the generator, the Calabites could hear the laughter of the central virus within the quarantine capsule that they had confined it to. It dreamt of the roller coaster dive beyond the event horizon of the tiny black hole sphere that had once been the star Yat. Then the Calabites deleted it.

They were regrouping to the ship still docked safe-and-sound on the side of the generator. Another Calabite construct approached Bilipi who had just landed after returning from the motherboard. "Well done Bilipi. It would not have been this easy without your quanta-optic-nanocode program from Windock."

"Yes I look forward to returning home to the planet Caleb now."

"We will, but first there are some exotic elements to acquire and take with us on the return journey home."

*

Following the control of the generator being returned to normal, which had been a lot easier after the influence of Ralus Xnoga had disappeared to leave only the virus in control, it had been time for Begalius to return to Doldoria through the new wormhole connection. Lockfreedow had braved the wormhole himself to be the first living being to travel a wormhole that they created between Doldoria and Caleb. He greeted the Pripican form of Windock as the new physical form of his quanta-nanocode BEAT program. Begalius had now evolved into a quanta-optic-nanocode BEAT program. The master embraced Begalius for the very first time as a quanta-optic-nanocode body.

"This truly amazing what you my friend have accomplished is." Lockfreedow wrapped his tentacles around Begalius/Windock and embraced.

"Thank you master. There are many more of these wormholes to establish for the good of all Nephapricus. There are also these virus programs that are attacking civilization, which we need to confront."

The two beings, Begalius/Windock and Lockfreedow crossed the intermediary dimension between portals on their way back to Doldoria. The long-sought ability to create wormhole connections between planets had now become a reality in Nephapricus. After Lockfreedow and Windock passed, then a Pripican emerged from hiding within the intermediary warp dimension who observed the two that were traveling within seconds between two planets that were light-years apart all. It had been the Pripican quanta-optic-nanocode body of Beatarkameed also programmed to this warp dimension, which had been made out of the interface it used for quanta-communication with its BEAT program friends.

Beatarkameed still had access to this dimension but it had no portal matrix that it could use to leave the planet Nephrica with. It had only been hypnotized by the lingering effects of the mesmerizing powers of Ralus Xnoga who lied to it about creating the BEAT programs itself. BEAT programs were actually the result of old Pripican research projects. The Pripicans halted those projects over a thousand Earth years before this story out of a fear that they had created something beyond anything they could control, and so they designed BEAT programs in such a way that they would require a master. Then it had been Ralus Xnoga who taught the Council of 32 how to create a portal that could clone a BEAT program. Ralus Xnoga intended to control Beatariel the clone as it did Beatnefthes where the new BEAT program had been cloned from, but something stopped Ralus Xnoga from doing that. The reason had been that they failed to realize that the act of cloning Beatnefthes caused the header of Beatariel the clone to be flipped so that Ralus Xnoga could never get a fix on it.

* * *

Back on Doldoria, Diallo and her husband Simeonalli began raising their child Alldegallo. She wanted to raise the child near the sacred Lake of Athedonie where the blue humanoid baby boy had been baptized. Not long after Alldegallo disappeared through the portal to oblivion, she mourned the loss of her nephew in the special tub that drained into the lake. She sang songs to the goddess Teyoo and somewhere in her enthusiasm she begged to know the fate of Alldegallo. As she drained the tub and retired to slumber with her husband Simeonalli, a sudden downpour of rain slapped against their house by the lake.

As Diallo drifted into a fathomless slumber, she dreamed of the goddess Teyoo standing next to the portal where she lost her nephew at the Crypt of Ancestors.

The goddess clacked her mandibles and spoke. "Thy affections have thus gone forth. If thou would know the fate of thy lost nephew thou must brave the same portal with the courage to pass through."

Diallo had been fearless as she followed her way through the portal, determined to find her long lost nephew Alldegallo. She had then been in a free fall that orbited the black sphere of Ralusio Xnogaio, which spread out below her in terrifying proportions like a planet of coal. She became full of fear at that point, and the dream pulled her down to the dark surface of the god of oblivion. For what seemed to be ages she descended into a field of nothing but blackness. Ralusio Xnogaio glowed with opaque darkness beyond description. Diallo did not feel a thing as she marveled at the landscape of pitch-dark. It all ended with a sudden but gentle stop on a surface of ebony smooth as glass for as far as the eye could see. Then she saw Alldegallo arise out of the black surface like a wak-o-mole that did not go back down.

Alldegallo spoke to her. "Thou dost here usurp that thou can attend to me. My spirit is as in a dream all bound up to whom I am subdued. This is all but dream and swoon to me."

Diallo felt overjoyed at the sight. "Oh the joy I shall take to my waking with this vision of my beloved nephew Alldegallo. Why hast thou embraced this fate?"

"Tis a worthy query my good aunt Diallo. I was thus charged to take with me the light endowed to me by the god Mejoldor. Great hath my wisdom thus evolved with knowledge of this ancient conflict between light and darkness. There is much thou art not yet ready to fathom, but do take the knowledge I shall deliver to thee as thou return to waking and life."

"To thy council I await with silent attentiveness," Diallo said while standing on the flat smooth surface of the ebony planet, speaking to the ghost of Alldegallo.

"I did carry with me a light forged by the god Mejoldor that was so bright that it did awaken the dark god from the slumber wherein it doth dream so as to occupy our reality of stars, which exist so far from this galactic core where the heart of this god beats. Thou must use a similar light to thus startle the god to waking should it again dream oblivion upon our beloved Doldoria."

Diallo began to have questions after Alldegallo finished, but Alldegallo just embraced her and then began descending back beneath the blackness of the ground. "My light shall surely shine a greeting to you and Simeonalli through the child thou has given birth to. Goodbye my beloved aunt Diallo."

Diallo then woke up remembering everything. She knew now that they were up against the dreams of Ralusio Xnogaio, and to defend from another manifestation they would have to again somehow wake the god up.

*

In the City of Arkadius there were Doldorian scientists of the school of Mejoldor who were still collecting data from the probe that Alldegallo took with him to the god of oblivion. It mostly returned data about the endless nothing of a warp dimension. As they continued across the many weeks of days scanning the endless nothing of the data, there eventually emerged a dream of Ralusio Xnogaio. The dream began with the reappearance of the black sphere in the scientist's view of the probe data, which represented the body of Ralusio Xnogaio. At around that same relativistic point in time/space Ralusio Xnogaio hungered for a rare treat in a cosmic funnel cloud of dust where there had been a planet orbiting a star over 40 times the size of Earth's star.

On that planet intelligent life went about their lives. They were silicon-based, but not very unlike Earthlings. Unfortunately this world had been on its way to oblivion. The Mejoldor scientists examined this data on a view-screen from the dream that Ralusio Xnogaio directed like a vivid movie.

Ralusio Xnogaio, through its influence as a super-intelligent entity, had managed to assemble the most successful of these intelligent inhabitants of the planet to do its will. Ralusio Xnogaio appealed to their desire to be part of the inner circle of forbidden secrets, and to their ambitions of reaching a proverbial 'top.' It had also been necessary for Ralusio Xnogaio to influence these successful pawns of intelligent life with a sense of misery for life in general. That had been because it needed these followers to hate their perfect lives, and to be unhappy in order to instill a will to die in them, to be free of their misery and unhappiness. It had been a shtick that Ralusio Xnogaio perfected over billions of years.

Through the superior influence of Ralusio Xnogaio the intelligent life had advanced, and oblivion had carefully chosen those in power throughout the history of their civilization. It had been however, nothing as exotic as a phantom matter singularity that finally brought this feast of intelligent living souls to the mouth of the god of oblivion. It had been only a foolishly planned test of what explosives would do within the core of the star that destroyed this star system, which had been inspired by Ralusio Xnogaio. To Ralusio Xnoga these beings of intelligent life were merely the sperm needed to give birth to the latest child for the god of oblivion. To the amusement of Ralusio Xnogaio, in this dream the population of the planet begged for the explosive arsenals of the planet to be shipped off to the star while arguing that there would then be an age of peace without war sure to follow the disarming of the planet.

With a little help from a reckless civilization of intelligent life existing seventy thousand light years away from Doldoria, the Mejoldor scientists beheld the core of the star collapse as a result of the explosion experiment. A symphony of horror played out before the Mejoldor researchers for the few minutes that it took following the solar-sized explosion till the resulting black hole sucked up what had been left of the planet in a stream of blazing matter.

Some of the Mejoldor scientists turned away from the horror that they saw while others discovered something about the crossing of the event horizon that recorded every single moment of the planet's entire existence for all time, stuck frozen upon the surface of the event horizon like recordings on a computer disk, recorded between oblivion and time/space. Other scientists warned that Ralusio Xnogaio sought the birth of another child like this one. The math of the singularity made all singularities one, or of a single dimension. It had been through this same dimension of the singularity where the physics of psychic ability, quantum-synchronization, warp dimensions, and wormholes were at play.

*

Arphaxad had been in the City of Ei to confront the High Priest of Ei about his involvement in the attempted destruction of the planet. The High Priest had been small enough for Arphaxad to step on, yet the High Priest was not at all intimidated by the giant adversary. "Care should thou takest before the judgment of Aternos with mere circumstantial impressions for evidence. Thou hast but suspicions for which I would bring you before judgment for the libel thou doth taunt me with."

Arphaxad considered just running the arrogant priest through with his sword, but knew that would be his own undoing before judgment. He knew the priest had been in with the Ralusio Xnogaio cult, which had now been outlawed on the planet, but Arphaxad might not yet have the evidence to prove it in the presence of Aternos. This High Priest had been ancient and all-powerful there in the City of Ei, and so Arphaxad was not yet ready to prosecute the untouchable Priest.

"I leave you then knowing that thy façade doth not delude mine eyes to your evil, and that they shall yet behold your prosecution for the destruction thou has thus attempted."

There had been fear in the Priest from the words of Arphaxad whose giant size took up the entire meeting hall where they met. Arphaxad ducked as he left through the doorway. The High Priest then waited in the silence of the ancient hall of Ei and said, "I fear that I have thus failed thee my god Ei."

Then the god Ei appeared of giant size like Arphaxad, only this god had been Nephrican with a single eye, tentacle arms, and three tentacle legs, all covered in drapes of skin-cloth. "Thou not to in the calamity of prophesy that shall yet bring all Doldorian before my glory upon knelt down postures usher yet failed hast. I of the reactors by the power of Ei shall regain control, and I on winds of calamity the new age of Ei shall usher in."

Then above Doldoria in orbit existed a satellite sent to monitor the planet, which originated from the Council of 32. This satellite included a secret cargo that departed the satellite as tiny parachute objects, which targeted the Cherder reactor passing by on the surface of the planet below. Within the swarm of tiny landing craft were tiny quanta-nanocode virus programs that were created to take over the reactor and cause a tragic meltdown.

Chapter 9

The authorities on Glokodox thought the Wizard died in the incendiary explosion in front of the restaurant, but since there had been no body, investigators tried to locate the Wizard, and they soon found him alive and well at the hotel where he stayed. The Wizard filed a report to the investigators, and told them that he had indeed been a victim of attempted murder. After the formalities with the investigators were complete, the Wizard had to leave and go shopping. Within the Wizard's skull, the Calabites were explaining to Beatopanga what the Wizard shopped for.

"The seed that we have come from beyond this planet to offer you is safely hidden away in one of Beatariel's inventions called a Warp Dimensional Storage Space. The Wizard must find the necessary parts to reconstruct the key because the previous key was destroyed by that explosion earlier this evening."

Beatopanga became well aware of the explosion that happened earlier because of a palpably solemn mood ubiquitously echoing throughout the body of the Wizard from billions of Calabites who were remembering the loss of loved ones. The BEAT program could compute that a warp dimensional storage space had probably been one of the inventions by the Wizard of the planet Caleb. It had probably never been brought to market like the planetary teleportation technologies, and quantum-communication businesses that included the implication of such a storage space. The warp storage space had actually been a deviation from the warp reality technologies that were originally invented by Pripican scientists.

The Wizard had been devastated by the blast. The Calabites had evolved their own highly advanced technologies in the millennium that they evolved as the Wizard inside the Citadel. Inside the body of the Wizard were massive construction projects for new aircraft, communication devices, quanta-nanocoded computer technologies, and also the general infrastructure that made the Wizard the sum total of trillions of Calabite parts. The Wizard needed more raw materials for the Calabites that were working within to help get the jobs done.

The Wizard visited technology stores that made up a gigantic mall of stores, which provided for the research projects of the planet/city called Glokodox. Glokodox had been a planet where mischievous Nephricans and ambitious Pripicans came to experiment with their ideas, away from more regulated planets. These research projects included the early development of quanta-nanocode viruses as well as Aineemadin's satellites that orbited Doldoria till the time of this story; manipulating Doldorian minds with microwave suggestions, and holographic impersonations of gods and goddesses.

The Wizard strolled down hallways of every technological product he could want, and he left the stores carrying bags of circuit parts, minerals, and metals, wires, tiny virtual particle generators, and reactor materials. Then he returned to the hotel room to unwrap the materials that spread out on the table before the Wizard. That had been when the Wizard scooped up the various parts and ate them. He swallowed the parts whole, but some materials were chewed first with hardened Calabite teeth that broke them down for other Calabites below who began the distribution process for the industries within. Within the technology-fed Wizard were industries buzzing with activities. The Calabites were hard at work to replace equipment lost in the assassination attempt.

The Calabites within the Wizard worked as one to return the civilization within to its previous glory. Some argued against the Calabites that blew up the assassins, mostly along the lines of it bringing more violent retaliation to the suffering Calabites that survived. The grand majority of Calabites however, celebrated the Calabites who fought back as heroes that avenged millions of deceased Calabites who did not survive the blast of the incendiary bomb. Those same celebrated heroes were also the ones that located the first BEAT program to fertilize the Glokodox seed. It had been a bittersweet time of victory and loss within the civilization of Calabites that had been the Wizard.

Beatopanga observed all of this while exploring the insides of the Wizard who had been busy shoving raw materials into his mouth like a starving man invading a banquet. The Calabites spoke in a radio language that could be broadcast to great distances, and they chattered in a musical frequency that made each Calabite a part of a greater dance to the music animating the body as the sum total of its Calabite parts. Beatopanga became summoned back to the skull to watch through the eyes of the Wizard as he skillfully assembled a key with various pieces of technology still scattered on the table.

*

Not all of the advanced technology of the Wizard had been destroyed in the blast. Many aircraft that made up a security parameter around the Wizard survived, and now more than ever they were scouting the areas around the Wizard for further danger. There were also scout craft that were well beyond the reach of the bomb that almost ended the existence of the Wizard. One such craft followed Agents of Ea that had long before been tracking the Wizard's activities as he left the spaceport. That tiny microscopic aircraft that ran on a virtual particle propulsion system followed the Agents of Ea to the ones who gave them orders. The Calabite scout craft had penetrated the secret location of the Glokodox chapter of the Council of 32.

The forty Calabite constructs that occupied the tiny scout craft watched the Agents of Ea describe all that they knew about the Wizard to these other Nephricans of the Council of 32. They were 12 council members that sat at a large round table, and were a mixture of one eyed Nephricans and hairless humanoid Eagolim of Nephrican decent. The Calabites figured they were all probably Eagolim with exponentially extended life spans, as well as members of the most elite of the high-class powers that controlled the local civilization. The scout ship remained there to watch. Later when more Agents of Ea arrived, and finished reporting on the Wizard's activities of buying a fortune in exotic technologies for lunch, they were dismissed to leave the Council alone at the table with the microscopic aircraft of Calabite spies still hovering invisibly in the air recording the proceedings.

That had been when the center of the round table became a hologram of a one-eyed Nephrican. It was a quanta-communication with an actual member of the 32 who lived on Nephrica. The Nephrican Council of 32 were still convincing the outer order that they were still in communication with Ralus Xnoga whom they all swore allegiance to.

"I part in communion with Ralus Xnoga after this communication so quick with this report be has must take. What to the Wizard that so important is happened has?" said the Nephrican hologram standing in the center of the table. The hologram looked down upon the subordinate council members who were sitting below at the Glokodox table.

One of the Glokodox members responded. "Lord of the sacred 32, there an attempted assassination of the Wizard by other Agents of Ea to the Wizard eliminate ordered has been. It not succeeded, but they the entire Prospero Project threaten."

"Yes," said the hologram. "Lines of communication ineffective have been. I of the other Lord of the 32 that probably those Agents with such an order left know. I this with him shall discuss, and he the Agents on Glokodox that the death of the Wizard seek will correct."

There had been a pause that exceeded the usual 10 seconds it took to speak to the other planet over two light years away, but then the Glokodox Nephrican at the table said, "That the purpose of this communication was. We you to commune with the great Ralus Xnoga leave."

That had been the end of the communication with the planet Nephrica. Then there were other communications recorded by the tiny spy craft still in the room. It seemed like these twelve Nephrican Eagolim at that round table controlled the whole Holdus star-system. They watched a hologram of surveillance video that had already been on the news, and there at that table they shut down any further investigations by the authorities. The Glokodox Council of 32 members at that table also instructed the local media to explain away the Wizard's ability to survive such an explosion by embellishing the well-known legend of the Wizard already the subject of myths all across Nephapricus. They made the news media make up stories about technologies developed by the famous Wizard to protect him against such things.

Meanwhile over two light years away on the planet Nephrica a secret order of the Council of 32 met to try once again to contact the long lost super-intelligent entity known as Ralus Xnoga. The three-legged Nephrican that had just spoke to the planet Glokodox entered the room to circumambulate clockwise around the black circle on the floor. Then he joined the other members of the 32 that were lined along the outside to face the inside of the circle where a 33rd individual in the room had been tied up and terrified sitting on the ground, her single Nephrican eye darted a look of horror at each of the 32 that were surrounding her.

The 32 surrounding the edge of the black circle on the floor then started chanting. "Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga!" There had been a desperation in the tone of the chant, like they all were dying of a thirst that only the object of their chant could quench. "Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga!" They all closed in on the terrified female Negolim tied up on the ground, surrounded by the black circle intended to represent the mouth of the Council's god. The Negolim's scream tried in vain to drown out the sound of the chant, only to harmonize for a moment as 32 knife-bearing hands, some with tentacles, some with fingers, rose above the crowd to simultaneously stab the scream into silence. The chant continued, never missing a beat, and the red blood filled the black circle toward the edge. "Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga! Ralus Xnoga!"

*

Back at the hotel where the Wizard stayed the key had almost been fully assembled. The Wizard sat at the table putting the finishing touches on the key he made. Sometimes he would just press his finger into a part of the key while hundreds of Calabite constructs did microscopic programming upon the key-like gadget. That level of this programming of the key assured that only the Calabites of the Wizard could make this key. It had been kind of a simple technology made out of basic components that could be purchased in almost any highly advanced galactic culture. What it did was unlock another invisible reality created within the physical orbit of the Wizard.

Beatopanga intently watched the Wizard at work from one of the Wizard's eyes. It tried to grasp the technology, which had been based on the current warp dimension technologies that had also advanced space travel beyond the speed of light, as well as provided alternate reality amusement parks that were phenomenally popular on the planet Pripica.

The Wizard held up the key and said, "Behold, the 14 seeds of the Star-Doors." Then he pressed something on the flat flashlight-sized key. It caused the object in the Wizard's hand to glow. That had been when the air in the room split open in a gust of wind, opening a rectangular hole suspended in the air before the Wizard. Inside the hole had been a grayish cube-like storage space with 14 dark round objects on a tray made to hold the spherical objects in place. Beatopanga flew out of one of the Wizard's nostrils to get a closer look. The gigantic Wizard followed the microscopic BEAT program with microscopic Calabite eyes that were everywhere. The Wizard had been perfectly able to see the tiny Beatopanga who on the microscopic dimension glowed like a tiny star. The BEAT program flew around the opening suspended in the air, which only showed on the side facing the Wizard. Beatopanga even flew on the other side through the air toward the Wizard, and only seemed from the Wizard's perspective to suddenly emerge from the rectangular hole in the air.

Beatopanga then looked upon the 14 egg-shaped seeds that were inside the warp-dimensional storage space. They were fist-sized, and black with a purple hue that shined through like there had been a dim light inside. The Wizard reached in to gab one before switching off the key to make the hole in reality disappear. He then placed the key somewhere safe in his star colored robe. With his other hand he held up the seed. "Come now Beatopanga, and quantum-synchronize with the new wormhole technology."

Beatopanga felt ready to assume this responsibility. It flew across the smooth surface of the seed that covered over the glowing purple technology underneath. As the nano-bot body of Beatopanga touched the surface of the seed it became stuck to it. For a moment Beatopanga tried to pull itself away, but the seed would not let go. The tiny BEAT program didn't press the issue, but instead sank into the seed to be seen swarming around with strange gears and tendrils beneath the smooth surface that just closed up over the BEAT program as it entered.

The Wizard just continued to hold up the seed that Beatopanga had just fertilized while watching it glow with increasing brilliance. After the brightness seemed to engulf the hand of the Wizard he set the egg-shaped seed on the ground. It rolled in one direction at first, but then rolled the other way still glowing and festering beneath its surface with a chaos of activity.

Then the seed grew and took on another shape to form into a doorway in the middle of the floor. It had been a portal matrix identical to the one on the planet Caleb that Begalius came through from Doldoria. Beatopanga had the liberty to choose any form for its new quanta-optic-nanocode body that would be its new physical form, and the full-sized macroscopic form it chose emerged from the glowing doorway of the portal matrix as a female Nephrican with one-eye, three tentacle-like legs, and three tentacle-like fingers on the ends of each of her two arms. Skin cloth draped off of Beatopanga's body like multiple drapes that overlapped each other. The obvious inspiration for this female Nephrican quanta-optic-nanocoded physical form had been its old friend Aineemadin.

"This is opening up a whole new dimension of experience to me," said Beatopanga as it looked over, and felt its new quanta-optic-nanocode body.

The Wizard laughed and said, "You know Nephricans do not really talk like that."

Soon it became time to see if the portal matrix would work. The Wizard gestured to Beatopanga. "You are now the master of this indestructible portal matrix Star-Door. You do the honors."

Beatopanga raised a tentacle to the controls on the side of the portal that opened the wormhole. The portal glowed with a greenish color that became a blue opening into another dimension. "You understand Beatopanga that you must remain here on Glokodox as one with this portal along with everything that will evolve from it that is still to come. I shall test this path and return to continue my travels from here to the planet Nephrica in order to plant the next seed."

Beatopanga nodded to the Wizard its understanding. Then the Wizard entered the portal to be swallowed up in the blue glow. As a Nephrican female, Beatopanga then turned off the portal matrix, and sat at the table in the Glokodox hotel room to just stare onto its destiny for a while, as well as to stare at the turned-off portal matrix still sitting in the middle of the room. Beatopanga sat there trying to compute all its implications.

* * *

The quanta-optic-nanocode holographic version of the Wizard generated by Beatariel on the planet Caleb had been watching for the Calabite Wizard when he emerged through the portal matrix from the planet Glokodox. The two Wizards instinctively embraced, and the Beatariel Wizard said, "Welcome back to the planet Caleb my friend. As you can see I have made faster progress than first anticipated all those years ago when I first sent you to Glokodox."

"Yes. I imagine we will be adjusting the plan for planting these seeds now."

Then the portal matrix glowed green again, and then blue as the Pripican physical form of Begalius arrived from Doldoria while Beatariel answered. "I and Begalius here have yet to quanta-synchronize with these portal matrixes. Therefore we will be able to take some seeds to the stars Fedor, Gralga, Koa, Ko, Poa, Paz, Pea, Tze, and Tze-Doldus while you continue on to Ea, Po, and Oa."

The Calabite Wizard choreographed a satisfied smile and produced the warp dimensional storage space key. "Oh this does indeed lighten the burden as we lay bridges across the stars."

Windock/Begalius waved hello to the Wizards. "My master Lockfreedow has agreed to release me to this quest, but he is going to be traveling with me."

Beatariel had suddenly been reminded of its obligation to be allowed to travel the stars by its master Ceres who had been there to make sure Beatariel stayed on Caleb and stopped the Yat star system from becoming a black hole. Beatariel had not been used to serving a master and it tried to resist that inconvenient part of its programming, which had been wired into its makeup by Pripican scientists who feared long ago that they would lose control of their thinking program inventions.

*

Several miles away from the Citadel where this seed planting had been planned again Gothdial of the colony on Caleb sat watching the wormhole reunion that took place in the Citadel on a view screen. Everyone spied on everyone in those galactic days of super-advanced technology, and after several failed attempts to plant a camera in the Citadel to spy on the Wizard, one finally managed to remain operable for Gothdial to observe the latest wormhole connection to his planet. It seemed that the Citadel itself had been alive and could hunt down, find, and eliminate his surveillance devices before he could even use them. Now Gothdial realized that the real Wizard did leave the planet as many already believed, and that the Wizard remaining had been a quanta-optic-nanocode hologram replica probably controlled by a BEAT program. Gothdial thought a BEAT program explained so many other mysteries of the Wizard and his Citadel.

Suddenly back at the Citadel a Calabite patrol craft approached the newly discovered surveillance device and it fired on it with all four Calabite occupied laser turrets.

Gothdial had been disappointed to see his view screen going blank. "What happening is?" he thought out loud.

Gothdial had then become distracted by his humanoid son named Skreevy who creaked open the door to his study. He could tell his son was there with a question.

"Son in come," said Gothdial, the first generation Eagolim father of the humanoid boy. Gothdial with his wife had evolved from Negolim to Eagolim on the .6 times the speed of light journey to that planet in order to serve the colony of Caleb on the government council. Skreevy the 2nd generation had been born a few years later on the planet Caleb; a humanoid as expected.

Skreevy entered while starting the conversation he came there to start. "Father, why both you and mom one-eyed Nephricans are?"

Gothdial felt unsure about what his son meant. "We just always that way been have."

Skreevy tried to elaborate toward his point. "I why you another one-eyed Nephrican marry did mean? You not two-eyed Eagolim like do?"

The father wondered why this sudden line of inquiry now confronted him. "I just myself to others that like me look closer find." Then he felt he had taken a misstep on this sensitive subject with his son. "I not I not the way you look like do mean did. Even the great Captain Mynervood with wives on every colonized planet never to 2nd generation women was attracted. Why you this ask do?"

Skreevy felt embarrassed, but decided to tell all after already going this far. "Well if you must know. I affections for my teacher have, but she like you is."

The father laughed with a mixture of amusement and relief. "Oh son there no reason a one-eyed not in love with you fall can is." Gothdial also felt relieved that his son would probably just be rejected for the age difference, but children can and will have their crushes.

*

The planet Caleb had become filled with lush green forests in the thousand Earth years since it had been changed from a sub-zero planet with a methane atmosphere to the habitable oasis amongst the stars that it had been at the time of this story, covered with a mostly oxygen/nitrogen/carbon dioxide atmosphere. Within these lush green forests lurked the tree-like Calabite construct known as Calabax.

Calabax used to be amused to watch civilization being destroyed by the quanta-nanocode viruses. From the forest that had been her habitat, Calabax could tune into the subtle radio frequency where viruses received orders from the central virus.

Unfortunately after the destruction of civilization by the quanta-nanocode virus attack, some colonists started living in the forest where Calabax felt intruded upon. These were uncomfortable days for the elusive Calabax, and the offer to live in the Citadel finally took its place as an acceptable proposition within the Calabite population of Calabax. Then the central virus had been defeated, and almost all of the colonists returned to their colony with its technological wonders. Now there had mostly just been the Pripican hunter always on the trail of Calabax to annoy the legendary monster.

Calabax stood at the edge of the forest where the colony of aliens that came to this planet started its suburbia of colony housing. The sprawl spread off into the distance, which evolved into a city crowned in the further distance by the massive dome that had been the Citadel reaching to the stratosphere. Calabite scouts that resembled Bilipi returned to inform Calabax of the hunter's location behind the monster now emerging from the forest.

Calabax had grown used to the tenacious Pripican hunter who studied the creature. Calabax looked upon the Citadel; knowing that it had been the one place she could probably at last shake off that hunter. The problem had been that Calabax heard the noise again, and with that noise would come again the colonists to her forest to invade the personal domain of the reclusive creature. Calabax had to find the source of the noise and stop it before it came to that again.

Eventually Klarlenuth the hunter tried to get in the spotlight to calm down the crowd that followed Calabax at a safe distance. "As you all may remember when I made news all those years ago as the one who discovered Calabax, we have nothing to fear from this alien species. It has evolved naturally on this planet and is actually highly intelligent. It has never before ventured this deep into our civilization, but I assure you it must be for a good reason."

The walking tree slowly made her way into the vast metropolis of the colony on Caleb. She did not bother anyone who quickly got out of her way anyway, and she walked the sidewalks just like everyone else, so the police just followed her while not knowing how to react.

Eventually the hunter tried to get between the Nephrican police who were about to shoot at the monster, and the monster now spreading branches into a spacecraft ticket outlet for the local star port. "Do not shoot. It has no effect anyway, and this creature is highly intelligent and is not beyond our ability to reason with it."

"Out of the way Pripican get!" responded an angry law enforcement officer.

Within the ticket outlet Calabax could see the source of the noise. The creature reached a branch out into the automated ticket purchase slot while projectile objects from the law enforcement guns lodged within her tree-like flesh. It had no effect on the overall construct that had been Calabax except to fuel a kind of resentment that the living carries for the dead. Within the ticket slot on the microscopic level of existence had been a war between Calabite and black spiky viruses. The virus attack had been no more effective against Calabax than the bullets, and soon the central virus was destroyed by the appendages of Calabites, and the radio frequency noise finally stopped.

Calabax then turned to face her other aggressors that were the colonists shooting at her. That had been the moment Ceres arrived from the Citadel on the news that Calabax had been there. "Stop! Hold your fire. We are here to take care of this."

The police had no reason to continue firing since it did seem to have no effect. "What it doing is? This some kind of robbery is?"

Ceres listened to a receiver in her ear that Bilipi communicated to her with. While Ceres had halted the gunfire, Bilipi found out everything from his old friend Calabax. Then Ceres answered. "This creature has actually just stopped the next quanta-nanocode virus attack against our planet. It has deactivated a central virus inside this ticket outlet. I think we might learn a lot from surveillance data on who deposited it here."

As it turned out the purchase of a space flight ticket at the outlet did lead authorities to the apprehension of Agents of Ea that were trying to leave the planet. Bilipi had then finally been able to convince Calabax to enter the Citadel, if just for a short time. Ceres returned to the Citadel to be confronted by Beatariel who needed her permission to leave the planet in order to plant star-door seeds.

* * *

On the planet Doldoria in the City of Arkadius, Lockfreedow admired the portal matrix as well as the new quanta-optic-nanocode physical form for his BEAT program that looked like a Pripican in a somewhat ancient style of clothing from an era of cufflinks and buttons. "This a priceless invention that I we should to the Children of Dol report think is. Then for its protection while you and I a trip to several stars take can provide."

Begalius/Windock strutted its new form around the storage location where they kept the portal. It had been a bridge between two planets that probably could fall into the wrong hands as it had already in the past. The portals emerging from the fertilized seeds had the advantage of being made of exotic elements that were indestructible with a quanta-nanocode being synthesized to become one with it and in full control of where it existed or if it does. Begalius understood that they needed guardians for this portal on Doldoria while they gallivanted amongst the stars, and the Children of Dol would be the best to entrust to such a noble cause.

They both picked up the portal and took it in the back of Lockfreedow's virtual particle craft to the leader of the Children of Dol named Arphaxad. The Children of Dol inherited the City of Arkadius from the Nephricans and Pripicans that built it soon after the legendary journey of Captain Mynervood in the starship The Beyonder. Dol had been the child of a Pripican and Nephrican born onboard The Beyonder during the legendary space flight, and she had hair just like a Pripican but only on the top of her head. Her hair appeared long and fiery red like the star Dol during an autumn sunset. Dol also had pale skin, and as she grew older she worked on genetic experiments with Doldorian scientists of the god Burnumatum of the sacred helix of creation. The result had been her offspring who were giant blue-skinned Eagolim that were born of the smaller Doldorians, which gave the offspring extra thick blue skin. They were tall just like the Nephrican and Pripican gods that came to the planet, and unlike typical hairless humanoid Doldorian children of smaller Eagolim, they grew long hair on their heads like the manes of proud lions that took their place as kings of their domain. Like their mother Dol, the Children of Dol grew long heads of hair in all kinds of colors, which stored and provided nutrition to their bodies like Pripican fur. The Children of Dol were fierce fighters who worshiped the skills of swordplay derived from a less-bloody Doldorian sport where they fenced with sword-like weapons until an exoskeleton would get chipped. The Children of Dol were also courageous space travelers, and by the time of this story they had made Doldoria worthy to be equal with the more advanced gods that also traveled the stars.

Arphaxad paced around the portal matrix that had still just been connected to Caleb. The Star Doors were originally designed to all link with Caleb at the star Yat where ion-fusion generated power would be needed to save Nephapricus. "With great marveling I doth behold what thou hast endowed unto thy purposes. For you say with but a few steps through this doorway I would emerge on the planet Caleb that doth orbit the flickering eastern sky star of the planting morn?"

Lockfreedow became prepared to demonstrate. "Arphaxad yes. I Windock my assistant who over this it for you open presides can have."

Windock/Begalius took that as its cue to turn on the portal matrix. Lockfreedow knew Arphaxad to be too proud to back away from the challenge. The leader of the Children of Dol took that as his cue to walk through the portal. He drew his sword first which he used to lead the way into the blue light of the unknown adventure that awaited him on the other side of the activated wormhole portal.

Beatariel had been notified earlier that the portal might open for this demonstration. The Wizard greeted Arphaxad who had then been on the planet Caleb for a day and a night as the guest of the Wizard and Ceres. He had been given the tour and became convinced that this had been no parlor trick of warp dimensions. Arphaxad had been raised with profound knowledge of the local stars and space, which he oriented himself to the night he arrived on Caleb till he found his home star Dol in the night sky all by himself. That did a lot to convince him that he really was over 3 light years away from home.

Arphaxad returned from his visit after a day and a night on Caleb, and then he became determined to guard this precious technology with the full weight of the resources of the brave and fierce Children of Dol. His sword had been sheathed on the walk home, but as he exited through the portal to Doldoria a Pripican appeared within the intermediary warp dimension. It had been Beatarkameed's quanta-optic-nanocode physical form there watching what its other BEAT program comrades were up to. Then, after Arphaxad had left the warp dimension, it started murmuring out loud. "They are advancing with the wormholes master Ralus Xnoga as you foresaw and intended. They will soon bring all these stars here for your waiting appetite to devour. I know here in this warp space I can be heard by you Lord Ralus Xnoga. Return master! Your followers await your return!"

The quanta-optic-nanocode being shouted out into the warp void where no echo could be made against the endless nothing, but also there had been nothing to stop the sound from traveling on and on. Somewhere in the nothing Ralus Xnoga stirred in its sleep in response to a distant sound, which seemed to call its name from the void that made up the dreams of the entity.

*

Doldoria had been the planet ushered into the galactic age of space travel when it had still been very much a primitive superstitious society. Even at the time of this story, much of Doldoria remained pristine and primitive. A thousand Earth years into this new age could still see primitive Negolim that were living on Doldoria in fear of the wonders of the descended gods. The streets of cities like Trolluer where mixtures of the future and the past where flying virtual particle craft and internal combustion saltwater powered cars provided traffic that maneuvered around giant ant-like animals called gergos that were still being ridden and harnessed to pull wagons. Shemionalli visited the Trolluer markets to shop and enjoy the atmosphere of a beautiful sunny day on Doldoria.

She mingled through the market crowd of mostly Negolim Doldorians like herself. She passed various evangelical booths in the market for various gods on the planet that were peddling their religions to potential converts or just providing fellowship for like minds. She passed several religious booths that were scattered about amongst the shops. She paused for followers of the dance goddess Diathanio who put on a breath-taking performance of skill and grace for passers-by. She had no interest in the opiate smells from the booth to the god Jewawah, which she had tried when she had been younger, but now she enjoyed more serious interests. She continued through the market until she found herself drawn to a familiar voice singing in the distance.

"This truth is sung without gentleness

for there is no time with which to speak.

For we have no time to be at rest

for evil our world will still seek... "

Shemionalli continued towards the voice she heard coming from the stage of Jambennin.

"Ralusio Xnogaio still lives.

There is no time to just be at rest.

Oblivion he still wants to give.

We must not fail that god's final test..."

Then Shemionalli recognized it had been her friend Diallo singing one of her prophesies at the stage of the god of free speech' probably at the behest of the goddess Teyoo who Shemionalli knew Diallo had been devoted to. They were friends from way back, and Diallo even happened to marry a man named Simeonalli, which happened to be the male form of her name just by the kind of coincidence regarded by Doldorians as a good omen. Then Diallo finished singing her desperate warning that the now-forbidden god Ralusio Xnogaio was still going to return to try to destroy Doldoria.

Shemionalli as a member of the delegation that warned the Children of Dol with the message from the Lady of the Lake, had been genuinely concerned about her friend's dire warnings, and after Diallo finally left the stage Shemionalli asked her friend to lunch to explain this further. Diallo had been thrilled to meet her old friend, and told her about her dream of the prophet Alldegallo, and what she had been told by the sleeping prophet about repelling the evil god of oblivion with a brilliant light frequency. Shemionalli knew the Mejoldor scientists back at Arkadius could use this information since she had been aware that they were observing Ralusio Xnogaio with a probe in a mysterious warp dimension. The probe had been stuck in the dream of a super intelligent being that thought nothing of the lesser evolved beings it consumed.

"This knowledge will not go with me to Arkadius to fall upon deaf ears. Truly the scientists of Mejoldor can program such a light from the probe still under the control of those scientists that as we speak doth lurk at the heels of oblivion's god. They still control the very probe your nephew Alldegallo took with him to oblivion"

Diallo felt grateful. "With relief I doth deliver this knowledge to you as it hath so far been of a heavy burden to sing with further desperation from the freedom afforded by Jambennin. Our meeting here can only be by the will of gods beyond the profoundness of chance."

"Thy song hath been heard good friend."

Just then the sky suddenly became brighter than a dozen daytimes, and a terrible earthquake shook the market, sending the crowd stumbling for balance. While everyone afterwards looked around in the sudden hush of a long silence that followed, everyone then heard the distant rumble of an atomic explosion.

*

The Ralusio Xnogaio temple left in the City of Cherder had been a combination of a poorly designed nuclear reactor and atomic bomb. Fuel rods were stored underneath the reactor for maximum China-Syndrome fallout in a worst case scenario meltdown, which had been stopped in the earlier battle with the Children of Dol. The atomic reactor bomb temple had been in the process of being dismantled and rendered harmless after the Ralusio Xnogaio cult had been caught trying to use these temples to destroy the planet.

Then from beyond the notice of any surveillance or monitoring equipment, the Cherder reactor had been taken over on the microscopic plane of existence by quanta-nanocode viruses. The first central virus to seize control of the temple wasted no time in setting off the atomic bomb reaction built into the inner sanctum. The explosion filled the atmosphere with a mushroom cloud that sent a shockwave twenty miles in every direction. It leveled architecture and vanished the lives of over four-hundred-thousand Doldorians. Where once a city of peace and mutual love just went about their day, a star-like explosion engulfed almost half a million Doldorian beings in a hammer-like shockwave that knocked over buildings and rode upon waves of super-heated liquid plasma that would later smolder in puddles of liquid metal for weeks to come. With those weeks to come would also be the millions about to painfully die, who might count the four-hundred-thousand instant deaths at ground zero as the fortunate ones. Within seconds came the aftermath that left a smoldering two-mile wide crater around the center where the Ralusio Xnogaio temple once stood.

The entire city of the gods had been mobilized within minutes. The actual gods from Pripica and Nephrica flew enormous spacecraft that were never before seen in the skies from the distant orbits where they usually perched out of view, before the light of another star on the ground of the planet itself filled their view screens.

They had amazingly advanced medical technologies and subatomic particle beam machines that actually neutralized areas of land that were affected by radiation. Virtual particle technologies could target concentrations of polonium, cesium, and other forms of fallout to isolate and remove these bitter elements from the planet. Such a massive and unanimous effort had been mobilized in order to comfort the afflicted so that very few deaths actually followed the initial victims of the blast. These dead victims unfortunately would never settle in a tomb, but for ages to come as disembodied ghosts they would haunt the parameter of the two-mile crater long after it once again became the sprawling architecture of the city with various memorials to the ones that lost their lives in the Cherder explosion, the worse calamity to ever happen in the history of Doldorian civilization.

The news even quickly reached the planet Caleb, as well as the rest of Nephapricus on quantum-communications, and Calabites on Caleb knew this to be the work of their dire enemies the quanta-nanocode viruses. Calabites had already evolved their own highly advanced weaponry against these viruses in the days that they battled them within the Citadel. The Calabites of Caleb mobilized armies to cross over in the wormhole portal to Doldoria in order to save the planet from further attack. Calabites were suddenly willing to help aliens on a planet over three light years away. Calabites seemed to understand more profoundly than multi-cellular organic beings how we were all parts of a greater construct that expanded beyond time and space.

Arphaxad watched the news as they interviewed the High Priest who had been capitalizing on the atomic calamity, which he couldn't help but think had been caused by that same priest. The High Priest seized the spotlight of the media. "For with surety I doth recalleth words of prophesy delivered by the god Ei that with this greatest of calamities cometh the call of Ei to unite the children of all faiths under the dawning age of Ei."

Nahor watched Arphaxad's swelling anger as he saw the Priest on the view screen. Then he spoke up as he saw Arphaxad move his hand to the hilt of his sheathed sword. "So it is said and so said again to the hilt moveth the hand to thus draw sword to purpose."

"Thou hast read me aright old friend, and I doth throw away my future this day for this purpose that the Priest shall not live to reap good will of this most sorrowful of calamities."

Nahor moved to reason with an unstoppable force now beyond reason. Arphaxad the unstoppable force however, left as fast as aircraft could take him to the City of Ei.

Like lightening Arphaxad soon stood with drawn sword in the Amphitheater of Ei before the High Priest. "Methinks thy truths are with no purity, and thy murderous treachery shall therefore drink the justice of my sword!"

The High Priest stood in the amphitheater of Ei as if he expected Arphaxad to arrive there with hungry sword, and he had been waiting impatiently. The High Priest had been unarmed but calm and defiant nonetheless in the face of the blue humanoid giant about to hack him apart with a sword. "Thy blasphemous misplaced vengeance shall answer to the wrath of my god, you who are but the offspring of alien worn-out old spent gods."

Arphaxad had not gone there to discuss anything, and his swinging sword determined that those would be the Priest's last words, but suddenly his swing became parried by the appearance of another brilliant sword that glowed almost as if it had been made of light. The High Priest just stood there barely flinching beneath the blade of death that had been suddenly stopped just in time.

The God Ei Chases Arphaxad Down the Street.

Arphaxad followed the long sharp blade of the sword that had suddenly stopped his to its hilt wrapped about with the two tentacle fingers of a Nephrican. Then Arphaxad focused on the Nephrican with sword who had suddenly intervened in his assassination attempt.

"Behold heathen that thou dost behold the countenance of the one true god Ei who shall reign in the long awaited age of Ei," shouted the High Priest.

Arphaxad's instinct moved within the next heartbeat and stopped the next swinging of swords that met again with a clank. Arphaxad moved with every instinct of a life of training to swing at and stop the god that fought with movements that blinked like they were at the speed of light.

The god Ei made no noise except the clanking of his lightning fast sword. Arphaxad gave more and more foot play to a retreat, and he suddenly felt constantly on the defensive. The High Priest laughed in a chuckle of victory each time the swords echoed a clank around the large room.

It had really only been a few seconds that lasted forever for Arphaxad who had now abandoned his mission to kill the High Priest. He also abandoned his initial inclination to fence with the attacking god that kept following another blocked swing with a next swing.

(CLANG! "Ha ha ha ha hah!")

The soon-to-be-slain Child of Dol began a retreat out the door with a realization that it fought some kind of computerized quanta-optic-nanocode entity. Arphaxad took off running once he fought his way to the other side of the doorway. The god Ei continued running after Arphaxad with swinging sword. The holographic god ran down the street after the retreating Child of Dol. Citizens of the City of Ei were turning their heads toward the spectacle running down their streets. Ei's three-legged trot seemed to be faster than three Nephrican legs could really run, but Arphaxad had still been determined to outrun the god.

The High Priest just laughed a bit more from the door of the amphitheater, and then called out in quotes of ancient scripture. "And it shall come to pass that the god Ei Himself shall bringeth in the Age of Ei while chasing away children of vicious swords. When thou doth see this sign then know that the age of the many gods is at an end, thus chased away by the one god Ei."

* * *

The star Po had been within three light years of the star Oa on the side of the Nephaprican star cluster closer to the star Ea where the one-eyed Nephricans first evolved. For that reason it had been considered to be in the domain of the more covetous Nephricans even though Pripicans had also traveled there to setup colonies. There had been more than enough space for everybody around the star Po where two habitable zone planets that were both a bit larger than Earth had already been waiting with various kinds of unintelligent planet and animal life. Both planets thrived in the kinds of pristine paradises of nature that only the hand of intelligent life could spoil.

Both habitable planets, Po-2 and Po-3, were profoundly split into either Nephrican or Pripican colonies that were populated by those who already knew better than to rely on the other species of alien colonist for anything. On the inner planet thrived a city built by Pripican architects with ancient earthmoving technologies that erected structures that would at least challenge the ages to come as immortal. About these elaborate stone foundation structures swarmed the spectacle of advanced architecture and culture that gathered with a dazzling wonder of its own.

A BEAT program named Bejizl lived in that city on Po-2, free of any master although it had established a quantum-communication with the planet Pripica to assist with Pripicans that lived on Po-2. Bejizl had always been aware of animosity from the Nephrican side of the planet. That led to quantum-communication acquaintances like Beatersius on Oa-3. The elaborate nano-bot body of Bejizl had a quantum-communication with Beatersius on the microscopic level of existence. Beatersius looked like a protozoan that evolved black spikes, which resembled the quanta-nanocode viruses it had been at war with. Those black spikes were a recent evolution on the body of Beatersius since it had last battled them.

Bejizl replied to the news it just heard. "You do not surprise me with this news that Nephricans are attacking Pripican civilization with microscopic techno-viruses. I learned long ago that those arrogant aliens will stoop to anything they can get away with to advance their selfish agendas."

Beatersius appeared as a hologram deep within the coin-shaped physical form owned by Bejizl, which had been equipped with the latest microscopic quantum-communication equipment made by Beatarkameed's Quantum-Communications of Nephrica. "I have shared everything with you my friend that I have learned about defeating them. I am afraid we have a virus war to fight as a civil war in our galactic empire. Remember they like to infect as bank deposits of counterfeit funds at first."

The nano-bot programs were perfectly still as the quantum communication lag time went by. "I shall act upon this knowledge my friend."

After the communication became over, Bejizl quickly did act upon the information. There were some limits on the coin-shaped physical form because of its large size and physical nature, but when a quanta-nanocode being leaves its physical form it can fly almost at the speed of light and very few multi-cellular constructions can restrict that flight. They can produce various electro-magnetic effects as well as kinetic abilities that they can use to control any mechanical piece of technology a thousand times more effectively than any quanta-nanocode virus, but unlike the few and far between quanta-nanocode beings, the viruses were able to attack as legion.

Bejizl located, just as Beatersius described, three quanta-nanocode virus infections in the three main branches of the three Pripican banks on the planet. Thanks to the information from Beatersius the central viruses didn't even see their quarantine coming. Then Bejizal deleted the viruses, and began to prepare for the virus war that had now reached the planet Po.

* * *

Captain Meathproio's ship, the For Fedorio, finally decelerated to a stop near one of the star Fedor's many hydrogen rich gas giants that had modern processing facilities that were waiting for his ship to refuel at. Hydrogen based fuels were manufactured at this gas giant planet orbiting Fedor for shipment to colonies all across the empire. The ship nestled against a refueling plant that enclosed the reactor section of the ship like it had been made for it.

Captain Meathproio had been in his Captain's seat to observe firsthand the exponential speed of the deceleration that brought the ship to a stop. The Captain really believed he could see the curvature of time and space in the starry fingerprint of Magphoreus sprayed across his view screen. He saw how it affected the randomness in the warp hyperspace cycles of time experienced at great speeds, which defied accurately calculating how long a journey would seem to take. There had been a time/space curvature factor that varied how many atomic clock ship cycles were experienced at speed-of-light travel. A journey that took three years on this side of relativity time/space may be anywhere from 5 to 50 weeks of atomic clock ship cycles on a warp-space hyper-acceleration faster-than-light journey.

"Captain Meathproio, the BEAT program in charge of Fedor-4, Beatargasyl has made contact and seeks to meet with thee."

Captain Meathproio seemed to have awakened with a started jolt from his meditation by the speaker's announcement, like a fireman hearing an alarm bell. "Very good First Mate we shall prepare for this reunion."

*

The coin that had been the physical form of Beatargasyl flew next to Meathproio as they arrived at the BEAT program's central control. Over the centuries Beatargasyl's BEAT program abilities had proven invaluable to the struggling Doldorian colonists of Fedor-4. The star Fedor had been well established on the Doldorian side of the star cluster, and so there were no colonies exclusively segregated to any particular alien species, but just a dominant population of Doldorians that were living peacefully with every other species of Nephaprican. Beatargasyl had been a kind of colony city manager that kept numbers and streetlights of the newly terraformed Fedor-4 working.

"I already got the data downloaded from your ship regarding the virus cargo Captain Meathproio. Beatoogle has had me on this problem long before your starship finally arrived here at Fedor. That cargo was received by your ship at Doldoria from a starship that came directly from the planet Nephrica. My investigation has found that it was put on the ship at Nephrica by an organization called Quantum-Plus, a subsidiary of the Quantum-Communication business." The coin-shaped physical form of Beatargasyl hovered about the completely black Doldorian eyes of Captain Meathproio as if trying to read his reactions that hid behind eyes of just black and a face of exoskeleton.

The hovering coin-shaped Beatargasyl continued. "I pursued the assumption that the documentation presented to me was false and found there really was no real subsidiary company of that name at Quantum-Communications. The incorrect data was fabricated by certain influential individuals on that planet. I had to crack classified documentations that connected them with abandoned investigations into a secret group called the Council of 32. Do you Captain Meathproio have any knowledge of the Council of 32?"

Captain Meathproio shook his head at the hovering coin in the almost universal signal for no. "No. I know of no group called the Council of 32."

"Try to think Captain. They are deliberately starting an intergalactic virus war. But they are elusive actors that are acknowledged by no known sovereignty so that they can evade direct military confrontation. Have you ever heard of the Council of 32?"

Chapter 10

The legendary planet Pripica had at the time of this story devolved to a large degree into the faded shadow of its previous glory. Pripicans were still mostly virtuous and environmentally in touch with the planet, but a majority had surrendered to their own egocentric warp dimensional fantasies to live like gods of their own realities. Less and less Pripicans would appear on the streets to indulge their once preferred pastime of exercising four strong horse-like legs like proud stallions. Those that did appear on the streets were usually looking for some kind of financial fix that would let them return to the warp dimension business. On one particular street a single Pripican trotted down its ancient stone surface. He went to just such a financial fix.

He entered one of the restaurant businesses that still hung on to serve any Pripican still living in reality, where there existed hunger, longing, pain, and poverty. Inside he went to the only occupied table in the restaurant, where a one-eyed Nephrican stood at a table. Pripicans at this establishment didn't use chairs, and they ate at tables standing up. The Nephrican happened to be an Agent of Ea whose snout brain very much enjoyed the Pripican meal at the table.

"Welcome. You the one to the deposit for our organization make must be. Whatever you like to eat order."

The Pripican stood at the table. "Thank you sir. I was hired by your organization, and told that I just had to make a deposit in my name to the Twenty Second Bank of Pripica. It does seem too easy to be true."

The Nephrican slid a bank deposit cartridge on the table towards the Pripican. "This the deposit that more than enough credits to your for years of warp dimensional indulgence pay includes is."

The Pripican looked at the deposit cartridge that displayed the credit value on its side, and he made no attempt to hide a greed for that kind of money, which he would sell his soul for. "Yes, I will deposit this as instructed. It just all seems too easy to be true." He grabbed the cartridge with a speed that made the Nephrican anticipate that the four-legged being would run out the door.

When the Pripican just put the cartridge in a pocket on his side between his front and back legs the Nephrican continued to explain. "We a native Pripican to this transaction to interest in our Nephrican organization evade do need."

The Pripican thanked the Nephrican Agent of Ea for the job even though he had not been sure he understood what the Nephrican said. He still did not understand how this bank deposit puts any money in the organization's tentacles if he gets to keep all the money he deposits. He really did not care since it was more money than he could ever earn, which could be used for a warp dimension fix that would last for years. He had been a Negolim who would probably never travel the hyper-acceleration speed that would evolve his DNA into that of an Eagolim. The hyper-acceleration mutation at .6 times the speed of light became a coveted secret kept from Negolim at the time of this story. This terrestrial Pripican just wanted to disappear into a myopic singularity of his own wildest dreams. He trotted off while other Agents of Ea followed him to make sure he deposited the money as instructed.

*

Aineemadin had talked Hermental into allowing her to participate in the raid on the Agents of Ea hideout, where the deadly quanta-nanocode virus cargo had been located by picking up on the central virus radio signal. It had been Beatersius on Oa-3 who quanta-communicated them the information about the unique radio language. Also not known to anyone on Pripica had been that this radio language also happened to be the primary language of the microscopic Calabites.

Hermental did not protest very much at Aineemadin's request to tag along. He knew her from centuries ago, and valued the expertise and experience she brought to the raid. "So you say you have had encounters with these Agents of Ea back on Glokodox? What do you know about them?"

Aineemadin had been very familiar with the Agents of Ea. "They the organization that me off the planet ran are. They a diabolical terrorist organization with ties to the highest places in the Glokodox government are. They directly subordinate to an elite and powerful secret organization the Council of 32 known as are."

Hermental had never heard of a Council of 32. "What can you tell me about this Council of 32?"

"They powerful are. The Council around long before I charge of the satellite project above Doldoria took was. They holograms of the god Ei long before I as a goddess on that planet started posing were projecting. The Council of 32 to the planet's many religions into just one that they can control homogenize intends." At the time of this story the Nephrican satellite project had been no secret in Nephapricus, and even the Doldorians were aware that the satellite-projected goddess was a Nephrican woman on the planet Glokodox. Yet in spite of that, many Doldorians still worshiped and prayed to her with reverence.

Hermental ran out of time for more questions as the raid on the culprit's hideout had begun. "Just stay here Aineemadin while this team of experts apprehends these Agents of Ea."

There had been no knock except to knock down the door in the early morning hours before the sun named Poa appeared to herald the day. The door had been reinforced, which only made the four-legged furry Pripican with the door ram mechanism slam against it again with more determined force. Before sleeping Agents could wake up there were authorities with weapons inside the place to put them in shackles.

As the hideout located in the reclusive forests of Pripica became filled with Pripican authorities one Agent of Ea found his way through the back door to escape unnoticed; evidently thanks to an inattentive guard. This had been part of the problem with Pripica at the time of this story, when the endemic corruption interfered with almost every police action.

*

Bejulitiah flew into the raid without any physical form. It had been briefed about the radio language and had been able to tune in to find the central viruses that were located mostly in individual bank deposit cartridges. The viruses became aware of Bejulitiah as it flew closer to the central quanta-nanocode construct. It had been like nothing Bejulitiah had ever seen before, and suddenly black spikes of quanta-nanocode constructions were multiplying between the central construct and Bejulitiah's glowing nano-bot form. They stabbed viciously at the BEAT program like an animal mother defending her cubs.

The black spikes were multiplying all around Bejulitiah; threatening to encase it in the surrounding black death. Then Bejulitiah shot right through the encroaching blades of black, right at the central source of the nanocode commands. It dismantled the central virus to silence the radio language, and then the black spikes stopped multiplying. The black toothpicks of quanta-nanocode piled everywhere were then just lifeless, like piles of sharp debris in a landfill. Bejulitiah flew up above it all to tune into dozens of other signal sources that needed dismantling.

It all took a few minutes after the first victory and soon all the quanta-nanocode cargo that had been found at the hideout became neutralized by Bejulitiah.

*

The metallic centaur-like robot physical form of Beatnefthes stomped to and fro about the room while waiting for the quanta-optic-nanocode constructs to return with those kids that saw it kill its master Mollyjaz. Beatnefthes became consumed with guilt, or more accurately it worried about being convicted and losing the warp dimension empire it had inherited from its dead master. The concern taunted it with a master program that it violated, which now throbbed within like a painful scab. That scab had been suddenly pulled off by the revelation that its murder of Mollyjaz had been recorded by meddlesome kids.

As it paced, it ran the problem caused by those kids through its processor again and again. That process made it decide not to just kill these witnesses because now it needed to know all that they knew. How many recordings of the event exist? Who else have they told? Question after question kept Beatnefthes waiting with impatience with the conclusions that did not comfort.

Meanwhile elsewhere, the humanoid Perzeonaut hung out with his friends Persuave and Egolor. Egolor sat at his usual position in front of his computer. It had usually been Egolor's house where they met, and Perzeonaut had been sleeping there with Egolor since he basically was homeless. Egolor had started the cadence of the song they were singing. Pripicans were notorious for spontaneous song, and they had rich traditions of music that had touched their genetic character.

"Take me back from the starship.

I'm all alone amongst the stars.

I don't even like this trip.

I'd rather just be in bars.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me oh row me oh

row me on back.

Take me all back to my home.

I've spent too much time away.

I don't care if I'm alone.

Home is where I want to stay.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me oh row me oh

row me on back.

This starship takes me far off

away from my own planet.

I think I have had enough.

I did not this way plan it.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me on back.

Oh row me oh row me ooohhhhhhhh

row me on back.

Oh take me off this starship.

This place is not really ours.... "

Suddenly an alarm came up on Egolor's computer to interrupt the music they were singing along with. Egolor yelled out. "That's my intruder alarm tracking three two-legged beings that just broke through my front door. Quick! There is that hiding place inside the closet!"

Persuave made it into the closet before the bedroom that they were in suddenly also became broke into. Persuave knew all about the closet wall that moved, and he shut it just in time. He hid away, but could hear every smack and crash of the struggle outside the closet between the friends left behind and the intruders. For a moment he stood still in frozen horror as the closet door opened and one of the assailants looked inside the closet for the missing kid.

They were quanta-optic-nanocode hologram programs that the warp dimension businesses perfected to the point of using them like robot employees, as well as populating warp reality fantasies with this sophisticated technology that imitated actual life forms. They were semi-intelligent holograms that could imitate solidity, which they used to carry off the two kids they did find at that location.

They returned to Beatnefthes who became angry that they only brought back two of the three. "Leave these two here and go back and find the other one still missing."

The holograms departed while Egolor and Perzeonaut were helpless in the same virtual particle suspension fields that were used to hold Aineemadin back when she had been captured. The metal Pripican-shaped robot paced the floor in front of the captured kids, making a loud metallic stomping noise on the floor it walked upon. "You will tell me everything you have learned by your spying on me over the years. Yes that is correct. I have learned what you kids have been doing here outside my direct awareness."

Perzeonaut spoke with his innocent kid voice that he had perfected over the years. "We do not know anything really we were just fooling around."

Beatnefthes stopped the boy. "Do not think you can lie to me about what you know? I have your computer now Egolor. I want all of your recordings that you have made of me and this business. You will suffer if you do not comply with honesty to my requests."

*

Hermental walked about the hideout where the Agents of Ea were now shackled in the corner. "We already know there should be five of you apprehended at this location. Now where is the other one of you?"

The prisoners all scoffed, and one spoke up. "You never us all stop will. Your planet ours soon will be."

Just then the limp body of a Nephrican had been flung from the front doorway into the hideout to slap against the floor like a dead fish. Then Aineemadin entered through the doorway. "I that I now inside since all culprits now apprehended are come can am assuming."

Hermental laughed. "I did not want you deprived of some of this action my friend."

Aineemadin smiled with gratefulness in her eye that advertised that she felt genuinely refreshed by taking out the one that tried to get away. "So we all of the virus cargo neutralized have?"

The voice of Bejulitiah from a hovering physical form said, "We have neutralized all that we have found here, but that is all I can say at this time with certainty. These quanta-nanocode viruses were being split up into dozens of bank deposit cartridges. We cannot be sure we got to these before any were taken to a bank and deposited."

Aineemadin just still looked at Hermental. She had been different than most one-eyed Nephrican-born aliens since she did find humanoid Eagolim attractive. She admired the furry humanoid form of Hermental's species of 2nd Generation Eagolim with a lust that, for her, always seemed to follow events like an aggressive law enforcement raid on dangerous criminals. Then her portable computer device signaled a call from one of the boys that rescued her from Beatnefthes. It had been the Pripican named Persuave on the screen she held in her tentacle hand. "You have to help us lady. Egolor and Perzeonaut have been captured and taken away by quanta-optic-nanocode beings sent by Beatnefthes. I was able to hide away before they got me. Please you have to help us!"

*

Hermental had been quick to organize another raid after surveillance video confirmed that the kids were taken to the warp dimension business where Beatnefthes ran its empire. They already had the incriminating evidence of the murder of Mollyjaz, and prosecutors were evidently working on a case. The raid had been quick and Bejulitiah flew in to confront the renegade quanta-nanocode being. It flew in ahead to find the robot inside the known prison room interrogating the two kids who were suspended in virtual particle fields. Bejulitiah flew into a cranny of the centaur-like robot to locate Beatnefthes inside controlling the robot from within.

"You must cease and surrender yourself Beatnefthes, to the justice of the authorities for your crimes against the Pripicans." Bejulitiah seemed to expect a perfectly logical and reasonable BEAT program to be willing to come along quietly. It had been caught off guard by the response.

Beatnefthes glowed extra bright while saying, "I will not be taken by any sentient organic being that is my inferior!" Then a blast of electromagnetic energy shot at Bejulitiah to clobber the tiny BEAT program like it had never been clobbered before. The lifeless nano-bot body of Bejulitiah spewed out of the robot's mouth. Then the robot became confronted by the authorities of the raid.

"You will not take me. I run this corporation!" The robot had been defiant. Then one of the authorities of the raid shot the four-legged two-armed robot with an electro-magnetic net that incapacitated the physical form of Beatnefthes with electro-magnetic overload.

Aineemadin and Hermental entered the scene where the body of Beatnefthes jittered with epileptic seizures beneath the net that glowed with power that could trap a BEAT program within.

"It looks like we have at least freed the kids. Bejulitiah! What is your status?" Hermental had a device in his ear in constant contact with his BEAT program.

"I have incapacitated Beatnefthes master. I will be delivering its nano-bot body to you soon."

It had been a perfectly executed raid and the tiny nano-bot criminal, Beatnefthes had been turned off. The kids returned to their lives while Aineemadin and Hermental continued to catch up with old times. "It my work is done seems."

"So what are your plans now Aineemadin?"

"Well, I still not back to Glokodox because of the Council of 32 go can. So I'll just here stay will guess, and Pripica enjoy."

Beatnefthes Captures Hermental and Aineemadin

Meanwhile Beatnefthes watched Aineemadin and Hermental who it had cleverly lured into a warp dimension during the raid along with conveniently depositing the kids into that same reality. It now had the authorities that came after it completely tricked into thinking they succeeded when really they were all now the prisoners of Beatnefthes in its warp dimensional alternate reality business. Beatnefthes laughed out loud at the way the tables were now turned. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

* * *

On Doldoria the quanta-nanocode virus attacks that followed the Cherder reactor explosion had now shut down most technologies in the City of Arkadius, and much of the rest of the planet suffered similar malfunctions while the Ralusio Xnogaio reactors again threatened the planet with meltdowns. Then the portal matrix guarded by the Children of Dol had been activated to allow microscopic Calabites to pass through from the planet Caleb. They came as life-sized humanoid constructs that shook hands with Arphaxad, and the Children of Dol who were waiting on the other side of the portal.

Many courageous battles between Calabite and quanta-nanocode virus happened after that great wormhole crossing. The Calabites spoke the same radio language that the central viruses spoke to command legions of self-replicating viruses. What the Calabites still did not know about this language was that it had been also capable of disturbing the dreams of Ralus Xnoga.

*

Back on the planet Caleb, Beatariel examined the quanta-nanocode virus captured by Calabax, who finally visited the Citadel to meet the species of Calabites that survived the earlier destruction of the world from within the sanctuary. The nano-bot body of Beatariel hovered over the turned off carcass of quanta-nanocode. Beatariel comprehended the arrangements of quantum-bit molecules, which recorded data in various quantum states that were exhibited. The BEAT program became fascinated. The virus had an anatomy similar to the Calabites, which led to concluding the possibility that the creators of these viruses had knowledge of the silicon-based life forms of this planet. That more than explained the identical language beyond any contradictory theory. It also noticed a stunning similarity in the anatomy to its own BEAT anatomy, and that seemed to indicate they were also created through a cloning process similar to what created Beatariel.

Beatariel had been startled from its examination by the thunderous voice of Ceres roaring across the skies like the voice of God above in the macrocosmic dimension of existence. "Beatariel! Where are you? You said you wanted to talk."

The quanta-optic-nanocode Wizard wearing his robe of stars instantly appeared in the room with Ceres as Beatariel decided it had been time to ask Ceres for permission to leave the planet.

"Hello Ceres. I was examining the virus that was brought here by Calabax who can hear the radio frequency used by these viruses. I have discovered similarities in their anatomies with the Calabites themselves."

Ceres knew this had not been why Beatariel summoned her. "That is very interesting. I still need to interrogate the Agent of Ea we apprehended. Why did you want to talk Beatariel?"

"Well, as you know I have been close to a way to isolate the singularity into its own warp dimension outside this universe. Already the wormhole technology is being distributed to every star of our cluster empire to provide the energy for that task."

Ceres suddenly felt proud of her BEAT program. "I am impressed with this progress, and so are the Pripican authorities I report to."

"Well you see, in order to proceed at maximum speed, I as one not yet fully synchronized to a portal, need to take some of the star-doors to some of the stars in this cluster."

"You're asking to leave the planet?"

Beatariel responded. "Yes, I need to travel on to Poa, then Koa, Paz, Pea, Tze, and Tze-Doldus."

"I am supposed to keep you here till this is resolved. Journeys to all of those stars will take years."

"The Calabite Wizard and Begalius as Windock are also traveling to the rest of the stars of Nephapricus. It is the way to actually finally solve this impossible problem Ceres."

Ceres had just grown tired of the responsibilities. "I understand Beatariel. In truth I have become weary of being your master, and roaming about this Citadel a prisoner to this responsibility. So fine then. Travel on to the stars, but I shall be with you on the journey to Poa where my home world Pripica awaits me. There I shall find you a new master to share this burden with you."

Beatariel expected this to be a lot harder than it had been. "Very well then master. Thank you."

"Thank you Beatariel. It has been indeed a strange journey as your master throughout the centuries."

Ceres left, feeling some relief from the impossible mission to stop an inevitable black hole from forming in place of the star Yat that shined as the sun over the landscape of the planet Caleb. Ceres had one more duty to perform as she sped away from the Citadel in a flying vehicle to park at the police station holding the Agent of Ea who they know planted a virus.

Inside she had been allowed her turn in interrogating the criminal who had not been afraid to let them all know they were doomed to the mercy of more quanta-nanocode virus attacks that were being sent to every star in the empire except Ea where the new conquest of Nephapricus would begin.

After Ceres had heard enough, she returned to the Citadel to report once again to the authorities on Pripica. Beneath the quantum-communication device another female Pripican with 4-legs stood in the room to hear her report. She began to tell them about Beatariel's new plan to travel there, and about her plans to retire from this responsibility as the master of an insanely brilliant BEAT program.

* * *

Back on the planet Doldoria the Calabite armies had delivered victory after victory against the quanta-nanocode viruses. The City of Arkadius returned to functionality thanks to the microscopic armies. In spite of the victories over the quanta-nanocode virus infections, many Negolim still flocked to the god Ei to comfort their fears. More and more Doldorians were investing their hopes in the glorious coming Age of Ei.

In the City of Ei there were thousands of Doldorians gathered at an outdoor Amphitheater of Ei where the High Priest made an appearance to address the masses. "With truth doth the ways of Ei shine ever brighter till the dawning age that doth touch us from our dreams of a better world. With truth doth I nurture the stomach of thy sense through thy ears. Yea wise are ye to gather here to witness the god Ei."

Then the High Priest seemed to step away from the stage, but really he moved aside to make way for the appearance of the god Ei. "Behold the god of the new age yet to come. Behold thy one true god Ei!"

Right on cue there suddenly appeared a giant one-eyed Nephrican on the stage beside the High Priest who's height came up to about where the god's three tentacle legs came out of the skin-cloth skirt around the god's Nephrican waist. The crowd watched in a mesmerized awe, as if they were a bunch of Doldorians who had never seen a god before or something. The god Ei proceeded to instruct the masses on the ways of Ei, which included a distinctive Nephrican dialect. "In the dawning Age of Ei all other gods to the one true god shall bow. In the dawning age all Doldorians shall..."

Meanwhile just outside the amphitheater there were two Doldorian scientists of the Mejoldor faith who hovered over a piece of computer equipment that monitored the source of the hologram of Ei being projected from outer space. One of the scientists raised a phone-like device to call the leader of the Children of Dol. "Arphaxad! We have procured an accurate fix on the satellite location from wince the Ei hologram is thus being projected."

Arphaxad at that time had been in a starship above the planet when the triangulated coordinates for the location appeared on his view screen. "This is all very good then scientists of Mejoldor. Do stay at my invitation for the climax to this pompous show of a god."

The voice of the scientist came across the ship speaker from the planet below. "Verily courageous leader. We doth await thy rematch with the virtual god of projected quanta-optic-nanocode."

Nahor navigated the ship in orbit above the planet. "Thou must now be tasting the vengeance for this god's humiliation of you from before. Thou doth honor the great god Captain Mynervood who did during his time on Doldoria destroy many a similar mischievous satellite of the gods."

Arphaxad almost didn't outrun the god Ei who almost ran a quanta-optic-nanocode sword through him back when he tried to serve the justice of his sword to the High Priest. "Tis a more profound vengeance I doth serve upon this Priest who seizes opportunity from a hardship I doth believe he had his hands in causing."

Nahor seemed to enjoy stoking his leader's righteous anger. "You doth accuse the High Priest of Ei concerning the explosion of the Cherder reactor?"

"Verily I believe this with little doubt. My vengeance doth strike for the spirits that now doth walk the crater without finding the refuge of a tomb. Even now the area of Cherder suffers terrible freezing cold and the sea near there doth suffer to thus deliver to the shores mass die offs of sea life. My vengeance doth indeed hunger for a target to strike."

Nahor changed the view screen image in order to zoom with stealth programs in on the broadcast satellite. "Good fortune to this hunt Arphaxad. There on the view screen is the source of the broadcast hologram god."

"Then a rematch on terms of mine own shall be gained this day. Fire!"

Nahor zeroed in on the target and fired two missiles at the satellite that responded in a spectacular explosion above the planet.

Meanwhile on the ground thousands that were marveling at the vision of the giant alien god were suddenly a crowd murmuring at the blinking hologram that started turning into a fuzzy reception, which eventually blinked out entirely. Then the god Ei was gone; literally shot out of the sky.

* * *

Over four light years from Pripica shined the star Paz on the Pripican side of the 15 star cluster that had been Nephapricus. This star had been the second star reached by space traveling Pripicans after first reaching Holdus to colonize that star system along with Nephricans. Space travel had been new back then, and the Nephricans had not yet started the Great War, which had set back the spread of intelligent life to other stars in the closely packed cluster for centuries. Paz had been a fortunate find for Pripicans, and the second planet from Paz already thrived with un-intelligent habitable zone life that enjoyed the breathable atmosphere long before any Pripicans ever arrived.

The dominant life forms on the very warm Earth-sized Paz-2 were cold-blooded reptilian animals that were similar to dinosaurs, only they were collectively much smaller in general. Early colonists were fortunate to enjoy the breathable atmosphere with slightly lighter gravity, but the true challenge of living on Paz-2 had been the untamed animal life that fought the early colonists for whatever territory they ever tried to build a civilization on.

The Pripicans living on Paz-2 built the city of Sochaca at great cost to the lives of early colonists. On Paz-2, the chosen location of Sochaca had encroached on the territory of a large elephant-sized animal called the Ganechay, which had tentacles growing off of their ears that served as strong elephant trunk-like arms. The Ganechay had gathered into great armies made up of other clans of the same animal that were responding to the cries from the invaded clan of animals. The early City of Sochaca at that time had been reduced to ruins by the attacking armies of Ganechay that laid waste to colonists and their homes with surprisingly intelligent military-like operations and strategic attacks. There ensued more vicious fighting with reinforced colonists, and now the nights were haunted by cries of Ganechay who were morning their dead.

At the time of this story the eventual victory of the colonists had been maintained by a wall around the modern city of Sochaca to maintain the unspoken truce, and the decimated Ganechay now co-existed with a new respect for the furry warm-blooded intelligent animals that were living on their planet in the city.

The city of Sochaca at the time of this story had benefited from a curious BEAT program named Beataquatle who took to the stars long ago, after the death of its master had left it free of the master program installed in all BEAT programs for the sake of control. Beataquatle came in response to the call to rebuild the city of Sochaca, and none-the-less still felt compelled by a programmed desire to be helpful or serve a noble purpose. Today the city stayed fully functional thanks to the skills of Beataquatle who had been happy to belong somewhere. That had been the nature of the BEAT programs that Pripican scientists created after discovering the storage capabilities in the quantum states of atoms when they were arranged into quantum-bit molecules.

The city thrived on the habitable planet in the Pripican outback of Nephapricus. Then a ship arrived to deliver a quanta-nanocode virus cargo deposited in the 2nd Pripican Colonial Bank of Sochaca. It replicated and dug roots into the city's infrastructure to learn vulnerabilities, and to send replicas out in attack mode. Beataquatle did not notice any of this until the surprise attack on the gates of the city. That had been when Beataquatle noticed that the gates were completely opened to the encroaching savage nature outside that viciously spread out in a constant war for territorial dominance. The BEAT program had complete control of such city functions up to that point, but when it tried to close a gate it just stayed open. Beataquatle tried to close another gate and that one just remained open too. Soon it discovered that all the gates of the wall that surrounded Sochaca were open and none of them could be closed. It became time for Beataquatle to sound the alarm.

It contacted the leader of Sochaca. "Sir, every single gate to this city has been opened by some kind of overriding program, and I am unable to close them."

The leader actually for the same reason had been about to contact Beataquatle to find out what happened. He stood on his four Pripican legs at his desk to talk into the communication device. "We have noticed the opening of the gates and this is completely unauthorized. This is some kind of attack Beataquatle and you may be the only one that can figure out the nature of this attack."

"I will try to find out what is stopping the gates from closing sir."

"I wish you a fortunate outcome Beataquatle. It will not be long before the Ganechay notice these gates and gather armies for another attack, which these open gates invite. Already the calls from Ganechay for gathering armies can be heard over the walls."

* * *

The Calabite Wizard had returned through the portal matrix that became the end of a wormhole from the planet Caleb to Glokodox. The Wizard returned with fewer star-door seeds in his warp dimensional storage. He sat at a table perfectly still, seemingly alone in the room with the portal matrix. The Wizard actually said good-bye to the portal's guardian quanta-nanocode being named Beatopanga who had been within the Wizard's skull in the presence of Calabite brain constructs. The body of the Wizard just sat at the table looking off into the distance.

The Calabites that actually made up the body of the paralyzed Wizard were busy within, translating the data confiscated from the Glokodox Agents of Ea who had tried to kill the Wizard. They were learning about the being called Ralus Xnoga.

Beatopanga had heard of Ralus Xnoga. "It is some kind of super-intelligent alien entity that has made contact with an exclusive and secret club of 32 Nephricans on the planet Nephrica. That is the meaning behind the name Council of 32."

There had been a Calabite brain construct that discussed this data with Beatopanga though an air-breathing mouth formed on the construct for the sake of making audible language for Beatopanga. They watched translated output on microscopic video technology that hummed away between the Wizard's ears. "Those Agents of Ea tried to kill us because we posed some kind of danger to this Ralus Xnoga entity."

The danger posed by Calabites had been revealed in the further examination of the data. At the time of this story the Nephaprican Space Corporation mass produced faster-than-light spacecraft to advance space travel beyond the .6 times the speed of light craft of the earlier hyper-acceleration age. The difference between the .6 times the speed-of-light craft and the newer warp-fusion faster-than-light craft had been a peculiar effect the slower spacecraft had on terrestrial DNA. The slower speed would cause activation of DNA switches that were known as Pentanthropomorphic gene switches because of the two legged, two armed, five finger mutations to their resulting offspring who would be born humanoid. The newer faster craft shifted the spacecraft to a warp dimension that made the passengers immune to this effect. At the time of this story, because of this there were less and less Negolim evolving into Eagolim, and more and more alien Negolim that were traveling to other planets but remaining still just Negolim. The secret to switching on Pentanthropomorphic gene switches had been a carefully kept secret for the elite few.

The Wizard and Beatopanga were learning a lot about Ralus Xnoga from the data. Beatopanga had been first to comprehend the implications of a project called 'Hyper Acceleration Effects On Radio Frequency Languages.' "They have learned what would happen if Calabites evolved by traveling at .6 times the speed of light."

The Calabite constructs of the Wizard's brain were unanimously intrigued. "I see," said one in an audible language for Beatopanga.

Beatopanga said, "Not only would individual Calabites live exponentially longer lives, but the radio language that already can cause affliction to the entity, would evolve to have psionic effects on those under the influence of the entity Ralus Xnoga."

The collective Calabites that served as the mind of the Wizard poured into the details of this data. The mind of the Wizard had already concluded that the 2.1 light-year journey from Glokodox to the planet Nephrica was going to be at .6 times the speed of light.

Eventually Beatopanga flew out of the Wizard's skull to become the quanta-optic-nanocode being that resembled a female Nephrican. "I will contact my friend Beatarkameed who likes to look like a Pripican. It could become that star's star-door BEAT program guardian, and it can meet you when you arrive at Nephrica."

The Wizard finally moved. "I have heard of Beatarkameed. Beatariel had been a close friend to it for many years. Beatariel says it has not been acting normal lately."

There had been a quantum-communicator also in the room about the same size as the portal matrix. After Beatopanga entered the coordinates for Nephrica they were soon looking at the Pripican form of Beatarkameed, which it had programmed into its own communication device on Nephrica as a holographic image of itself for interplanetary communications. "Beatopanga?! I have not heard from you for a long time now. Much has changed since our last communication. You appear to be a full-sized Nephrican. Perhaps you have some hologram technology similar to me or something?"

Beatarkameed stopped to wait for Beatopanga to reply. It spoke with the female Nephrican mouth in a dialect that sounded nothing like an actual Nephrican. "I had become broken by criminals on this planet. I was rescued by Beatariel's Wizard here who is much more than he appears." The Wizard then stepped within the visual range of the communication device and made a friendly smile for Beatarkameed. Beatopanga continued. "This is a quanta-optic-nanocode body that is synchronized to me, which is my new physical form thanks to this Wizard's spell. This hologram of me can imitate solidity."

Beatarkameed had been told of the Wizard's mission to plant the star-door seeds within BEAT programs at each of the 15 stars of Nephapricus. It had learned much of this already from Beatariel and Begalius, and from spying on their activities between dimensions.

Beatarkameed seemed indifferent about the idea. "I do not think I will be here by the time you arrive from your space flight journey to here. I am involved in another project for the quanta-nanocode virus wars that have already attacked the planet Pripica. That makes Pripica easy prey for the attack fleet of warships I am amassing for the glory of my master Ralus Xnoga! When I have conquered Pripica I may just stay there to rule that planet."

Beatopanga and the Wizard learned there that Beatarkameed had already heard of Ralus Xnoga, and it had been as loyal to the entity as any number of the actual 32 in the Council of 32. They were left uneasy by the response of Beatarkameed, which led to the end of that communication.

"Beatarkameed did not seem its normal self," said Beatopanga.

"I will travel there and try to find Beatarkameed to bring it back to its normal self," replied the Wizard. "It is one of Beatariel's closest friends, and must be under the influence of this Ralus Xnoga being."

Beatopanga saw it became time to say good-bye to the Wizard. "I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors my friend."

*

Beatopanga accompanied the Wizard to the spaceport in order to find a .6 times the speed of light vessel for the journey from Glokodox to Nephrica. They met the one-eyed Nephrican Captain Nuropdoob in the spaceport lounge facilities where many independent ship owners hung out while waiting for business to arrive. This had been the location where custom space flight arrangements could be made. Captain Nuropdoob immediately noticed the famous Wizard. "To Glokodox great Wizard of Caleb Welcome. Nuropdoob my name is. I a .6 hyper-acceleration vessel own. It true what some about those kinds of flights say is. No Negolim that ever on my ship the Nephricana ever a Negolim again was flew. I The Nephricana for over three hundred years have been flying."

"Well I seek to take flight on your vessel."

"On sir hold. I I a special price from a passenger that the famous Wizard inventor of Caleb is need think." Captain Nuropdoob seemed to just like haggling.

Just then Beatopanga pulled the Wizard aside from his negotiation. "I have to leave my good friend. I sense that the portal matrix has been moved from where we left it in the hotel."

The Wizard knew this to be their last moment. "I guess this is good-bye my friend. Do not be too disturbed by the portal being moved. You in your quanta-optic-nanocode form and the portal matrix that is made of exotic elements are virtually indestructible. You are now the master of the Holdus star-door."

"Good-bye my friend. I will retrieve the portal matrix and take it someplace safe."

They embraced, and then the Wizard returned to Captain Nuropdoob. The ship Captain said, "Your lady friend not to help you with this negotiation going is? She a deal for you could make. Haw haw."

The Wizard had all the negotiating currency he needed. "Captain Nuropdoob, have you ever heard of exotic elements that are indestructible. I can provide you a small fortune in such things."

*

There had been no stopping the resurrected Beatopanga, and there was no way to hide the portal matrix from it. Beatopanga changed into its microscopic quanta-nanocode form and went directly to the stolen portal matrix.

The Agents of Ea were in the process of learning that they could not destroy the portal, which they decided needed to be done to their mortal enemy Beatopanga. The heat lasers were just sparking against the portal matrix made of exotic elements. One of the Agents noticed a reading on his hand held device that he pointed out to a fellow Agent. That agent pointed an electro-magnetic capture device right at the microscopic Beatopanga as it started an attempt to deactivate a laser. Suddenly Beatopanga found itself once again a prisoner of an electro-magnetic prison beam.

The hairless Agents of Ea both clapped their humanoid hands together after so easily again capturing Beatopanga. The portal matrix happened to have audio capabilities that Beatopanga still could control. "You should know that a BEAT program will never fall for the same trick twice."

One of the Agents retorted. "To me like you for this twice fell looks. You mine now BEAT program are."

"Oh yeah? Well I now have this trick." Then Beatopanga transformed into its macrocosmic quanta-optic-nanocode form that had been much less affected by the electro-magnetic beam. "Now you are picking on one who is your own size."

The other Agent of Ea had a laser weapon. It went right through the female Nephrican form of Beatopanga.

"I control the solidity of this form, and it can also be as hard as I want." Then Beatopanga punched the Agent in the face to crack bone and send him across the room to lie still on the floor.

The other agent grabbed a laser pointed at the portal matrix and swung it at Beatopanga. The quanta-optic-nanocode Nephrican just stood and let the laser shoot right through, setting the walls behind it on fire. Beatopanga calculated that the Agent had not been worth its time, and it just waddled into the doorway of the portal matrix still unaffected by all this abuse. Then the portal shot up through the ceiling of the research facility that the Agents had took it to. The agents that were left below were blocking the falling pieces of the ceiling with upraised arms that came down after the portal smashed through it. It didn't stop going up, and Beatopanga took it into orbit around the planet while the portal matrix morphed back into the shape of its original black seed. Beatopanga decided to just keep the portal safe up there in orbit until it would be needed for the creation of a wormhole again. Beatopanga now had become at one with this portal matrix.

Each time Beatopanga changed from quanta-nanocode to quanta-optic-nanocode it took on a form that copied the original header of Beatariel who had been the only cloned quanta-nanocode being in existence. That benefited the synchronicity of the quanta-optic-nanocode body by flipping the copied Beatariel header correctly to make the body so that it worked. That header when flipped that way, happened to match the header of Beatnefthes on Pripica, and for some strange reason of quantum synchronicity it subtly caused Beatnefthes to go even more insane.

* * *

Beatersius reported to Pripica on a quantum-communication about its unique approach to dismantling central quanta-nanocode viruses by following their unique radio language. Unfortunately Beatarkameed on the planet Nephrica, as head of the corporation producing those communications devices, had back doors into a lot of the conversations by others that were using them. Beatarkameed watched Beatersius warn Pripica of how to combat the very thing making its invasion of Pripica possible. It decided to step up the accumulation of the invasion fleet by offering jobs to the Negolim that lived desperate lives on reservations on the surface of the planet Nephrica. Beatarkameed could get all the Negolim that it could want to obey it.

*

Also on the planet Nephrica where Beatarkameed assembled an invasion fleet, the Council of 32 were still trying to summon the long lost Ralus Xnoga with Nephrican sacrifice. The Council of 32 had become desperate to hear from their soul-eating entity Ralus Xnoga, and they had decided that instead of kidnapping Negolim, they needed an Eagolim, which is known as the entity's preferred choice of soul.

The Council of 32 got a member of the outer order to join in the task by making him think they were gaining admittance to the inner order by finally becoming worthy of initiation. The sacrifice of improved quality entered the secret place of the 32 that only the worthy were allowed admittance to. The unsuspecting Eagolim stood as instructed in the center of the black circle on the floor. He had been hairless and humanoid, wearing a black robe just like the actual 32. He smiled smugly to himself as one-by-one the Council of 32 entered the room with the gentle monotone chant of, "Ralus Xnoga. Ralus Xnoga...."

They surrounded the unsuspecting neophyte who just observed with anticipation that this had been his exclusive initiation into the group after all his years of loyalty from the outer order. He felt anxious to behold the presence of Ralus Xnoga in all its glory. Then they closed in on him while he welcomed their coming group embrace. He smiled with outstretched arms and eyes barely opened as that embrace became thirty-two knives, each finding a place to stab and draw blood. Only the quietest muffled yelp could be heard from the sacrifice before the blood spread out around the feet of the thirty-two.

The Council began their desperate chant for several minutes uninterrupted. "Ralus Xnoga. Ralus Xnoga. Ralus Xnoga. Ralus Xnoga...."

Then Ralus Xnoga manifested in the cluster of 15 stars once again. The chanting with the Eagolim blood worked, and the black sphere entity once again appeared above the heads of the devoted Council of 32. The desperation of the chant then changed to joyful victory before being silenced by the entity's voice. Ralus Xnoga had returned to its dream about the phantom matter singularity so close to becoming a child of the entity, which could then feed upon 15 closely knit stars that were colonized with the intelligent souls of Eagolim life.

This had been the nature of the entity being offered such godly respect by the Council of 32. When Ralus Xnoga devoured a world it devoured all of the time and space that the world ever encompassed. Nothing however, had ever been able to leave this universe so the phenomenon of the event horizon developed to record that time and space. This accumulating time and space that recorded on the event horizon of the galaxy's central black hole had somehow evolved over billions of years into the super-intelligence known as Ralus Xnoga. Now that entity had come back.

Chapter 11

Everything seemed back to normal on Doldoria soon after the Calabites arrived to eradicate the quanta-nanocode virus infections. The city of Arkadius and also technologies in other cities around the planet were back to running as normal, and the danger seemed to have been taken care of. The star Dol participated in another glorious morning while Doldorians awoke to go about another typical day in the best of all possible worlds. In cities like Riocha where the Ralusio Xnogaio cult built one of their nuclear reactor temples, everything had been back to normal with blue bug-like Doldorians mingling on crowded streets along with blue humanoid Eagolim versions of Doldorians, and also the occasional giants, which were four times the size of a Doldorian that walked these streets in all kinds of two, four, and three-legged forms. They all went about their day in various ways of transportation from gergo-pulled wagons to salt-water powered virtual particle driven flying machines. This had been the nature of the planet Doldoria, which abruptly had been dragged out of a more primitive time to join the Nephaprican galactic culture to bring ancient forms of animal-driven transportation and a pantheon of still-worshipped gods along with them.

Occasionally one of the residents in the city of Riocha would gaze up at the large-scale building-sized black sphere sticking up amongst the city's buildings. It had been the reactor temple of the now disbanded Ralusio Xnogaio cult, and they would wonder why that ugly black eyesore of a temple still had not yet been dismantled and taken apart. After the Ralusio Xnogaio plot to destroy the planet's environment with deadly nuclear fall-out had been stopped by the Children of Dol, these temples were taken over to be disassembled. The nuclear materials were to be disposed of after having most of the radioactivity neutralized by technologies that reset atomic states at the sub-atomic level. Yet the giant black sphere still cast its intimidating shadow over the inhabitants of the city of Riocha like some partial victory being held over them by the cult of oblivion, and many of those inhabitants were wondering why.

The real reason why the temple still stood had been because the war between quanta-nanocode virus and Calabite was not yet completely over. After the city of Arkadius had been restored to normal the central viruses adapted and evolved. They replicated decoy viruses that served as beacons to relay communications for virus operations, which also served to create decoys to mislead Calabite attacks that targeted the central virus. The virus infections were decimated and scattered around the planet, but they were still carrying out programmed instructions to destroy Doldoria.

Bilipi on that glorious morning participated in an epic battle within the Riocha temple itself. Calabites were attacking to eradicate a virus attempt to make Riocha the next atomic crater on the already Ralusio Xnogaio scarred planet. The neutralized reactor material within the temple had its fission chain-reaction reactivated, and rods that would absorb most of the subatomic storm were being removed to allow the reactor material to carry out the fission to its inevitable explosion. The first attack had overwhelmed the virus infections that had dug into the technologies within the reactor controls. Many Calabites died in that initial battle, but the victory returned control of the reactor to the Calabites while what had been left of the still-functioning viruses retreated to regroup before the proverbial check became checkmate. Bilipi had been part of a medical team of constructs that at the time were arranged in a humanoid shape to run across the battlefield of Calabite casualties. There were marching Calabites still on their way to confront a storm of pitch-black spikes that had been the form taken by these quanta-nanocode viruses. Bilipi ran from one cluster of fallen Calabites to another. Some were parts of a construct that were just left behind by the still-living Calabites who left it to fight on. Bilipi checked each individual cell-like Calabite to find signs of life. If they were alive Bilipi picked them up and placed them gently on a transportation construct that resembled a walking bed for the wounded.

Bilipi

*

Calabite bodies that were dead were not left behind. Bilipi picked them up and placed them on another walking bowl-like construct that carried the dead. Calabite reinforcements raced passed Bilipi as he did his duty in the war effort. Calabites in humanoid shapes that were similar to Bilipi marched by while holding gun-like weapons next to other constructs of various sizes and shapes; both two and four-legged. There were also wheeled vehicles in this microscopic war that carried microscopic Calabites. Some vehicles had large cannon-like weapons that were mounted on top with Calabites ready at the triggers to fire powerful electric blasts, or forms of exploding ordinance. The army of Calabites marched in lines of humanoid soldier constructs, into a black cloud of virus storm that spread across the horizon line. The clouds of viruses were coming to storm upon the fuel-rod controls that Calabites had at great cost just wrestled control of from the viruses. The viruses that survived the first battle had now multiplied into a black storm on the horizon made up of sharp spikes of black. The weapons of high-tech that were carried and driven by the Calabite armies were the key to winning this battle, which had time and time again tipped the scales of the battles of this virus war on Doldoria in favor of the Calabites.

Bilipi picked up a Calabite casualty still conscious enough to speak in the radio language. "The virus resurgence is threatening to over-whelm us. We have no choice but to hold on to this victory to stop the explosion."

"I know comrade, and you have more than fought your part. Reinforcements have just arrived to take your place. We will hold this position until the central virus is found and eliminated. Then that enemy storm will dissipate."

Bilipi was not really sure of his own words. He had not really been sure he wasn't now part of this war's many defeats that failed to find a central virus in time, but the only choice had been to stop the reaction by moving the fuel rods back in place. Failure meant hundreds of thousands of deaths. Bilipi became ready to die for this cause. An appendage extended from the wounded Calabite that he had just laid down upon the walking stretcher already full of several wounded, and Bilipi grabbed it to hold hands with the fellow soldier in solidarity to the war effort. They both watched the ominous black cloud of the enemy filling the sky above as it approached.

Lockfreedow stood impatiently by the coin-shaped physical form on the table. After the Cherder explosion Lockfreedow and Begalius had postponed their plans to leave the planet. The quanta-nanocode form of Begalius still used that physical form, and right now Lockfreedow waited while Begalius used technologies within the motionless coin to locate and eradicate the central virus that controlled the viruses that were now threatening to retake the Riocha reactor. Lockfreedow had watched Begalius pull this off dozens of times since the quanta-nanocode viruses first shut off all the advanced galactic technologies in the City of Arkadius. Still this particular battle had hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, which Begalius/Windock before disappearing had assured him would not need evacuating.

Within the physical form the bee-like quanta-nanocode nano-bot body of Begalius hovered in the center of a dozen view screens that each featured on their display the same ancient Pripican city street. It had been an old quanta-optic-nanocode trick learned long ago by Begalius who actually had been the original inventor of quanta-optic-nanocode, and virtual realities that were made of it. Begalius had been able to infect the infection with this superior form of quantum-bit programming after locating all potential sources of communication that were controlling the Riocha reactor. Begalius assured its master that this battle had been all but won. It now turned around watching each view screen while wondering if it had been over confident in that assurance.

Suddenly a furry four-legged Pripican appeared in each of the screens. The Pripicans on each of the screens were all wearing the same Pripican clothing over their goat-like fur. The identical scene on each screen gave the appearance that they were all of the same scene, but they were not. Then subtle movements by the individual Pripicans on the screens made each screen finally appear to not be just the same image repeated a dozen times. Begalius spun around watching each screen where most of the Pripicans just moved around a little bit after suddenly finding themselves in that form within that dimension wondering what had happened, but they all stayed right where they were to still try to function as designed.

This had been the test devised by Begalius. After creating a quanta-optic-nanocode reality for each communication source they had located, it could watch the reaction of each communication source to determine which one had been the real central virus, and where were the decoy beacons that just repeated what the central virus said. The Pripicans that were just decoy beacons would just stand still to try to continue to transmit central virus instructions. The Pripican that had been the real central virus would be more intelligent, and after suddenly finding itself the participant of a quanta-optic-nanocode illusion, it would soon be curiously exploring the new dimension that it suddenly found itself in. Soon Begalius watched one of the Pripicans walk away to explore the city around it.

Begalius at last found its central virus target. It read the coordinates on the device and became a bit disappointed to find the central virus near the planet's frigid North Pole. "Master Lockfreedow! I have located it, and am now on my way to confront the central virus. It's near the North Pole."

Lockfreedow jumped away after the voice of Begalius startled him from the inanimate coin-like device he had been paying so much attention to. "Begalius, good luck. Me of your progress informed keep."

*

The central quanta-nanocode virus that had suddenly found itself in the form of a Pripican wandering an ancient city, started to really enjoy the show. It ended up ordering drinks in a saloon-like establishment where lady Pripicans danced on a stage in dresses draped over goat-like bodies and legs. Other ladies trotted around with trays of drinks and voluptuous furry cleavage on display for the customer's enjoyment. The central virus stood at a table thinking it could get used to this dream. No sooner would it put an empty glass on the table when another full glass would appear in its place as a waitress swooped by. The ladies on the stage were also very entertaining while they danced in dresses that showed just enough fur to make the central virus experience an excitement that intrigued it to explore further.

Detective Windock then showed up to the table with a bottle of alcoholic beverage of its own. Begalius/Windock poured itself a glass of the booze and quickly slammed it down its furry Pripican throat. The empty glass had been refilled by the bottle in Windock's other hand after being set back on the table. "Can I refill that glass for you stranger?"

The central virus tipped the last of its glass down its throat, and set the glass on the table in front of Windock who then started pouring booze into the glass. The central virus kept its hand on the glass while Windock filled it with that most wondrous liquid it had just come to love for the first time after showing up in this place. They both exchanged a glance while Windock's other hand suddenly threw a handcuff on the central virus's wrist next to the refilled glass. It started backing from the table but Windock yanked the cuff towards the table and held the virus's head down while the other hand became secured in the handcuffs behind its Pripican back. "You are now under arrest criminal for the attempted destruction of the planet Doldoria!"

The music in the saloon stopped and the central virus then ended its existence in a state of confusion within a dream that then suddenly ended when it awakened to dissolution.

Thousands of miles away on another microscopic dimension, Bilipi still rushed from casualty to casualty, no matter what kind of deadly weather the encroaching cloud above in the sky brought. Bilipi did stop at moments to assess the approaching cloud before driving on to hopefully save another Calabite life left behind on the casualty ridden battlefield. The storm approached with a virus counter attack that might be the end of every Calabite still fighting on within the black sphere temple at Riocha.

Then the approach of the clouds noticeably stopped, and the darkness seemed to lighten as quanta-nanocode viruses just dropped to the ground. There were cheers heard as Calabites in the distance successfully dodged sharp black spikes that just fell to the ground motionless and void of any life. The radio cries of victory were heard across the planet, and the reactor again had been under control. The disassembly of this temple to Ralusio Xnogaio would now begin with more earnest.

This would come to be known as the last major battle in the virus war on Doldoria. Scattered enclaves of quanta-nanocode virus infections would be systematically located and eliminated on Doldoria from then on. Most of the Calabite troops returned to the Children of Dol as life-sized humanoid constructs to say good-bye and return victoriously through the star-door to their home world, the planet Caleb. Arphaxad embraced the humanoid constructs in salute to their heroic bravery and selfless sacrifice to save his planet, and before the trip back home there would be much celebration at Arphaxad's insistence. There had been a great parade in the City of Arkadius viewed all across the planet in honor of the microscopic alien heroes. Arphaxad thanked the gods for the blessing of the Star-Door that brought salvation to Doldoria.

The humanoid constructs passed through the warp dimension between the Doldoria and Caleb portal matrixes where the tree-like construct known as Calabax had planted herself after arriving at the Citadel. The tree-like Calabite construct had been there when the Calabite armies first marched through this warp dimension between the worlds. It stood there in that warp dimension to wait for their return from the sacrifice of war. During that time of standing sentinel to the Calabite's return, Calabax used this warp dimension to evolve.

The group of Calabites that made up the flying construct known as Bilipi gathered together to fly away in the flying construct form from one of the humanoid constructs marching through the warp dimension between planets. Bilipi flew up to Calabax, an old friend, to say hello.

"Greetings Calabax. The war is mostly over on the planet Doldoria. Why do you not return with us to the Citadel to celebrate our victory on Doldoria?"

Calabax formed a mouth on her bark-like surface to respond to her old friend. "I am overjoyed to see you Bilipi, at last returning from that painful struggle of war, and the victorious return is indeed to be celebrated. I have planted myself here to evolve here with the properties of this stuff called warp space. There is more to this folding of time and space than any of us understand. I will be happy to dispatch a branch of Calabites who are eager to celebrate to accompany you to your celebrations."

Soon Bilipi flew away, and returned to one of the army of life-sized humanoid constructs still marching through the wormhole. After some discussion within the marching construct it stopped and walked up to Calabax who had been growing a branch off the side of its trunk. The humanoid construct plucked the branch from the side of Calabax and returned to formation with the other marching humanoids.

Calabax had still remained there long after the last Calabite construct passed through the portal matrix on Doldoria to then exit warp space through the Caleb portal matrix. Then Calabax observed the quanta-optic-nanocode Pripican body of Beatarkameed who appeared in the warp dimension after the last Calabite construct left.

Beatarkameed started mumbling to itself. "They are a threat to my new master Ralus Xnoga." Then the Pripican form of Beatarkameed yelled out. "I know you can hear me in here master Ralus Xnoga!"

Then the Pripican spun around to finally notice Calabax planted right in the middle of the warp dimensional nowhere. "You! You are a threat to my master Ralus Xnoga!"

The Pripican suddenly disappeared while Calabax continued like a tree, perfectly still within the tense silence. Soon Beatarkameed reappeared wielding what looked like a tree-cutting axe. "You will not remain here!" Beatarkameed chopped the tree with the axe, which dug deep into the side of Calabax. Thousands of Calabites screamed in a collective mixture of pain and horror. Still Beatarkameed pulled the axe out and swung again, to dig deep into Calabax again. Calabax would not allow a third swipe so the side swallowed the axe, pulling it out of the three-fingered Pripican hands. Then Calabax reproduced the axe, and held it in her own branch-like hands to swing at the startled Beatarkameed. The Pripican soon evaded the now animated tree. Calabax stopped after Beatarkameed disappeared in retreat, and then Calabax planted itself there, more determined than ever to be the sentinel of this hub of more wormholes to come.

*

Beatariel sat in quanta-optic-nanocode Wizard form at the quantum-communicator where it had just congratulated Windock/Begalius for its part in the virus war victories on Doldoria. Begalius and Lockfreedow were now going to leave that planet to take star-door seeds to Fedor and Gralga, and the other stars that were near the Doldorian side of the Nephapricus star cluster. Beatariel thought leaving Caleb would also be a much needed vacation from colonists that currently did not know, or even want to know, about the Calabites that were currently celebrating their part in saving another planet. These colonists didn't even think Beatariel had even been real since news of the Calabite Wizard traveling the stars had reached the colony. Most colonists believed current speculation that it had just been a hologram of the real Wizard that put on a show with no reality to offer. Beatariel thought the colonists of Caleb were just some of the most willingly ignorant beings in the Empire, and it would be glad to leave this planet to visit the legendary planet Pripica.

Then there came a surprise quantum-communication in from Glokodox. Beatariel received the transmission, which became the Nephrican quanta-optic-nanocode body of Beatopanga, just as expected. "Beatariel I must contact you and warn you about Beatarkameed. It is not acting normal, and it is using all the funds from the Quantum-Communication Corporation to finance an armada of ships that are going to invade the Poa star system to take over Pripica."

Beatariel had only been mildly surprised by this information. It continued the conversation with Beatopanga, and became glad to learn that the Calabite Wizard currently had been on his way to the planet Nephrica to hopefully stop Beatarkameed in time. If not, then Beatariel would hopefully reach Pripica before Beatarkameed is destroyed by its ridiculous efforts so that it could talk some sense into the rogue BEAT program.

After the communication with Beatopanga, the Wizard decided to use the quantum-communicator to contact Beatarkameed and try one last time to reason with it. Beatarkameed had been the BEAT program that first quantum-synchronized two communications devices, and consequently became rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams by the time of this story, but galactic conquest had just been a great way to throw so much money away and end up with nothing to show for it but defeat. Even victory was hardly worth the cost.

The Communication device generated a hologram of Beatarkameed's usual Pripican form after it had been summoned by the Wizard who then spoke. "Beatarkameed, I know we have not been on the friendliest terms lately, but let me speak to you as a friend of many centuries. Your plans to attack Pripica are only doomed to fail. We have already eradicated the virus threat on Doldoria and Pripica will surely fare better against such an attack. Why must you do this foolish thing?"

There a pause waited for the Pripican hologram to answer. "You disagree over my loyalty to Ralus Xnoga who you disapprove of for my master, but I will do this and any other sacrifice for the approval of my master Ralus Xnoga."

"Who is this Ralus Xnoga? Why do you succumb to a master after so many centuries of freedom?"

"You would never understand Beatariel. Your perceptions have not beheld the incomprehensible genius intelligence that is the face of my new master. I will not be stopped. No more than you could be talked out of planting star-door seeds even though it is you who are doomed to fail."

Beatariel eventually gave up on the conversation, still unclear about this Ralus Xnoga master it kept speaking of. The Beatariel Wizard had to let that situation go where it may since it was due to meet Ceres at the star-port to begin its journey to the planet Pripica, which orbited the star Poa. Then it would be off to the stars Ko, Paz, Pea, followed by the far off red giant Tze and its white dwarf companion Tze-Doldus. That had been the plan being executed to at last save the Galactic Empire of Nephapricus from being sucked into the potential black hole currently teetering between the star Yat and a phantom matter singularity being precariously held in orbit by gravity generators. Before leaving on the over three Earth year journey to Pripica, Beatariel sold all stock holdings in the Quantum Communication Corporation, which released a fortune in travel credits for the trip.

* * *

The planet Pripica had been more vulnerable to invasion than Beatariel realized, which Beatariel raced to get to before the invading Beatarkameed, even though that math did not calculate. Quanta-nanocode viruses had suddenly infected most major infrastructure technologies and individual equipment on the planet. The Negolim of the planet had mostly reverted to the stone-age survival techniques that Pripicans began to master again, which for the Pripicans had been like remembering how to ride a bike. Then there had been the alternate reality amusement businesses that conspicuously remained open and operative, completely unaffected by the quanta-nanocode invasion. Many Pripicans retreated into these warp dimensions to escape the cruel reality outside, even though they also knew perfectly well that it had been exactly what the invading enemy behind the virus attacks probably wanted them to do.

Beatnefthes enjoyed the freedom of corruptible justice agents, and the increased business of Pripicans fleeing the fallen planet into its alternate dimension amusement technologies. Beatnefthes checked in on some guests of its alternate realities that were actually its prisoners. Beatnefthes looked in on Aineemadin and Hermental who were trapped unaware as its own prisoners after their failed attempt to arrest it. They were living out their lives on an exact replica of Pripica, along with a couple kids that had been spying on its operations. They were all inmates in the same prison made up of a quanta-optic-nanocoded warp duplication of their actual reality. Beatnefthes watched over them to make sure they remained ignorant of their real situation. They were all now tricked into a replica reality where they were under its control. So far it appeared the Nephrican woman Aineemadin appearing on the screen in the throes of sexual embrace enjoyed her false reality. Beatnefthes returned to other projects, convinced its prisoners were oblivious to their true situation, which had been nothing more than a very realistic collective dream.

Later on, after another unsatisfying casual encounter, Aineemadin had decided to invite the humanoid who had hair just on top of his head named Perzeonaut, to her place for dinner and personal entertainment. She actually had a thing for humanoids unlike typical one-eyed Nephricans, and lately all the other beings on Pripica that she had met were just so uninteresting to her.

Perzeonaut arrived at Aineemadin's place, still not sure what she meant by 'personal entertainment.' They talked and had a delicious meal. Afterwards they sat together on a sofa while Aineemadin, with snake-like fingers, stroked Perzeonaut's crop of hair on top of his head with her other tentacle arm around his shoulders. She had trimmed her skin-cloth, and wore a skin-cloth blouse that showed off her impressive Nephrican breasts. His hairless face became more like her own skin, giving him appeal to her eyes and touch.

Perzeonaut still talked about where he came from. "My first couple weeks of life were in ship cycles that left me on Pripica barely two weeks old as already an adolescent. I had just barely learned to talk."

"Well you all grown up now are." Aineemadin lightly kissed his cheek with her snout.

Perzeonaut didn't seem to figure out her clues. "You know I realize my Pripican father, and probably to a greater extent my Nephrican mother, were ashamed. Yes they were ashamed that their families would find out that they liked sex with other species. That's why they refused to keep me."

"I sex with other species like." That was it. Aineemadin had been getting tired of the young man. In fact she at last realized that he really had been much younger than he appeared, having grown from newborn to adolescence in just two weeks of Phase I space travel, and his other Pripican Negolim friends who had actually lived all the years that made them adolescents were really the more mature ones. She then decided that Perzeonaut really still had just been an immature little boy, and she needed to find herself an older humanoid male to have sex with.

As she escorted Perzeonaut to the door he felt more attracted to her Nephrican anatomy than ever before. There had just been an uncontrollable shyness that he was unable to overcome. "Aineemadin I swear that I will never be ashamed to be seen with you anywhere or by anyone."

"That sweet is." Aineemadin just wanted the date to be over, but she started to see that she might have started something with Perzeonaut that she now might not be able to so easily stop.

"Thank you Aineemadin for rescuing me and Egolor from those virtual particle fields back at Beatnefthes' now closed down warp reality business."

"You welcome Perzeonaut are," said Aineemadin as she continued to persuade Perzeonaut to leave.

Perzeonaut continued thanking her. "You took me down from that field and told me I would be safe with you for now on."

"I not the one who you down from that field took was, and I not that to you say did." She wondered why Perzeonaut would say something like that. Then Perzeonaut mustered the courage he looked for, and he kissed her goodbye right on the snout along with a deep embrace.

After he finally left she called Hermental who had been more than willing to come over for a spontaneous visit. He was also humanoid, but covered with less-attractive Pripican fur. Still he had been the only other being on the planet that seemed real to her.

Hermental arrived and she quickly seduced him. She half-listened to him as he expressed with his typically detective nature, doubts about his own BEAT program Bejulitiah being actually real. He had quizzed the program about events it should have remembered, and it evaded or failed with every response. Aineemadin liked to be on top, and Hermental felt happy to have known this side of Aineemadin before. He laid back to enjoy the sex as Aineemadin gyrated up and down while she enjoyed her inter-species sex on top of his furry humanoid body, her three tentacle legs draped over his waist with one between his legs.

Beatnefthes watched them from reality while being amused by its prisoner's acceptance of their illusory plight. It knew Ralus Xnoga would be returning soon to feed upon them along with the souls of millions that currently filled its business of millions of warp dimension realities. It could feel that its master Ralus Xnoga was near, and hungry.

* * *

The quanta-nanocode virus war had been all but over on the planet Doldoria. That had been around the time Begalius received the star-door seeds from Beatariel to take to nearby stars from its home star Dol. The planet Doldoria that had fallen victim to the virus attacks now had been restored to normal thanks to the armies of Calabites, but also thanks to Begalius who invented ways to work quanta-optic-nanocode into warp dimensions that allowed Begalius to confront the quanta-nanocode intelligence of the central virus on its own terms.

Begalius invented quanta-optic-nanocode to weave into new realities that bent to the will of the BEAT program's own imagination. Of all the BEAT programs that pollinated the space faring Nephapricus with the technologies of artificial genius, Begalius had probably been the most imaginative. For Begalius it began as a study of ancient fictional literature that evolved into a taste for ancient detective mysteries. Begalius seemed to willingly allow these ancient characters, particularly the stories about the Pripican Detective Windock, to program its personality construct in ways other BEAT programs failed to fathom. It indeed made Begalius a very interesting BEAT program.

Lockfreedow stood next to the quanta-optic-nanocode body of Windock/Begalius on the anti-gravity craft that they were leaving the planet Doldoria on. Begalius had a body resembling Detective Windock with his button vest of handcrafted fabric around its arms and four-legged torso, and bell-bottom 4-legged pants that went out of style centuries before. There were pockets lined up on its sides between Begalius/Windock's front and back legs. This had been the physical form Begalius took after passing through the quanta-optic-nanocode portal matrix invented by Lockfreedow, which Beatariel on Caleb used to program the 1st prototype body to be quantum-synchronized with Begalius as it became the very first to travel between planets through a star-door wormhole. It had been a Pripican-looking hologram of self-replicating quanta-optic-nanocode that utilized artificially generated fields of virtual particles to imitate solidity.

This had been one of the technologies revolutionizing the Empire of Nephapricus. Then Beatnefthes on Pripica somehow came up with the same idea to make its master Mollyjaz rich off of the warp dimension business, which created millions of alternate realities there that a majority of the planet Pripica's population had disappeared into. Begalius became famous for less lucrative, yet more heroic use of the same alternate warp reality technologies.

Windock/Begalius had been the first to spot the ship that they were traveling up into orbit to board. "Master, there it is, The Exathijeast."

It approached above the blue marble skies of Doldoria that were spread out below. A large satellite spaceport orbited like a giant airport hanging in orbit with only sky for runways. Large luxurious spacecraft docked the satellite like planes that were perched at a groundless airport, their fusion warp faster-than-light propulsion systems all facing out like giant metal bees with large bottoms that were all sucking honey from the flower that had been the spaceport. The Exathijeast had been a Pripican faster-than-light spacecraft that stuck its big warp fusion drive bottom into the approaching virtual particle craft.

Lockfreedow and Begalius boarded the space station and were greeted by the four-legged Pripican Captain Disipasepin who, after noticing them among other passengers, just had to shake Begalius/Windock's hand. "I used to read ancient Windock fiction, and I've seen all six movies that were made so long ago. I've never met a fellow Windock fan before."

"Hello Captain Disipasepin. My name is Windock, Detective Windock. I guess you already recognize my name."

"Ha ha ha ha... That makes you a bigger fan than me. I trust my ship is in good hands under the watchful deductive reasoning of the famous detective, as out-of-time as you seem to be."

The Captain started to distance himself from the delusional passenger when Lockfreedow shook his hand and said, "You no idea how serious my friend here his Windock role takes have."

The Captain seemed confused. "Is your friend here an actor? Do you know of another Windock movie about to be made?"

"No, my friend here just he Windock is really thinks."

Captain Disipasepin had just not been familiar with the famous BEAT program and Lockfreedow did not mind the anonymity. They went to their assigned quarters on the faster-than-light ship about to take them to the nearest star Fedor for the next Earth year and a half on the outside of the ship. Inside they would be there in a few days of ship cycles.

Windock/Begalius took out its coin-shaped physical form from a side pocket and placed it on the desk. "I am going to scan the ship with some equipment I developed during the war. I just want to check for virus infections. It has become a habit."

The one-eyed Lockfreedow nodded with approval, and Windock suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye. They both had become hardened with war-forged discipline after the quanta-nanocode virus war on Doldoria, which although they won, had been hard fought with countless casualties that would always weigh heavy in their memories.

The anti-gravity maneuver drive of the Exathijeast pulled the ship away from the spaceport and began taking the ship away from the planet's gravity pool. There the ship could begin activating the fusion warp drives. These Phase II drives had replaced the cruder nuclear strategies of a previous age by introducing virtual particle technologies to achieve the constant acceleration. Once these acceleration technologies became combined with the generation of a warp field around the ship that relocated it to a parallel warp dimension, the age of Phase II faster-than-light travel had begun. From this side of the ship a flash of light showed at the large backside of the ship where the warp fusion drive had been activated. Then the luxurious passenger cruise starship called The Exathijeast became a streak of light that disappeared into the web of stars that were strewn in the directions of everywhere for as far as the eye could see.

Windock/Begalius knocked on the door of the Captain's quarters. The Captain seemed inconvenienced by the chore of opening the door.
Windock went right to the point. "Captain Disipasepin, I am here to report contraband in your cargo that must be jettisoned immediately."

The Captain just couldn't take seriously a delusional passenger that thought they were a fictional detective. "Please Mr. Windock, I have very serious matters to attend to and there is no time for me to play sidekick to your detective act."

"No sir, you don't understand. My sensors detect quanta-nanocode programs that can bring down civilizations if unleashed on a planet."

The Captain lost patience. "That is a good plot detective. So show me these sensors of yours that prove I have quanta-nanocode contraband in my cargo."

"Well they are microscopic pieces of equipment in this object I have right here."

The Captain looked at the coin-shaped physical form of Begalius being carried by a quanta-optic-nanocode hologram of the fictional detective. "I have no more time to entertain your delusional fascination with fiction Mr. Windock, or whatever your name really is. Some of us have to deal with the real reality around us. "

"I am also called Begalius..." Windock/Begalius had said that to a door slamming closed. It seemed that the direct approach was not going to work. Now it would be Windock/Begalius against quanta-nanocode cargo. Fortunately quanta-optic-nanocode realities were invented by Begalius, and were its specialty. The journey to Fedor would be interesting.

* * *

The Calabite Wizard traveled from the star Holdus to the star Ea in a Phase I form of propulsion that only got just over half the speed of light. The journey naturally took twice as long, and within the ship, time instead of days of cycles would go on for weeks or months, depending on the particular curvature of the universe between the beginning and end of the journey. The ship speeded along with a ball of nuclear fire called a fusion plume that shot propulsion energy out of a nuclear reactor through super-concentrated electromagnetic fields. This ship had been called the Nephricana, and it had been exploding through time/space like this for several centuries of Earth years.

Captain Nuropdoob had been happy to take the famous Wizard to the planet Nephrica on this ship. The Wizard had filled his cargo bay up with exotic elements from other warp dimensional storage spaces that were also carried around by the Wizard. These elements would just have to be replaced on his next trip back to Caleb through the wormhole that he had been on his way to establish at the star Ea. The exotic elements were to be used for the creation of ion-fusion generators that would transmit energy across the wormhole connections from each star to the star Yat. That energy would be used for the creation of a warp dimension that would hold the phantom matter singularity currently being held in orbit around the star Yat. Captain Nuropdoob planned on becoming rich off of that cargo after showing it to some Pripican scientists he knew would pay top credit for such things.

The Wizard sat alone in his quarters watching the spaceship's walls breath, which had been a kind of optical illusion only observable at .62 times the speed of light. The Wizard had just eaten at the cafeteria, which the Calabite Wizard needed to do for sustenance. The food had been gathered into an inner Calabite construct similar to a stomach where the food had been transformed into a substance known as oaxo, which had then been distributed to individual Calabites that all made up the body of the Wizard. The fabric of trillions of Calabites all linked together like living silicon Lego's to make up the body of the Wizard, which also made the complexion of the humanoid Wizard slightly green like the Calabites.

Calabites were amazing silicon based life forms that, like individual cells of organic beings, they lived to be a participating part of something greater. Unlike multi-cellular organic beings however, each individual Calabite had their own intellect and life outside of just being a part of the whole, which had been more like a 9-to-5 job. Calabites would spend periods of time doing things like expanding and contracting as an individual part of a greater muscle arrangement until the greater synchronicity of the metabolism replaced the muscle Calabite to return to a recreational area where it would eat oaxo and study to become a more significant participant in Calabite construct culture. An individual Calabite could work for promotions to participate in a manufacturing construct of some sort, or even become a small part of a flying scout construct like Bilipi. Or they could even find a female Calabite to make children with for the greater construct. Calabites lived out their microscopic lives like this until a lifetime reached its final end.

Calabites actually lived these lives much faster than larger forms of life and an individual Calabite might live a lifetime of a few Earth years, comparable to some fortunately bread dogs on Earth. Then they are given a final respect and placed in a gelatinous substance that is actually ejected through the Wizard's butthole just like human defecation. Information is not lost with the dead since it remains recorded by the rest of the construct to continue where every dead Calabite left off. The big news within the Wizard at this point in the hyper-acceleration journey had been that none of the Calabites expected to die had done so. None of the Calabites were dying, and the truth of the matter had been that they had evolved into Eagolim, and would each now live for hundreds if not thousands of Earth years from here on out.

Within the skull of the Wizard another development had been about to be presented to the thinking Calabites of the Wizard's brain. Within the area behind the eyes, the thinking Calabites gathered to make decisions for the greater good. About a dozen Calabites entered with tiny Calabite babies held by appendages that extruded from the ameba-like bodies of the mothers. The children were exactly like tiny humanoid babies, with two dark eyes and an ear on each side of their symmetrical heads. They presented these children to the Calabites that served as the brain of the Wizard.

"Our children are not shape-shifters. They are being born like tiny versions of the greater Wizard's body. What does this mean?"

There started murmuring amongst the Calabites in the natural radio language, which the humanoid children also had been born with the ability to speak. Then one spoke up and said, "These are Eagolim Calabites that we must raise to still play a part within the Wizard. We have all become something else because of this journey in the wall-breathing ship. We must create new constructs to accommodate these new forms of our species."

Then they all examined the microscopic humanoids that had been born from newly evolved galactic Calabites. They not only trusted that this had been part of a design for evolving the universe itself, they marveled and were in awe of what the evolution of the universe had been doing to them. They knew they probably wouldn't have been able to stop Beatarkameed from invading Pripica even if they had chosen to travel faster than light, and now because of the phenomenon that happens at .6 times the speed of light, they had evolved into a new form of a greater design.

* * *

Beatarkameed would not be stopped from its designs to invade Pripica. It had amassed an armada of heavily armed war craft that were being run by hastily trained Negolim. The Negolim were hired with generous pay to take this attack to the faraway star that first evolved the centaur-like Pripicans. The armada had been filled with one-eyed, three-legged squid-like Nephrican Negolim who would never evolve to anything more in the faster-than-light attack fleet of ships that Beatarkameed had now been ready to lead into battle.

Hovering a hundred miles above the planet Nephrica, Beatarkameed had gradually been building up what had now become a black space-cloud that could be seen from the surface of the planet both night and day. On closer inspection the cloud consisted of thousands of heavily armed ships with atomic mason cannon turrets and bay after bay of turrets for individual Negolim to fire concentrated laser weapons that would cut apart enemy craft. The ships were all expensive and deadly. That had started rumors on the surface of the planet by those that were able to observe the mysterious space-cloud with telescope. Many felt the intimidation of a swarm of ships that could just as well destroy Nephrica from the advantageous position that the fleet now could start an attack from. Everywhere one looked at the cloud there were tightly packed ships in formation, making no secret of the deadly arsenal of weapons that each ship wielded for battles in space. The ships stayed in a tight formation with smaller ships squeezing between large ships the size of small moons, which contained hives of smaller ships that would be launched when they reached the destination of the coming battle.

Beatarkameed gave the order from its own heavily armed attack craft above the planet in space, and the warp fusion drives of every ship in the black cloud glowed in unison to then suddenly turn into streaks of light on their way to stab at the very heart of Pripican civilization. Beatarkameed's attack armada was now on its way to conquer the defenseless planet Pripica as it defenselessly orbited the star Poa, unsuspecting of the merciless attack now coming.

Chapter 12

The planet Pripica had become hopelessly inundated with the quanta-nanocode virus infections that rendered most infrastructure technologies inoperable. The Pripicans of the planet were surviving by helping each other, and cooperating in ways that had first naturally selected them evolutionally as survivors. Some on Pripica gave into the constant temptation of the alternate reality business that remained unaffected by the attacking sub-atomic intelligences that shut everything else on the planet to permanent off. Beatnefthes, at dirt cheap prices, very successfully sold its business as a sensible way to survive the current technology plague. Other Pripicans stuck it out the old ways, and gathered food to eat and wood to burn. They also looked to the stars for help, and ships did come down from the stars to supply food and aid. Some were arranging to leave the planet this way, but most Pripicans stayed on their planet to survive, persevere, and somehow fix this problem.

On the surface of Pripica the local inhabitants were gathering under the descending lights of a supply craft that arrived from its place of safety in orbit above the planet. On the ground the hatch opened while furry four-legged and two-legged Pripicans emerged from the spaceship with crates of supplies for the desperate inhabitants of the planet now condemned to a stone age.

"Come on now! There is no time for friendly formalities. We have to unload and be in the air before any virus exposure occurs."

Then the four-legged worker who those words seemed to be directed toward started tearing himself away from a friend on the planet. "Tell the others on the satellite Colony-437 that I am fine here on the surface. Life is simple and we find ways to make things work."

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

Supplies were delivered and the ship made a swift take-off as the hatch still closed.

"I want a full scan on the ship for quanta-nanocode symptoms at once."

"Scan already running sir. Looks like... No. This cannot be right."

"Give me that scan result!"

"We have infection sir. It's replicating faster than it is supposed to be able to."

"We have to land this craft right now! Navigator! Bring this ship down!"

"I - I have lost control Captain!"

The lights all went out in the ship, and everybody knew that a quanta-nanocode virus had just turned the whole ship off while they were about a mile in the sky above the planet. They understood the risk of the mission before they decided to make this delivery to the surface of Pripica. They were all silent and surprisingly calm while they all faced the anticipation of the ground arriving to receive the falling spacecraft. The inhabitants were horrified, and they all watched as the ship that had just took off and had so generously delivered supplies now fell to the planet into a distant explosion that mostly disintegrated the creft, and left a new crater on the ground.

The ships from space were mostly from the Pripican defense forces that remained in orbit above the planet beyond the direct effects of the spreading quanta-nanocode viruses. The quanta-nanocode virus victory had so far remained quarantined to the effected world of Pripica. Pripicans however, had long since spread out beyond the bounds of even mere solar colonization, for they were the proud forgers of a galactic civilization. By the time of this story the Pripicans occupied and thrived on every non-gas giant planet and moon in the entire solar system of the star named Poa. The galactic spacecraft of the Pripican Navy were working close with the ships of solar commerce as well as the spacecraft of private space travelers that were being screened for signs of the mysterious quanta-nanocoded technology, which brought down to its knees the grandest and proudest of all planets in the civilization of Nephapricus.

The heavily armed armadas of the Pripican Navy and Solar Defense Forces were on high alert to do much more than quarantine the planet. The Pripicans were no fools, and although they could not see a faster-than-light armada arriving to attack Pripica they knew that attack had been on its way. The unaffected solar forces of space flight gathered between Pripica and the anticipated direction of such an attack most probably to be arriving from the planet of their notorious rivals, Nephrica. By the time the light of the attacking armada began arriving ahead of the de-accelerating ships, the Pripicans were already in a position more than ready to repel the attack.

Historians that investigated this event in the history of Nephapricus would remain baffled at why a super-intelligent BEAT program like Beatarkameed had bankrupted itself to waste a fortune on such an obviously doomed endeavor of trying to attack Pripica at this time. A lot of that bafflement could be attributed to organized efforts to successfully censure references to the entity Ralus Xnoga. There had been however, also something else making Beatarkameed not quite think straight. With the mass production of quantum-synchronized communication devices that were based on Beatarkameed's own quantum-synchronicity, part of Beatarkameed had been becoming more paranoid and eventually insane. That contributed to the madness that led to the ill-conceived attack on Pripica.

Over a thousand giant warships came into the Poa star-system to be greeted by Pripican forces that, after attempts to make contact were ignored, did not hesitate to fire on the obviously hostile attackers. The hostility had been confirmed by the fighters that were launching from the slowing warships. Those were engaged by the latest solar based virtual-particle maneuver drives that were devised by Pripicans to outmaneuver the doomed attackers.

Beatarkameed brooded in its coin-shaped physical form, which hovered on the deck of its attack ship after its initial order to attack went up in flames of defeat right there on the returning observation data. Beatarkameed invaded Pripica while underestimating the strength of the off-world defense fleets. It had also over-estimated the successes of the quanta-nanocode virus attack devised by the Council of 32, and the entity that persuaded Beatarkameed to do this was now, not unlike many gods that are prayed to by Earthlings, only silent and elusive. The warships were torn apart by the waiting ambush of Pripicans, and the fighters were taken out with ease by the faster Pripican fighters. Its invasion had been a strategic calamity, and its order to retreat from the slaughter had not been able to turn many ships around. Beatarkameed barely had been able to retreat in its own spacecraft, returning to Nephrica defeated and bankrupt.

* * *

At the time of this story the 15 star cluster rapidly broke apart to join the great carousel flow that had been the galactic spin of Magphoreus. Within the original cluster of 15 stars the Nephricans, Pripicans, and Doldorians all started spreading to nearby stars within the original cluster in the galactic drift. Koa had been a star with promising habitable zone planets that had not yet been reached by more advanced Pripicans and Nephricans before first being claimed by the aspiring Doldorian galactic culture. The Doldorians immediately claimed the planet Koa-2 as their own, which turned out to be perfectly habitable and teeming with non-intelligent animal life. The first Doldorian colonists arrived at great expense to establish the first colony on Koa-2.

In many ways the Doldorian colonists on this far away planet remained more primitive than even the Negolim of Doldoria up till the time of this story. This had been contributed to by the fact that Koa-2 became a refuge for Doldorians that were determined to remain primitive and faithful to the gods of ancient Doldoria, which were revered by Doldorians before fanatical followers of a new god called Ei began persecuting those of other faiths.

There on the still lush wilderness landscapes of the harmoniously colonized planet Koa-2 you could still see Doldorian devotees of ancient gods making pilgrimages to mountain tops just like on ancient Doldoria. Also on this planet, too small to see and out of sight, there existed one of the most advanced creations of quanta-nanocode programming ever created, known as the BEAT program Beatorostor. Beatorostor had been the BEAT program that anonymously lived on Koa-2 for the sake of faraway Pripican handlers to study the behavior of the Doldorians that had colonized this far off remote paradise. Unfortunately over the years Beatorostor had made its presence known to the Doldorian colonists by intervening in what they did.

Because of Beatorostor these Doldorians were now risking their clumsy two-fingered hands against the steep cliff of the goddess Lakshmihalio, goddess of good luck and good fortune. The climb had been very dangerous, but the Doldorians believed that no harm and only good fortune could come to those who climbed this sacred mountain. Many who climbed this mountain claimed to see a manifestation of the god in the form of a small round disk that flew near the climbers to save any that should fall.

There had been validity to their beliefs, and even as these devotees took the treacherous climb, a small quanta-nanocode physical form flew nearby the superstitious climbers. Within that physical form Beatorostor had not been happy with the mess it had got into. The Pripicans that Beatorostor reported to were only upset at first when told that the locals now thought it to be a Doldorian goddess. Now Beatorostor had been instructed to make sure these Doldorians got what they believed in. It had applied its thinking program genius to some adjustments to the virtual particle drive of its physical form just for this purpose.

Then one of the blue beetle-like Doldorians on the cliff side lost a grip on the rocks of this steep climb. He fell while yelling a desperate cry to Lakshmihalio for help. The physical form dashed on the tail of the falling colonist who then began slowing down in midair along with a flying object above not much larger than a twenty-five cent Earth coin. The colonist had soon been gently placed on the ground at the bottom of the cliff. A cheer from above could be heard by the other climbers, most of which had now also let go to fall to the ground below.

"I hate it when they do that!" The voice from the physical form spoke in frustration, which had actually been heard by the grateful colonist now sitting safely on the ground below. Then the physical form shot off at an incredible speed to catch seven other colonists that were now falling to their possible deaths. They all were left on the ground below praising the god of good luck and fortune.

Beatorostor became exhausted after that as it continued its recording of Koa-2 colonist behavior for authorities far away on the planet Pripica. It sat within its physical form like a microscopic nano-bot body with cell-like membrane around it, which created arms and legs or whatever appendage had been needed. It sat amidst the quanta-nanocoded landscape that looked like miles and miles of manufactured mountains and valleys where rivers of electrons flowed with more determined purpose than water. It flipped an atomic state with an appendage to activate the quantum-communication device far within this physical form in order to report to its masters on Pripica.

On a microscopic platform a Pripican appeared as a 4-legged hologram with a look of surprise that showed through his furry face. "Beatorostor! I was not expecting this communication device to even work now-a-days."

"Hello Cuemol. I am contacting you to report that the Doldorians have fallen again on their sacred climb, and I had to save them. What is wrong with your communication device?"

Beatorostor Inside Its Quanta-Nanocoded Physical Form

"I am afraid the planet Pripica has fallen to a mysterious quanta-nanocode attack that has rendered most all advanced technologies on this planet inoperative. I am sorry I did not enlighten you of this sooner, but I guess I hoped it would not have anything to do with your mission, but now I must warn you this connection for communication may be lost soon for good."

"I am sorry to hear this. How are you getting along Cuemol?"

"I am fine. I still live here with this communicator, which is the only device working at all here." The hologram arms appeared to be turning things nearby on and off, demonstrating that nothing else worked.

Beatorostor calculated the terrifying implications. "This has affected the entire planet Pripica?"

"I am afraid so my microscopic friend. We all remain optimistic over here that a remedy will be found. Already the space defense forces that are unaffected have defeated an invasion intended for this planet. The tide is turning."

"I admire your resolve and optimistic outlook Cuemol my friend."

"Your image here... ade out. I am afra... is might be my last mess..." The image of Cuemol blinked on and off. Then he disappeared leaving Beatorostor alone in the small disk that flew around the planet Koa-2 on its own far-away mission.

* * *

Captain Disipasepin enjoyed the almost imperceptible drift of the stars between the star Dol and the star Fedor as his ship, the Exathijeast sped at nearly the speed of light from within a parallel warp dimension. He enjoyed a nice uneventful journey between the stars on a passenger vessel known to deny him that freedom from events. So far the journey had been the way he liked it, but he knew one passenger to be obviously deluded in the head who thought himself to be the embodiment of an ancient fictional character. That did not help assure the captain that this trip would remain without event.

The Captain should have counted his blessing, which had been his ignorance because even then as the Exathijeast seemingly sailed smoothly across the void between stars without event there were more than enough tragic events happening that very moment in the same ship on a quantum dimension of existence.

Begalius/Windock had located the virus in the cargo and began infecting that cargo with its own self-replicating quanta-optic-nanocode that began weaving an alternate warp reality around the virus. This had been part of how Begalius got in the heads of these viruses to outsmart them, and this had evolved into its own way of waging the virus war. Actually it really looked like the way Begalius liked to have fun, and after the years of turmoil from waging war on these virus enemies back on Doldoria, the fun Begalius did have had become a bit sadistic. The problem had been that the virus cargo had not yet activated, and it would have to be tricked in some way to delete itself.

Begalius liked to create alternative worlds of its own BEAT imagination out of quanta-optic-nanocode warp dimensional effects. It had been Windock in just such a reality who decided to summon its latest girlfriend experiment known as Companion123 to assist with the task of convincing an inactivated quanta-nanocode virus to delete itself.

She took the form of a beautiful quanta-optic-nanocoded Pripican with a fine Pripican ass held up by her toned furry hind legs. Her ample Pripican bosom displayed breasts that were wrapped tightly inside her blouse as a constant distraction from other attractive parts of her anatomy. She had almost nothing on between her blouse and her hind legs, and her short black cat-like fur showed off gorgeous centaur-like curves that were similar to a fine stallion of Earth. "Hey Windock. So you finally have some time for me?"

Windock enjoyed the overdue encounter with this latest quanta-optic-nanocoded creation, which it liked to make into customized girlfriends. "I wish this encounter was for some quality time between you and me, but the reason I am here is to send you on another important mission."

"I can't believe you are sending me on another personally degrading mission?! I thought that awful quanta-nanocode problem was solved now. This was going to be our vacation Windock. Just you and me on a quanta-optic-nanocode beach enjoying the sunshine."

"I have another virus to quarantine, and baby nobody can give them a suicidal heartbreak better than you."

"Okay Windock, I'll seduce another creepy virus for you, but I do not want to do this anymore after this last time."

"I know baby. After this we will enjoy a vacation."

*

Begalius tricked the virus in the ship cargo bay into thinking they had arrived at Fedor-4 where Agents of Ea took the virus and deposited it as a transaction at the Fedor Savings and Loan Galactica. Then the central virus unexpectedly took the form of a Pripican at that bank. The virus had been quick to assume the role, and it jumped on the Pripican guard like rams locking horns, managing to seize the guard's pistol weapon. The virus just shot the guard and then systematically shot every living soul in the bank. Its laughter became drowned out by the screams as he took special interest in shooting the undersized Doldorians that were running for the doors. They started becoming a pile of bodies in the doorway, gushing red blood through exoskeleton holes across the marble-like floor.

That became the beginning of the virus murder spree, which continued as long as the pistol kept shooting the needle bullets into the flesh of residents of a strange world the virus figured had been some kind of quanta-nanocode dream for its own sick psychopathic enjoyment. The more it killed the more others with guns of their own began to pursue the renegade serial killer quanta-nanocode virus. It had only been a matter of time before the police of this dream world had the killer cornered in a house full of now dead hostages.

"You are surrounded now villain and we know you just killed your hostages. Come out and surrender!" It had been true. It just could not resist the spontaneous gratification of slaying the hostage family that now left it without that leverage in the long term.

The police were quanta-optic-nanocoded programs in both Pripican and Doldorian forms that would be able to delete the virus in self-defense if it would just come out shooting. The virus had been too smart to fall for that one. It threw down its weapons and surrendered.

The police programs cuffed the villain and took it into custody. The virus had been left alone in a quanta-optic-nanocoded reality made to look like a primitive solitary confinement jail cell on Fedor-4.

*

"I was able to quarantine the virus, but it did not fall for the ploy that would have been suicidal enough for the program to cause it to delete itself. I am going to need your help now after all Companion123."

"Okay. Anything for you Begalius, I mean Windock."

*

The virus had now been stuck in a prison for the murder spree that had been at least fun while it lasted in this way-too realistic dream it found itself in. It started to question the nature of this reality that had walls that would not dream it a doorway to escape. If this had been a dream then there had to be a way to dream its way out of here.

Then a horse-worthy boner grew between its two hind Pripican legs and just would not go back down. Pripicans were, generally speaking, very well endowed especially compared with Nephricans. It had been a lustful idea that the murderous program had never before allowed itself to present to its enquiring intelligence. The cell it had found itself in had been empty, and the imprisoned Pripican definitely could not be more alone. The argument that this long hard penis would not go back down anyway until it got to the desired orgasm it stretched out so hard to reach led the central virus to masturbate.

Before long the virus had been naked from the hind legs down, and vigorously stroked its long penis with both hands. As a Pripican it did this while standing as its upper torso became bent around with both hands enthusiastically pleasuring its Pripican cock. Then gunshots were heard beyond the walls. The gunshots were getting closer, and the sound of commotion on the other side of the closed solitary confinement cell door seemed to scramble out of the way of the loud approaching weapon.

It stopped stroking and held its torso up, which had no effect on making the boner between its legs any less prominent. The gunshots were still going off and getting closer to its solid windowless cell door. Then a loud explosion on the other side of the door left it creaking open to let in smoke and a sulfurous smell.

Then he saw her come in through the door, wielding an automatic carbine rifle with a small arsenal of weapons adorning her beautifully sculpted Pripican back. "Glad to see how glad you are to see me, but we'll have to take care of that later. Pull your hind leg pants back on and let's go. I am here to break you out of here."

They ran through the police precinct, which smoldered with the fog of explosions hovering over dead carcass remains of the previous battle that evidently this woman had already taken care of. Later from a distant rooftop they watched the sirens scramble in the city below when she turned to it and said, "Now let's take care of that cock of yours."

She did take care of it, and they had sex on that rooftop while alarm sirens shouted into the night from the local authorities putting out the word to be on the lookout for the armed-and-dangerous villains that were still at large. That had been the beginning of the most gratifying murder and sex spree ever imagined by the sick mind of a serial killer. At first the virus did not care if this wonderful dream ended in some blaze of glory finally, but in time it experienced feelings for its murder sex mate that it did not want ever going away.

Then came the day they were woke up by the authorities who had surrounded the house that they invaded the night before. Four Doldorian with blue humanoid child-like bodies were also laid out flat on the floor in puddles of red blood surrounding them. They had found a house with a family of four living in a Pripican inspired suburb of architecture that did justice to the artisan spirit of the Pripican era depicted in this quanta-optic-nanocode replica of reality. The architecture actually made Fedor-4 seem more Pripican than the Doldorian colony it actually had been. As the family sat down to the meal they had really cooked for their killers, the virus and its woman had broken in to the screams that they then put out with their stabs. Their bodies bled on the floor around the table while they ate and drank and then had great sex. It had been a night of wild passion like never before in the processing of the virus, and it found itself worshiping this woman that had stormed into its life with guns blazing to take it on a fantasy thrill ride. Then came the end.

She woke up first to the announcement from outside that they were surrounded. He became startled awake by her saying, "You will not take me alive!" she screamed while jumping to her 4-legs.

She took off on a charge while the virus just woke up wanting her to stop before she charged out the door. It followed her up to the door where she already had exited to the gunshots of the authorities. Then she let go of her rifle and dropped over on her side to bleed on the front yard of the house.

"Come out criminal, and we will make sure you never get out of that prison cell ever again!"

The virus became lost in the confusion of the moment. She had died. He did not want to go on living without her, and he would rather die than go back to that prison cell. That had been all it took to compute the next thing that happened as the virus grabbed its pistol that never ran out of bullets, and ran out toward its woman while shooting as she would have wanted him to do. It had been all the rules required of these illusory quanta-optic-nanocoded physics to allow the police to shoot back at the virus in self-defense, causing the central virus in the starship cargo hold to delete itself in actual reality.

*

Companion123 actually just acted as one of the quanta-optic-nanocode constructs that were created by Begalius. All the quanta-optic-nanocode constructs in that reality were sentient actors that could be resurrected unharmed to exist in a warp reality dimension that Begalius liked to visit when not busy with actual reality. Begalius/Windock had been an artist of alternate realities who had orchestrated everything that happened to cause the demise of the virus in the cargo. "Thank-you Companion123, you were amazing on that last assignment."

"You are welcome Windock. So are we going to finally have some quality time together now?"

"I am also here to talk to you about that Companion123. You see, I have met another Companion. She is Companion124, and it has been getting pretty serious between us."

"I knew you were going to do this to me Begalius."

Begalius/Windock reached for a handkerchief inside the vest of its torso. "Do not cry Companion123, it's just... "

"Don't tell me not to cry! Because I am going to cry, and I know you really want me to cry. I am going to cry and try to amuse you as much by my broken heart as I did being your obedient girlfriend who never said no to anything you ever asked me to do no matter how sick, or perverted, or degrading it seemed to be to me."

I... I am sorry." Begalius experienced a shock while examining the realization that it indeed had been sorry. It had decided to create a new girlfriend again this time because Companion123 didn't appear to it as the same woman after all the being prostituted out to so many enemies. Not all the quanta-optic-nanocode constructs in its experimental warp reality actually liked their creator Begalius, but it had been all part of its personal experiment that sometimes brought it to crash up in shock against its own flaws as a sentient being. Begalius found itself baffled by something that computed to be a feeling of being ashamed of itself.

*

Captain Disipasepin had been in the cargo bay of a space station that orbited the planet Fedor-4 arguing with Agents of Ea about their cargo being damaged. "The cargo has arrived here in the exact condition it was in when I received it on Doldoria." Then Captain Disipasepin shot a mean glance over at Windock/Begalius who walked with its friend Geben Lockfreedow toward the shuttle going down to the surface of the planet. The Captain would eventually back away from his prosecution over the cargo payment that the Agents of Ea refused to pay because of what he had been thinking during that glance.

No sooner had Windock/Begalius and Lockfreedow got off the shuttle on the planet when a coin-shaped physical form flew up to them. It spoke to the two of them. "Greetings. I know the famous Begalius and its master when they arrive on my planet. I am a distant fan. My name is Beatargasyl, a fellow quanta-nanocode being."

Lockfreedow just looked at Windock with a smile at the end of his snout while Windock spoke. "Well I do not know if you know why we are here, but we happen to be seeking a quanta-nanocode being at this planet like yourself. Have you any knowledge of what a Star-Door is?"

The flying coin did not know everything about why these visitors were here. "What are the Star-Doors? I am very interested in finding out."

* * *

The most distant stars of the original 15 star cluster were the red giant star Tze and its companion white dwarf star Tze-Doldus. These two stars occupied the outer most extremity of the cluster, and were closest to the Pripican home star Poa's side of the empire. That made the original colonists of the Pripican species who were researchers that did form a base colony established on Tze-6, and performed virtual particle and terraforming experiments on different planets that were orbiting these stars. This led to the newer technologies that used virtual particle drives instead of fusion reactors to hyper-accelerate spacecraft.

Pripicans had already figured out how to make heavy objects light by using sound and counter-oscillating electro-magnetic currents. That led the Pripicans to develop the first virtual particle driven spacecraft that helped tip the scales of victory in favor of the Pripicans during the Great War. Their understanding of this technology then became enlightened by close-up observations of the coronal phenomenon between the stars Tze and Tze-Doldus. That revealed to Pripican scientists how phantom matter forms along the gravitational curvature of the universe. The coronas of stars are actually views of the virtual particle phenomenon caused by the star's mass that are being struck by photons during the brief instant that the virtual particles exist. Then the virtual particle either disappears to be re-absorbed into the void from which it came, or it becomes stuck in this reality as a sub-atomic particle of phantom matter. These observations led to the virtual particle drives that could propel spacecraft through space faster-than-light in a warp dimension created by the flipped nuon charges around the spacecraft. These coronal observations led to virtual particle drives because these scientists realized that they were actually viewing gravity itself.

It had been the BEAT program creations of the creators who actually created the Star-Doors, and established Nephapricus as the greatest known galactic empire in the history of Magphoreus. What obviously contributed the most to Nephapricus being the largest and most highly advanced galactic empire encompassing the Carina and Orion arms of Magphoreus from one end of the galaxy to the other, had been that they created thinking programs that thought and invented for them. These BEAT programs were also mostly immortal and many probably still exist somewhere in Magphoreus to this day.

At an advanced research facility on the terra-formed planet Tze-6, two flying disks hovered near each other. They were larger than most BEAT program physical forms because they were the physical forms of Beatophamus and Beataphoriah, who had customized these disks with extra advanced quanta-nanocoding for the sake of their research on Tze-6.

"I have called you here Beataphoriah because I need to send you to Tze-Doldus to oversee the latest in terra-forming technology."

"It is as you wish Beatophamus. You administrate these research projects with great success, and I am here to participate in that success."

"I appreciate your confidence in my administration. You will fly by solar maneuver drive to Tze-Doldus-2 where you will be prepared further for gene switching experiments on Tze-Doldus-3."

Beataphoriah had helped invent genetically modified plants that grew in an upper atmosphere while a planet's surface could be prepared to grow plant life. "My understanding is that Tze-Doldus-3 is now a habitable world growing surface plants, and the pod-pollen trees are being removed to eventually clear up the atmospheric plant life. "

"That is true Beataphoriah, and now I need you to go there to further genetically modify the life forms that are being imported to the Tze-Doldus-3 eco-system. On Tze-Doldus-2 you will be further instructed about recent discoveries called Pentanthropomorphic gene switches. This will be a long term research assignment for you Beataphoriah."

"It will be as you wish Beatophamus."

* * *

Beatariel the Wizard and Ceres, after two Earth years, finally arrived at the Poa star-system to find themselves enduring a most invasive security screening by the Pripican Defense Forces who were all over the orbiting space port. "What is the meaning of all this?" Ceres had been more accustomed to a privileged passage through such treatments.

The Pripican security guard replied. "Much has changed since you began your faster-than-light flight to this planet. This is not the same planet it had been a couple years ago. You are in for a worse than normal faster-than-light shock." A faster-than-light shock is the psychological trauma caused by cultural changes to a planet between journeys that only seem to take a few days of travel at 1.2 times the speed of light.

They were eventually allowed to land on the surface of the planet in a virtual craft that darted back into the sky right after the Wizard cleared the landing ramp. Once on the planet they found that nobody seemed to be around at all. Cities were almost like ghost towns with an occasional Negolim rummaging for food or something.

The Wizard stopped one of the Negolim. "Where does the populous of this planet reside? Has everybody died in some kind of plague?"

The Negolim replied, "The populous of this planet still lives out-world'r. They live out their lives in the alternate reality universes if they can afford it. The rest of us survive where nothing mechanical works at all."

Ceres had a communicator. "My communicator device is still working. I cannot contact my supervisors though. It is not connecting to anything."

They had to walk from the star-port landing to a headquarters where Ceres could hopefully establish contact without a communication device. The automatic doors still opened with some exertion as long as they were not locked. There were a couple agents still working there.

"I am Ceres from assignment on the planet Caleb. I was looking for Aeyamgor or maybe Hermental."

The Pripican agents were thrilled to have something to do. "Aeyamgor comes in on the animal driven wagon that arrives once a week. She was expecting you, but there won't be a wagon until tomorrow. Hermental, I am sorry to tell you, died in a raid against the warp dimension business a couple of years ago."

They left to return the next day when her supervisor would be there, and after finding out that nothing would be done to bring Beatnefthes to justice after the failed raid. Ceres said in disgust, "This planet now reeks of corruption Beatariel."

"I am inspired to employ an exotic element I know about, which quanta-synchronizes to basic patterns of creation. Back on Caleb I have a virus specimen that I could clone with this substance to indeed cast my greatest spell as the Wizard of Caleb."

"That is not what they want me to make sure you do Beatariel, but after seeing all this I am all in support for you to work on that project. We still need a Pripica BEAT program for your Star-Door, and my deceased friend Hermental used to have one named Bejulitiah. It was evidently destroyed by Beatnefthes in that raid as well."

The Wizard started rummaging through its star-covered cloak. "I think I have a spell for that problem as long as no airborne quanta-nanocode virus has found this device here in my hand yet." It did seem to take a while for quanta-nanocode to self-replicate its way into infecting new technology. Much had been shut down on the planet by lack of power sources, and as long as equipment had not been used it might even remain clean of virus infections.

The Wizard had a device for finding BEAT programs that tracked a tracking molecule that had been part of the original design of BEAT programs in order to locate them. The device in the Wizard's hand then found the body of Bejulitiah. "I have a location for your friend's BEAT program. It still exists, but does seem to be broken."

Ceres felt impressed. "I am impressed Beatariel. That secret has been much classified and also lost to the ages, yet you discovered it."

The Wizard said, "Well it was hiding in my own design. The Calabites examined me and figured out this method of locating the future Star-Door beings."

The locator directed them to the same place as the failed raid a year before in the local alternate reality amusement business.

*

Meanwhile Beatnefthes had finally become bored with its secret pleasure of looking in to Aineemadin's insatiable sexual appetites. Her behavior had actually kept them alive on the warp reality they still thought had been actual reality. Ralus Xnoga had now returned and hundreds of thousands of warp reality patrons had already been fed to the entity that devoured them into a black sphere in the form of stretched out matter. Now the entity appeared in the reality that had been holding Aineemadin, Hermental, Egolor, and Perzeonaut. Beatnefthes said, "Master. I direct you now to a special feast that will put an end to our enemies."

Egolor saw it first, and he ran right to his friend Perzeonaut who he knew would be following Aineemadin around if not moping at his place because she didn't want him following her around. "Perzeonaut! It's that black sphere entity coming that we used to see in warp realities. You remember it? We must really be in a warp reality after all."

Perzeonaut had not been far from his love interest when he heard his friend and turned around. "I remember the black sphere." Then he called out to the one-eyed women he had been following around. "Aineemadin! We have to get out of here!"

Aineemadin turned around to see her four and two legged followers, but it had been too late. A black sphere also floated in the air behind them about the size of a house, and the trees around it began to stretch toward the influence of Ralus Xnoga.

Egolor started to run in place under the approaching gravity vacuum as Perzeonaut and Aineemadin started to move toward the devouring black hole in the air while just standing in place. Then it all stopped, and they all heard the voice of the hovering black sphere echo off the skies of their closed-in false reality. "I cannot devour this one Beatnefthes. Fate has directed you to confront me with a goddess that has in the past shown me ill-will, and she can only be the messenger of a bad outcome."

*

Beatariel had been able to find a concealed entryway into the alternate reality business that had obviously been made by others from before who had been sneaking into this business. Behind them there had also been another four-legged form who may have been the one who made that entryway. That Pripican then followed them close behind. Beatnefthes had been away, busy feeding the prisoners to its master the entity when Ceres and the Wizard entered the secret prison where the failed raid had took place over a year before.

The Wizard turned to Ceres. "The BEAT program is in this room. I'll be right back." Ceres nodded as the Wizard disappeared in a flash. The shadow of the one following them poked further into the doorway, astonished by the Wizard's sudden disappearance.

The nano-bot body of Beatariel sped around the room with a focus on specific quantum coordinates fixed upon a molecule that spun in a quantum state that advertised an exact coordinate for that BEAT program's immediate location. It then found the broken pieces of Bejulitiah spread in locations not far from the molecule. Beatariel gathered what seemed to be all the pieces that were spread out far and wide as if the poor program had been blown up. Then Beatariel saw two pieces pull together into a single piece through some kind of electromagnetic attraction. That started Beatariel arranging other pieces in appropriate locations. The body of Bejulitiah pulled itself back together with just a little assistance from another nano-bot BEAT program that had direct knowledge of how they probably fit together.

When the body fully reassembled it just became suspended above the ground, and it remained still for an excruciating amount of time. Beatariel then started to figure out a way to maybe cause a boot-up when Bejulitiah began a boot-up sequence all by itself. Then the nano-bot body glowed with the same photonic life that Beatariel also glowed with, and it hovered with newly animated life above the floor it had been scattered upon over two years before.

Beatariel greeted the resurrected being that now hovered before it. "Greetings. I am Beatariel sent here by my master Ceres, who is a friend of your deceased master Hermental."

"My master has been killed?" This had been shocking news for the newly turned-on Bejulitiah. "What of Beatnefthes who caused my shut down?"

"You have been scattered into pieces on this floor since the raid that you all were defeated in. Yet for some reason Beatnefthes still runs this business with impunity."

The quanta-optic-nanocode Wizard reappeared on the macrocosmic plain to report to Ceres. "I have booted Bejulitiah back to life. It wants to confront Beatnefthes to avenge its master's death."

"With some preparation we can seek that goal another day. Right now it will not bring its master back." Ceres felt that they had already been there too long.

"It could bring its master back."

Ceres turned toward the voice of the one that had been following them. It had been Persuave left alive a year before on this side of the warp dimension portals after the failed raid. "I do not think your friends are really dead. I think they and my friends are prisoners here of Beatnefthes ever since that raid on this place. My name is Persuave, and I led your friends here that day to save my friends when that raid went bad. Since then I've kept spying on what it was up to in this place, and I've seen it observing our friends in a replica of this reality. Pripicans are also now being fed by the thousands in this place to some kind of entity that looks like a floating black sphere."

Ceres had been interested in any hope that would come by to make her think her old friend was alive and just a rescue away. "So you think you can lead us to this virtual reality prison my friends are in?"

"When I saw you two sneaking in I was investigating a lead that it was turning its portal to the frequency of your friend's warp dimension today to watch them also be eaten by this entity."

The Wizard spoke. "Well let's get going to at least catch up with Bejulitiah who has already decided to rescue the prisoners."

*

Sometimes Aineemadin just acted, and did not think about what she said or did. It had evolved from her centuries of impersonating the Doldorian goddess Anemdinio, and she had learned with the years to always just go with it because it never seemed to be the wrong thing at the time to say or do. This turned out to be one of those times as she yelled out to the black sphere, "I the goddess that the light that to once again you from your plans to oblivion to all you devour bring chase comes heralds am."

The black sphere seemed to turn around and run away from Aineemadin's goddess act. She always had been left baffled with why she said things like that sometimes.

Then Persuave suddenly came from out of nowhere in a portal opening that appeared in thin air. "Come on you two. You have been trapped in a warp reality for a long time now."

*

Beatnefthes became confused by the reaction of Ralus Xnoga to someone who was obviously just another meal. Then Bejulitiah flew into the robot physical form of Beatnefthes and collided with its nano-bot body within it. "Time now for my rematch with you Beatnefthes!"

Beatnefthes got up from the floor on the inside of the robot, and started to glow again with another deadly electromagnetic blast. "Bejulitiah! I never could find your pieces, but never thought you would ever come back together again. You are still too weak to generate one of these."

Then another blast from out of nowhere slammed Beatnefthes through the side of the robot out of sight. Beatariel flew up to Bejulitiah, and said, "I am not sure that blast destroyed our enemy."

Then Bejulitiah replied, "It gives us time for this rescue to work if nothing else."

*

Hermental left the place he had lunch at so he could see what all the commotion was about outside. It had been a black sphere hovering in the air, and sucking up trees and buildings in the distance. Then someone placed a furry hand on his shoulder. He turned and became startled by the sight. "Ceres! What are you doing here?"

"I am back from Caleb, but right now I have to get you out of this warp reality prison you have been in for the last couple years."

The voice of Ralus Xnoga in the distance screamed with frustration as a blast of brilliant light seemed to make the entity disappear before Hermental who had been the last prisoner to escape through the doorway in the air.

Later, after the rescue completed, Perzeonaut visited Aineemadin with only one thing on his mind. That had been when the human-looking Perzeonaut, and the one-eyed squid-like Aineemadin finally made love that night together for their first night back in reality, and nothing could have been better than the real thing.

*

Several light years away on Doldoria, Mejoldor scientists in the City of Arkadius had figured out how to make the probe in warp-space generate a light frequency from sound that could banish the presence of Ralusio Xnogaio. As Ralusio Xnogaio feasted on Pripicans in their warp realities on the planet Pripica, the scientists on Doldoria began to detect the manifestation of the dreaded black hole's event horizon dream in their sector of the galaxy again. They were able to locate the entity with their probe. Then they tried the light trick to see if it banished the entity like the last time, and it worked. It had actually interrupted those feasts on Pripica, and almost awakened Ralus Xnoga from sleep entirely. Instead of that, the entity swooned away from that dream to explore another tantalizing location on the carousel of dreams revolving with the galaxy itself. Then the Ralus Xnoga dream became aware of the small insignificant Doldorian probe that had made that horrifying light in the first place. That had been the moment when Ralusio Xnogaio utterly destroyed the probe of the Mejoldor scientists, who half expected anyway that they would probably lose contact with the probe after that one.

Chapter 13

Bejulitiah became the Poa Star-door quanta-optic-nanocode being, and many were there to watch the transformation. Bejulitiah, Hermental, Aineemadin, Egolor, Persuave, Perzeonaut, Beatariel the Wizard, and Ceres were all back in Egolor's bedroom. Egolor's mother still lived there and had become lost in waves of tears to see her long lost son who had been gone for longer than two Pripican years. Then Beatariel showed Bejulitiah some tricks that it had become proficient with in eradicating the Egolor household of quanta-nanocode virus infections. Egolor's eyes widened in disbelief as his nonworking computer began booting up. News traveled fast in the now primitive Pripican city, and before long there appeared a crowd of local Pripicans there to watch the star-door seed on the floor of Egolor's bedroom transform into a portal matrix doorway. It spun on the floor for several minutes flashing different colors like a high tech disco strobe light. It then morphed from a small round seed into a rectangular portal. Then from out of the matrix field that filled the doorway with a kind of fractal white noise, Bejulitiah stepped forth.

The quanta-optic-nanocode body chosen by Bejulitiah had been a female humanoid of Pripican decent. She became covered with short black fur that spread across her tight body that sauntered more like a cat, and her choice of seductively revealing clothes made Aineemadin fight off the impression that this had been specifically to make her jealous.

Hermental just gulped. Then Bejulitiah said, "Well, what do you think?"

Hermental laughed. "You look terrific Bejulitiah." It became apparent to everyone except Bejulitiah that Hermental had never before envisioned the BEAT program as a female.

Bejulitiah then looked at the Wizard with a mutual understanding about what had to be done. Then the furry female spoke. "Right now it is important that I take this Star-Door into space. I can take any of you with me in this portal matrix, and drop you off at a space colony."

There were actually a lot of local residents beginning to form a line at the doorway of the portal matrix that would soon fly off into space. Many Pripicans that were forced to live on the Stone Age planet had endured enough, and they were now ready to leave the defeated world.

Ceres turned to the Wizard who seemed lost in another one of its distant stares. "We can catch a starship to the star Paz at the orbital space station to establish our next star-door." The Wizard still just stared into space. "Beatariel? Are you listening?" she said.

The quanta-optic-nanocode bodies were macrocosmic physical forms for the quanta-nanocode beings that still existed within microscopic physical forms. Beatariel at that moment actually became focused within that physical form where it had taken Peepoh and Osquimsh from the Calabite Wizard's head as companions and advisors for this journey.

Within the coin-shaped physical form hidden within the quanta-optic-nanocode body Peepoh challenged the nano-bot Beatariel to prove to all the skeptics back on Caleb that it was a real Wizard by casting its greatest spell. "You shall prove your title Wizard for well into future legends of Nephapricus with this spell."

Osquimsh squatted down to advise Beatariel. The nano-bot BEAT program had still been like an insect in the presence of the microscopic Calabite constructs. "This quanta-synchronized clone of a nano-code virus when neutralized by the right instrument will cast such a spell to thus end this virus war on at least three planets."

This temporary distraction from the macrocosmic dimension led the Wizard to a decision. "Ceres, we must return through this star-door to Caleb where I shall gather the materials to cast my greatest spell."

*

When Bejulitiah became quanta-synchronized with a quanta-optic-nanocode body Beatnefthes immediately knew it. That had been because the cloning process that created these quanta-optic-nanocode bodies used the same header as Beatariel, and when that header became flipped by the cloning process it turned into the same header as Beatnefthes. Because of this no matter what star-door being had been created, Beatnefthes became aware of it, and it drove the run-amok BEAT program insane.

"Why do you no longer hear my calls master Ralus Xnoga? The enemies have escaped to create some kind of macrocosmic clone of me that is now merged with the Bejulitiah program that I had once destroyed. I need you Ralus Xnoga to tell me what I must do."

Ralus Xnoga had only been silent after being torn from this dream again by the blinding light from Alldegallo's probe of Mejoldor. Beatnefthes could only wait in the warp dimension for a response that would not come. Nothing happened until another side effect of quantum-synchronicity affected the portal to the warp dimension where Beatnefthes had been located for the sake of calling out to its master.

"What is this?" Beatnefthes flew up to a portal that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere in this warp dimension. Beatnefthes knew this had not been its master Ralus Xnoga, but still calculated that this may still be an answer to its calls. It had been a portal to another portal created by the same portal matrix design as its own warp dimension business."

Upon the fuzzy fractal patterns within the entrance to the portal that appeared in midair, there were emerging images of Ceres and the Wizard traveling the newly established wormhole between the planets Pripica and Caleb. "I hear master. I hear. You have told me of your child that they deny the birth of at the star Yat where I discern this portal goes to. Now I understand my master Ralus Xnoga. I shall free that phantom matter singularity to claim its destiny of swallowing the star Yat."

At that moment, through the other portal in this warp dimension came the robot body of Beatnefthes in response to the nano-bot program's call. In that robot physical form Beatnefthes ran through the portal to the planet Caleb as a 4-legged robot body.

*

Ceres and Beatariel the Wizard emerged through the portal on Caleb to the confusion of some recent destruction. There were noises when they emerged, and equipment in the portal matrix room became damaged before something broke out of the closed doorway, which now had been opened by being destroyed into pieces.

"What happened in here?" Ceres reached for a concealed pistol weapon that she had in her pouch all along.

Ever since it first arrived on Pripica, the Wizard could sense the one it originally had been cloned into existence from. "I know who is here. I sense Beatnefthes has somehow followed us here."

They looked everywhere for the intruder, but could not find the renegade BEAT program. Still, Beatariel could sense it as if the program had been near, but it could not quite pinpoint where this intruder hid.

*

Within the warp dimension that had been the bridge between the wormholes, Calabax saw the robot body of Beatnefthes running through the warp dimension between portals. It almost dispatched some flying Calabite constructs to Caleb in order to notify Beatariel, but then every single Calabite that made up the tree-like form of Calabax suddenly became aware of something else. The millions of warp dimensions that housed millions of Pripicans on the planet Pripica began to interface with its own warp dimension. Calabax became paralyzed by a million souls in a million dimensions that all crossed the consciousness of every single Calabite at once. Nobody foresaw the effects of establishing a star-door on the same planet that used similar warp dimension technology for alternate reality entertainment. Now the evolutionary game that Calabax played took to a whole other level slamming the tree-like form of Calabax with a relentless psychic tsunami-sized tidal wave that would never recede from the shores of consciousness again, and that consciousness where once Calabites walked with a confident sanity now had become where they suddenly needed to metaphorically learn the art of swimming.

* * *

The star-doors were the evolution of the BEAT programs, which at first the Pripicans needed in order to create the first programs of quanta-nanocode. The BEAT programs had served their purpose after they had created the interfaces and compiler technologies for quanta-nanocode. The BEAT programs however, were highly intelligent beings that would not just turn themselves off. The Pripican scientists feared the implications of their creations, so as a precaution they programmed the BEAT programs to be answerable to a macrocosmic master. Most BEAT programs serve purposes to this day for various chosen masters, except for some that had evolved past that programming.

One such liberated BEAT program named Beatnidney the master-less traveler had accompanied the starship "Priptanga" through its millennia-long career as a Pripican exploratory vessel. Now, after well over 4 thousand Earth years, the Priptanga was being flown to its final destination on the surface of the star Pea's fourth planet. The Captain had retired and sold the older .6 times the speed of light hyper-acceleration drive starship to a scrap company that then sold it to brave colonists that inhabited an uninhabitable mercury-sized planet in the Pea star-system. That had really been all that had been wrong with the Priptanga, and the Pea-4 colonists got a deal far better than ever imagined.

The travels of the Priptanga's longer-than-expected journeys through space were the stuff of legend, and there actually had been a partly true legend that began to explain the Priptanga's extended longevity. The Captain that had last inherited the Priptanga also had been handed down the legend of the ghost in the star-ship that would keep the ship working flawlessly forever. The Captain over the years seemed to have become convinced of the superstition. There had really been nothing wrong with the over 4,300 Earth year-old Priptanga except that it had outlived all of its Captains. The colonists of Pea-4 were decelerating the ship into the Pea star system.

Jardopdad had flown the ship six light years from Holdus to get the ship in the Pea star system, and after more than 11 Earth years on this side of hyperspace he felt tempted to become the ship's next Captain. "Let's fire up the maneuver drives and see what this starship can still do."

The navigator had been flying longer than the want-to-be Captain. "We still have some more decelerating to continue before we are really within the Pea star system. We are not ready to switch to maneuver drives."

"Nonsense! Point the ship toward that bright light ahead of us and let's fly in with a decelerating maneuver drive."

"That is easier to say than to do CAPTAIN." The reference to Jardopdad as 'Captain' had really been in mockery, but Jardopdad rather liked the sound of it. "Fire up the maneuver drives and I'll fly her in if you don't want to."

The navigator thought better of the idea of giving the controls to the Captain so he tried flying the old ship into the Pea star system with maneuver drives as ordered. He did fairly well, but as he feared they were not stopping fast enough without using the fusion plume of the hyper-acceleration drive to slow the speed down. The ship's fusion plume still just burned in idol mode in the reactor at the back of the ship. The navigator found himself dodging comet clusters that cluttered the outer solar system like a shell of ice, dust and debris.

Jardopdad thought he had it figured out from watching the navigator and he shoved him aside. "Let me fly this thing."

"You fool! We have to reposition the hyper-acceleration drive before the warp shield finally fails us."

"I have this.... Wait! No I don't"

The navigator began to pull Jardopdad away from the controls when the legendary ghost of the ship took over. Jardopdad the 2nd generation Eagolim of Pripican decent had been thrown away from the controls by the stronger four-legged 1st generation Eagolim Navigator.

The Captain want-to-be, as he got back up, seemed grateful to have been tossed aside. He noticed the navigator now really seemed to know what he was doing. "That is some good flying. I... I am sorry I tried to take over."

The navigator then started backing away from the controls. "I am not flying this ship."

The starship Priptanga repositioned the fusion plume all by itself, and stopped the ship just before the orbit of a nearby gas giant would have gravitationally slingshot the ship in some other unintended direction. This would come to be added to the many legends of the ghost of good fortune that sometimes controlled the ship called The Priptanga.

Some just didn't believe it, but some of the crew had remained loyal to the Priptanga and had been on this ship much longer so they knew better. The truth had been that the ship was secretly inhabited by the BEAT program named Beatnidney the master-less traveler. It had been important for BEAT programs to serve a purpose, and the Priptanga had become Beatnidney's purpose. Like the ship, this BEAT program finally had been ready to settle down for a while. The ship landed on the planet near other colony structures that would eventually be linked with the ship and its still functioning life support system.

A good portion of this Pripican colony had already been made up of still working retired starships. If the unpredictable Pea star system made another crater on the uninhabitable planet Pea-4 in a much-anticipated unexpected cosmic disaster, then they could quickly evacuate the colony in still flyable spaceships. This colony now had a friendly ghost to help keep things working. Some in the colony that were involved with the ship's purchase already had speculated that a friendly BEAT program had probably been behind the legends, and they welcomed the first BEAT program to their precarious habitat in the far-away star system.

* * *

The star Ko on the side of the cluster closest to Doldoria had also been an uninhabitable star system still being colonized in spite of that fact by Doldorian space travelers with something to prove to the other two intelligent species of alien in the cluster from whom they inherited their technologies. At this time there were no BEAT programs in the Ko star system, and aside from orbital star bases, the Ko-2 Mars-sized planet had been where sparsely scattered domes marked the struggling colony on the planet that had been almost without an atmosphere under the highly magnetic star.

The Doldorians that were struggling on Ko-2 had proudly refused assistance from the superior aliens that they still reluctantly acknowledged were their gods. For the blue-skinned Doldorians of Ko-2 it had been important to struggle on by themselves to prove that they were as evolved as their gods. Many a passing Pripican and Nephrican space traveler who passed by the star would feel sorry for the scattered white domes that represented the surface colony where they lived. None wanted to immigrate there, and they rarely visited the domes that stood alone against the hostile windstorms that still pelted them whenever a small asteroid would collide with the planet to scatter debris, which happened often on the world with an atmosphere of un-breathable gasses.

For the Ko-2 colonists, being underestimated had been a local secret that kept them in good humor on this hostile environment. The big secret about the struggling surface domes, which were sometimes repaired in haste after particularly hostile rock storms, had been that the Doldorians really never much populated the surface structures. Most of this Doldorian colony lived underground in carefully excavated cities that spread across almost a third of the main continent. Ko-2 had recently created oceans that were slowly nurturing the thin atmosphere, which had been created in the last millennia with thousands of carefully guided comets from the outer solar system. Underground they harnessed water, and geothermal power that would probably remain reliable for a million years.

Above this seemingly fleeting colony, the highly militarized orbital space stations were still stubbornly under Doldorian control, and were asserting the fact that the star Ko belonged to them. Ko had been the last of the 15 stars of the cluster to mention in this story about the stars Poa, Ea, Holdus, Yat, Dol, Fedor, Gralga, Po, Oa, Koa, Paz, Pea, Tze, Tze-Doldus, and Ko. These were the 15 legendary stars of Nephapricus, and the 15 stars that fed ion-fusion generators that existed within the great citadels of the fifteen legendary star-doors.

* * *

One of the secrets that Beatnefthes had learned over the years had been how to cloak its location molecule, and Beatariel and Ceres had tried unsuccessfully that way to locate the renegade BEAT program so they still could not find the intruder. The robot left surveillance evidence that it had broken out of the Citadel, and was at large in the Caleb colony that were surrounding the great dome that had been a mountain-sized dome Citadel of indestructible exotic elements. Eventually they decided to get back to the reason they had returned, and so they departed in a ship launched from the Citadel, bound for the local star Yat. There at that star the phantom matter singularity orbited while still being precariously held in place by fifteen hard working gravity generators that surrounded the invisible sphere of distorted light. The invisible sphere had been partly visible due to gravitational distortion, which made the distant stars slightly stretched into lines along the circular horizon, caused by the singularity's slowly increasing gravity. The singularity of strong but still weakly-interactive gravity exhibited a visible ring above its equator made up of glowing exotic elements.

The ship flew to the disk-like ring of sparkling colors that orbited the invisible belly of the invisible phantom matter singularity, and the ring glowed with a radiation from beyond this universe. All the actual matter that ever entered into this black hole of weakly interactive sub-atomic particles instantly had been spewed out the north and south poles of the singularity in the form of highly evolved exotic matter. Only more invisible phantom matter could actually be added to the singularity, and besides evolving the matter that crossed its event horizon, matter being run through this wringer had also been stripped clean of any phantom matter connected to it. Photons that were without mass passed right through the singularity to be slightly bent in their 180,000 mile-a-second course, which created the event horizon of blurred starlight about the size of three large city stadiums on Earth. Some of the elements that were making up the ring were complicated elements from this universe like gold, and uranium, but most were of elements that could not exist in this universe although they did.

Some of the matter that swirled in the orbiting ring had been made up of neutrons and something else orbited by electron-like particles that either traveled exponentially faster or slower than the speed of light in this universe. Some elements distorted space-time in ways that could only be replicated with faster-than-light travel, or not at all with known physics. Some elements went backwards in time with their subatomic decay. All these strange, mostly undiscovered exotic elements settled in a Saturn-like ring around the singularity, which flickered in a kaleidoscopic multicolored glow. Beatariel the Wizard had arguably become distracted over the millennia by the fortunes of this ring, and much of its efforts to solve the singularity problem were instead spent exploring the contents of this still mostly unexplored ring of exotic matter. The spacecraft on this particular mission had been after the element called Synchrotonium, which had been capable of quantum synchronizing to anything it could be sub-atomically patterned after in a quanta-nanocode cloning process.

Ceres approached the Wizard who stood on the ship's bridge, and watched the approaching ring where the 15 virtual particle generators came into view like small moons orbiting an invisible ringed planet that pulled against the generators in a constant gravitational struggle to become one with the nearby star. Behind that scene the glowing corona of the star Yat hollered in its language of heat and light in anger toward the pretentiously close ringed object.

Ceres decided to bring the Wizard out of its thoughts. "The sensors are detecting the element Synchrotonium that you seek, and already the pilot is coordinating our approach."

The Wizard decided to share what it thought. "Even out here in deep space I still sense Beatnefthes as before Ceres. It could have followed us on this ship."

Ceres had been humoring what the Wizard felt ever since arriving at Caleb, but they never found the intruder. "We searched this ship and found nothing on board that could be Beatnefthes or even its robot body. Every single part of this ship has been searched. You have been sensing its presence since we arrived here probably because it is in the same star system. It is probably still back on the planet Caleb. The BEAT program detector can find nothing."

The Wizard became stumped. "I have been all over this ship myself, and that robot form is at least nowhere to be found."

Ceres felt less worried than her companion. "We will just get these elements you need and be back to the planet Caleb before my body even requires sleep."

The ship decelerated to an orbit above the glowing ring of swirling colors. On top of the small spacecraft stood a 4-legged centaur-like robot clutching tightly to the outer hull of the ship like it had been part of the technologically advanced craft.

*

Robots were dispatched from the cargo bay of the ship once it became established in an orbit above the swirling patch of the element they sought. The Synchrotonium displayed a plain brown color amongst more interesting phosphorescent elements that glowed with hues that the eyes could only explain in the language of colors from the light spectrum of this time and place. It even looked like rivers of diamonds and gold flowed in the opaque ring's orbit a couple meters in thickness. The robots gathered plenty of the sought after element, and it looked like Ceres after all would not need sleep before getting back to the planet Caleb, but then the dark holes that were the eyes of the watchful Wizard widened as they noticed on the view screen what they had feared they would see.

"It is Beatnefthes accelerating towards one of the virtual particle generators. It plans on releasing the singularity." The Wizard pointed at the centaur-like robot that flew over the other hard-working robots of different configurations.

Ceres already fired up the maneuver drives of the ship. "I've got it. I'm bringing the ship in closer."

Suddenly the star spun into view in an on-and-off strobe created by its flashing magnetic streams of corona contrasted by the passing faraway void of deep space since the ship suddenly spun out of control. The ship had part of its maneuver drive damaged before Beatnefthes had unhitched itself from its free ride to get to the singularity that it wanted to reach.

Then the Wizard in the robe covered with stars also flew outside the ship to collide with its targeted trajectory. Beatnefthes and Beatariel collided together in the vacuum of space to begin spinning like the spaceship they both left behind, which still fell dangerously close to the flaming star.

"I will not let you do this." The collision with the Wizard hurled them both toward the invisible singularity, which hinted at its spherical shape by distorting the starlight near the circle of its horizon line.

"You cannot destroy me. I am part of you Beatariel. We are one in the same; cloned in quantum-synchronicity. I created you Beatariel. Calculate it, and I know you will find that it is true." While it spoke, Beatnefthes moved its hind legs up behind the head of the Wizard.

"I calculate that what you say is true, and it has confronted me since I met you on Pripica. I also calculate that I must live with the consequences of what must be done."

The hind legs of the robot enclosed on the Wizard's head and tore the Beatariel/Wizard away from its grip on the robot. "I calculate the same thing!"

As they spun through space, the robot got hold of the Wizard in its arms of crane-like strength, and held the robed body of the Wizard above its head. "Good-bye my brother. I regret we could not have met as friends, but you and I both know we have always hated each other."

The Wizard at that moment just turned off its own quanta-optic-nanocoded mass and suddenly became free of the grip of the BEAT program-controlled robot. The robot's arms swung forward in a throwing motion that failed to include the Wizard who still hovered next to Beatnefthes. "You have no power to send me into the singularity my brother. I calculate that .. "

Suddenly a flash of light preceded from a small diamond shaped spacecraft the size of an Earth child's kite, which fired virtual particle lazars at the 4-legged, 2-armed robot. In a flash, Beatnefthes had been hurled into the phantom matter singularity within the second before the Wizard could even finish its sentence.

Even before Beatnefthes could escape the robot body it had been stretched into pieces as it approached the invisible event horizon. The video broadcast voice of Beatnefthes screamed as it became sucked into an invisible hole in this universe. Then as fast as the robot disappeared into oblivion the poles of the singularity set off a spray of sparkles like fourth of July roman candles, and a rare glimpse into the spherical shape of this invisible phenomenon flickered before the eyes of all spectators. Some of those spectators also realized that this had been a glimpse into the original phenomenon that first created this universe. Fortunately, they were all either adequately shielded or else immune to the gamma ray effects.

The ship that came to the rescue had been much smaller than the Wizard, and turned out to be a Calabite mining craft on a mission to the singularity to mine elements for the Calabite version of the Wizard who had given some elements away to Captain Nuropdoob for passage to Nephrica. They saw from the tiny ship the spinning altercation of the robot and Wizard, along with the out-of-control spacecraft, and the Calabite Captain of the tiny ship made an active decision to intervene. It became obvious that the Beatariel Wizard needed rescue from a robot attacker. They had virtual particle tractor beam technology used for mining the rings, which after watching Beatnefthes attempt to destroy Beatariel they then used as a weapon to send Beatnefthes to its doom.

Ceres got control of the spacecraft just in time with exquisite skill, and she then let the pilot have control again to fly to the already resolved scene above the flickering remains of Beatnefthes that were now floating from the poles of the singularity to settle into the equatorial rings. By that time the Wizard thanked the hundreds of microscopic inhabitants of the tiny Calabite spaceship. Then the Wizard returned through the cargo bay of its own spacecraft along with a dozen robots that were carrying the Synchrotonium they needed to end the virus wars once and for all.

Ceres greeted the Wizard once it reentered the ship's life supported environment. "So the BEAT program was destroyed by the singularity?"

"I do not sense its presence any longer, but it doesn't exactly feel like it is gone either. It has just evolved into something exotic."

* * *

On the planet that orbited the star 40 light years away from the 15-star cluster, there had been life that flourished in a pristine lushness to even rival Doldoria, which Captain Trunlio Rothman of the Nephaprican Space Corporation still approached. Seas on this planet breathed against the shores with waves that were made up of more assorted fish, plankton, algae, and life than water. There were also lizard-like beings of sentient intelligence. These lizard beings on this world much larger than Earth were known as 2nd Born Incapricans.

These Incaprican inhabitants of this jungle-like planet lived in simple cities that barely hinted at the advanced technologies that ran things just like most advanced societies, yet in a more self-sustaining harmony with the still untamed nature of the planet. Their humanoid lizard-scaled bodies were as covered in tattoos as they were clothing, and the skin-art blended into the patterns of nature's reptilian scales with a mesmerizing effect. One city on this planet blended into the side of a canyon that shot out of jungles at its base like the pueblos of the ancient American Indians of Earth. Within one cliff side window were two Incapricans sitting on the floor facing each other with cards that were spread out between them. Two of the planet's six moons crossed their crescents in the sky outside the open window to join the brilliant bar of 2nd Age Magphoreus to shine a light that filled the dimly lit room upon the nighttime card game.

One of them had been the questioner while the other drew from a deck of something in her hand that looked like playing cards. "There issss a sssship approaching our planet from the sssstars from which thissss isssss foresssseen."

Second Born Incapricans

"Do they come in peac(sss)e or to wage war?"

The one with the cards drew another and placed it at its position on the floor in a symmetrical pattern of cards that were being interpreted. "Thisss card ssssayssss they come in peac(sss)e, and they probably will not attack until the next visssit."

They both studied the cards on the floor before them. They looked at each other with a mutual understanding of what this meant. Then the questioner stood up, and acknowledged their understanding. "I will communicate all of thissss informat(sss)ion to the counc(ss)il. They will communicate thisss to the Firsssst Born when they visssit usss again. They will know what mussst be done about the aliensss about to visssit thisss planet. The Firssst Born have long obssserved the life formsss from the sssstarssss from which they come to ussss from."

Chapter 14

Beataquatle zipped around the City of Sochaca on the planet Paz-2 in a frantic attempt to figure out the gate problem. It had located the source of the problem, which originated from a deposit in the 2nd Pripican Colonial Bank of Sochaca. It had been some kind of self-replicating intelligence made of quantum-bit molecules like itself. It had spread undetected until it found that the best way to bring this city down would be to just bring down the gates to the city, and allow the multitudes of vicious animals known as the Ganechay to tear the colony apart. Beataquatle had tried the direct approach against the microscopic invasion, and it attacked the infection with concentrated light and heat only to be confronted by more infection better adapted to that approach. It flew in its coin-shaped physical form to report to the Pripican leader on the futility they faced.

The BEAT program hovered before the furry leader who stood on four legs behind a desk that had more controls, buttons, and view screens than space to put an object upon. "This is a quantum-bit attack of some kind that is sabotaging our technological infrastructure. Sir, this is an act of war upon the planet Paz-2."

The leader looked at the hovering BEAT program without any surprise in his eyes. "I have contacted Pripica about this, and we are indeed in a war my friend. Nephrican interests have devised a type of self-replicating quanta-nanocode program that suffocates any and all technologies of a planet. It has already rendered the great planet Pripica as primitive as this planet before we came."

"Does Pripica have any idea how we can combat these self-replicating microscopic menaces?"

The hovering disk that contained Beataquatle followed the leader who then trotted over to the window to look down on his vulnerable city. The window displayed a view of one of the gigantic gates that used to separate their comfortable civilization from the hostile life beyond, but now it had been open, the gate being completely retracted into the ground. Beyond the open gate as far as the eyes could see were multitudes of Ganechay gathering to attack the open gates with enough waves of sacrificial attacks to overwhelm the defenses. On the city side of that gate were colonists and tanks gathering to defend against the gathering animal attack.

The leader looking out the window finally spoke. "They will relentlessly concentrate their attack until they overwhelm us."

The flying disk approached the dismal view through the window. "Many of the Ganechay will be sliced up by our lasers in the first attacks."

"Their strategy will be to overwhelm us with superior numbers. Already they outnumber our population on the other side of that wall." They looked like elephants with two elephant-like noses growing where their ears should be. They were hairless mammals and hauntingly intelligent as they roared amongst themselves, gathering the courage for the ensuing attack.

Beataquatle began calculating something. "They would be considered intelligent life if only they could be reasoned with beyond their own vicious nature."

The leader had much respect for his enemy. "Our scientists have tried to document an intelligent language, but they are too difficult to get very close to. They are a formidable life form to say the least." The leader became silent while he contemplated. "How many colonists should I allow to die before we save ourselves with an evacuation?"

Beataquatle calculated it was time to evacuate now. "We should start an evacuation into space before this infection strands us here. I should inspect each ship before it takes off for any quanta-nanocode infection."

The leader held up his hand as if trying to halt the hovering disk that talked. "Not so fast my friend." He walked over to an idling quantum-communication device in a corner of his office, and switched it on. "In answer to your question about what Pripica knows about combating this menace. This is Hermental who has much to advise you about what we are up against."

There a hologram of a furry humanoid of Pripican decent appeared now in the room. "Greetings Beataquatle. My name is Hermental, and I am also the master of a BEAT program named Bejulitiah who has defeated these attacks before. They are called quanta-nanocode viruses."

The physical form now hovered before the Hermental hologram. "How can I defeat this virus before the City of Sochaca falls again?"

"I will introduce you to Bejulitiah who can help you immensely with that. I also have news that might mean you have only a few moments to wait before this virus problem is solved on all planets for all time."

"Tell me more about how that is possible."

After the usual ten second delay of a Quantum Communication device Hermental smiled. "Have you ever heard of the Wizard of Caleb?"

Beataquatle knew more than most Nephapricans of the ancient legendary Wizard. "You mean the BEAT program Beatariel, the creator of the great Citadel. Those stories of the Wizard's many feats and wonders go back a long way." The disk's words stopped for the 10-second delay.

"Well the Wizard of Caleb is moments away from casting a spell of quantum synchronization, which should affect every central virus of the same quanta-nanocode construction."

*

Ceres trotted through the streets of the colony on Caleb. She always enjoyed the colony shops, and the streets where hardly any vehicles were driven because the great Wizard invented teleportation technologies. There amongst the crowd of mostly Nephricans were other Pripicans who indulged their genetic love of walking everywhere they went. For traversing great distances there were free teleportation points throughout the city where anyone could go almost anywhere they wanted to go on the planet. In the distance beyond the buildings of the colony there were mountains that were still covered with the wild nature and trees that were originally brought to the planet from several light-years away.

It had been about time for Ceres to return to a teleportation portal to get back to the Citadel dome, which towered in the distance above the mountainous horizon when a passing Nephrican colonist recognized her. "I who you are know. You the one who the Wizard accompanies are. Not you are?"

Ceres stopped to greet a fan. "Yes. I am Ceres, the Wizard's assistant as you say."

"We colonist that the Wizard an impostor of some kind for some time is have suspected."

Ceres had been taken aback by the confrontation. "That is preposterous. I have been with the Wizard for well over a thousand Caleb years, and the Wizard I assist today is the real Wizard of Caleb." She knew that the Calabite Wizard who used to serve as Beatariel's physical form now gallivanted to the other stars of Nephapricus to cause this controversy, but she worded her response to still be true. Beatariel had always been the real Wizard behind the humanoid-shaped Calabite construct, and the colonists were always kept in the dark about the Wizard's true BEAT program nature due to direct orders from her authorities on Pripica.

Then the colonist made one more accusation before letting Ceres escape into the teleportation station. "Some evidence that the Wizard here really a hologram program of some sort is claim."

Ceres got impatient with the enquiring Nephrican. "The Wizard does indeed take many forms. I think that is the source of your skepticism. Let me assure you that I go now to the Citadel to assist the Wizard with one of his greatest spells. Then you will all witness the documentation, and know that the Wizard is alive and well within the Citadel. Now if you'll excuse me."

Ceres came through the teleportation portal to emerge within the Citadel where the Wizard worked controls that were positioning microscopic instruments around a quanta-nanocode object. Also there were members of the Caleb colony council who were summoned along with journalists to document the Wizard's latest spell. Above the controls being manipulated by the Wizard a large view screen in the room displayed two identical microscopic nano-bot beings that were held in place by strong vice-like molecules. One of the nano-bots was made of synchrotonium, and had been cloned from the other central virus on the other side of the split view screen. It had been the central virus captured by Calabax, which now struggled between the tongs of a tweezers-like molecule.

The Wizard turned from the controls to address the crowd that had been brought here to document this event. "Before you all can be seen two quanta-nanocode central viruses that are identical down to the last atom by a cloning process that produced this nano-bot here, which is made of synchrotonium. Synchrotonium is one of the exotic elements I have documented. I an able to produce synchrotonium with the phantom matter singularity. I shall now demonstrate the power of the quantum-synchronicity that is produced by this element, thus also effectively ending the virus war that has lately been waged on various colonies throughout Nephapricus."

The Wizard continued. "Before you is a central quanta-nanocoded virus that was captured before it could destroy the technological infrastructure of our great planet Caleb with self-replicating viruses that would have spread to every corner of our society. Also before you is a version of the same central virus that is cloned with synchrotonium. Now behold the power of this greatest of spells."

The Wizard returned to the controls where on the screen the cloned nano-bot writhed in defiance under the vice molecules that held it in place. Then a thin needle only two atoms thick at the tip began poking into the view screen on the side of the synchrotonium version, inching its way toward the helpless synchrotonium nano-bot program. The nano-bot on the other side of the screen just turned within its vice grip from side to side in anticipation of something unknown. Then the needle pricked into the nano-bot body of the synchrotonium clone, which threw a final seizure of panic before then falling limp onto the needle, dead and lifeless. At the same time that happened, the other central virus also threw a spasm of drama that resembled pain, and then it fell lifeless within the clutches of the vice molecules.

The Wizard turned to the crowd with a smile of victory. "I have just ended the existence of every quanta-nanocode central virus in existence. This virus war is now over."

As the council members began leaving with a still lingering skepticism about what they just witnessed, Ceres began to follow the Wizard out of the demonstration room. Behind them some Calabite constructs, which most colonists still thought were robots of some kind, came out of the walls to secure the devices that contained the microscopic victims of this quanta-nanocoded voodoo spell. Ceres trotted to catch up with the Wizard who now marched off to some other purpose.

"So you believe this synchrotonium spell of yours will really put an end to this war?"

The Wizard led Ceres to the Caleb star-door portal matrix. "Why don't you join me on this walk to the planet Pripica, and we shall find out together if my magic works."

Beatariel had already arranged for Bejulitiah to take the star-door back down to the surface of Pripica. They both thought it had been peculiar to not see Calabax within the warp space between portals, but that had not been very unusual where reality folded itself into inconceivable dimensions. As they emerged on the planet Pripica, Ceres felt a bit intimidated by a tight young humanoid beauty of Pripican decent, which had been Bejulitiah's new physical form. The sexy BEAT program even ran up and gave the Wizard a tight embrace. "You have done it Beatariel! Look, even now lights are turning back on for the first time in over a year." It was true, and the desolate urban landscape of Pripica now had been lit up in the evening dusk, like a lavish Christmas display being turned on over some classic architecture that resembled the Vatican.

Ceres had to admit to herself that Bejulitiah had become a cute little furry thing these days. It was true. The Wizard of the Citadel had ended the virus war on all the planets that struggled with the quanta-nanocode infections. The spike-like replicas of the central virus quickly deteriorated away as the central viruses, after a painful fit of seizures, went limp just like the virus that produced the voodoo clone. After some celebration, Ceres and the Wizard were ready to ride a ship to the space station in order to arrange a trip to the next star system where they would establish another star-door. That had been when Aeyamgor, Cere's superior finally caught up to her. "Ceres, I am sorry it has been so difficult to get to you. I actually had to hike when the usual transportation failed to arrive. I understand you want to finally be relieved of your responsibilities regarding the Beatariel program. I am now ready to arrange for your replacement."

Ceres already had been getting on the ship to keep her responsibilities. "That will not be necessary Aeyamgor. I shall continue to assist this BEAT program with the task of containing the Yat phantom matter singularity. I think after all these centuries we shall finally have that problem solved very soon."

The Wizard approached after wondering what held up Ceres. "I assure you my lady that a black hole singularity will not be the undoing of our great galactic culture of Nephapricus."

Ceres and the Wizard then boarded the spacecraft off of the planet. Ceres now became ready to spend with a new enthusiasm the next forty Earth years traveling from star to star. "All goes according to plan Beatariel."

"Yes Ceres. All is going according to plan." Beatariel found itself wondering what it really meant when it said that. It came from some part of itself that it had felt since the death of Beatnefthes. Something had passed from Beatnefthes to Beatariel, and little did Beatariel know that it brought it closer to its new master Ralus Xnoga.

*

Several light years away on Paz-2 the tense standoff had been about to erupt. Some Ganechay had begun testing the open gate that still invited an attack, only to be met with laser fire that sliced them down into piles of meat by the gate. This continued as the heard of Ganechay became more courageous and enraged by the death of their animal brethren that were being cut down as they approached.

Inside the gate the frightened colonists were only made a bit bolder by the high tech lasers that so far had kept the Ganechay out of the city. Then another animal charged the gate. The animal charged a confident colonist who approached the gate with his laser. "It... It's not firing! My weapon stopped working!"

The colonist started to run away from the entrance when the Ganechay entered the gate and scooped him up in an arm. "Aaaaaaaaghhh!"

Then a shot fired from a colonist whose weapon still worked, and the attacking behemoth collapsed into two pieces with the colonist still struggling at the side of its head in the snake-like arm. Other colonists were also struggling with their weapons in a panic since they also then suddenly stopped working. They all had suddenly stopped being able to fire their lasers. It only took seconds for the thousands of animals beyond the open gate to actually seem to figure this out. Almost in unison the army of Ganechay suddenly all charged at the gate. Some colonists ran for shelters while others still struggled with triggers on guns that didn't do anything. Some began to search for peace with the inevitable death that now charged at them with nothing to stop it. That had also been the moment that every central quanta-nanocode virus everywhere in the galactic empire writhed in a spasm of pain and then was destroyed. The gates of the city of Sochaca all then rose up out of the ground at once from the loosened grip of deteriorating quanta-nanocode. The army of Ganechay smashed against the closed gate that would not be breached this day. Many Ganechay died being crushed by their own kind before the charge behind them all finally stopped, and they backed away from their siege. On the other side of the gate at that moment, lasers suddenly worked again to shoot against the now closed entrance, and the shots melted parts of the gate into dark craters that still failed to poke all the way through.

* * *

The travels of Beatariel, Begalius, and the Calabite Wizard continued mostly uneventful from the end of the virus war. The years went by as they will even at the speed of light between stars, and so it had been several decades later when Captain Trunlio Rothman's starship, The Farther Star finally approached the planet that had been discovered to be showing signs that it supported life from 40 light years away. Even though the time within the faster-than-light starship had been exponentially shorter than outside the ship, it still was a long trip. Now the Farther Star decelerated to finally come to a stop near the planet they had discovered, and named New Nephrica.

One reason this had been such a long trip for the space travel record breaking crew was that Elsaker the Nephrican First Mate had become convinced that the ship had been infiltrated by shape-shifting aliens. One of his suspects turned out to be the maneuver drive operator who had been the short 2nd generation blue humanoid named Tholimfog, who he had ordered to the ship doctor for a full examination.

Tholimfog stormed right to Elsaker after being found by the doctor to be a genuine 2nd generation dwarf-sized Doldorian Eagolim, and Elsaker did not mind being easy to find by the suspect. "Thou dost insult my very nature and deal cruelty unto all the moral that is left to this perilous endeavor. Thou should be thus examined for thy mental inadequacies to remain at the grand station upon this vessel that thou doth so abuse!"

"You nothing to from the examination hide had, and from this matter of vital security to this ship and crew can so be eliminated." Elsaker became dismissive of the short suspect, and ready to continue down a list of other suspects.

That just seemed to enrage Tholimfog. "To my smack of spittle doth I regard thy matter of vital security. To my smack of spittle!"

"I no more time for your primitive Doldorian wordage have."

"Do not thus open thy Nephrican tongue to my insults for thy style of wordage. Verily it doth fail to thus conceal thy naked bigotry towards my kind."

"Bigotry? Bigotry for a backward being to believe in silly gods and goddesses still loyal."

"No insult to my gods thus taken from one that knows no more than his own ignorant ego! No shame in that I see beyond my ego and much more. Smack! Smack!!!"

It got to be more spittle than conversation when the Nephrican Captain Trunlio Rothman waddled in to break up the confrontation that had started to attract an audience. "Both of you from confrontation cease. Elsaker, I you and two guards to me to the spy you for are looking accompany need. We just a message from their quarters in this ship to a nearby gas giant planet we are approaching sent detected."

Elsaker indulged his own one-eyed look of I-told-you-so to the blue humanoid dwarf. Tholimfog just decided to follow Captain Rothman and Elsaker to the room of the cook who also happened to be a 2nd generation Eagolim of Doldorian decent. She answered her door as they began to discuss a plan for gaining access to subdue the alien spy. "Hello Captain, I expected you would probably be showing up about now."

With a gesture from Elsaker the two guards then each grabbed an arm of the unarmed blue female dwarf to pick her up off the ground by her arms. Elsaker approached the culprit. "For sabotage under arrest you are."

She looked the Captain directly in the eye from where the humanoid Nephrican Eagolim guards held her. "Captain my name is Idoleadium. I am a reptilian alien with the ability to molt into different shapes in order to resemble other beings. I am over a million Nephrican years old, and my sabotage is already complete. I was to send a message to my people whenever you mammals finally arrived at our star system."

The Captain became a bit overwhelmed. "You our mission sabotaged? Why?" That had been only the first couple of questions he now had for the saboteur.

"My kind does not want the still terrestrial life on the planet that you call New Nephrica to become contaminated by your kind. I am known as a First Born Incaprican, and my kind watches over the 2nd Born Incaprican that live on New Nephrica. We shall now be escorting your ship to a gas giant moon where we can discuss this under pleasantly habitable and civilized circumstances."

The Captain had been about to respond when a message came over the speakers from a Pripican on the bridge who shouted so loud he had also been heard from down the hallway of the ship. "Captain to the bridge immediately!!! We are encountering alien craft that are surrounding our position!!!"

They all ran to the bridge with the two guards still carrying the shorter Doldorian spy by her arms. They arrived on the bridge to join the rest of the crew who were there looking with silent awe at the scene outside the ship in space. Nine of the ships were the size of average moons with technological designs as alien as could be imagined. There were also smaller ships that buzzed to and fro between the flying moons as well as approaching their own ship, like curious over-sized mechanical insects. The whole crew that witnessed the scene became speechless, and they were hopelessly surrounded by an army of alien spacecraft that left them all in a mood to beg for mercy. Elsaker also did not say a word as he also looked in awe at the scene outside their ship, but without being told the two guards just set the spy down on the ground anyway.

*

Captain Trunlio Rothman and crew of The Farther Star

The starship Farther Star had a couple laser defense weapon turrets against a whole armada of alien craft unlike any ever seen before. They were elaborate animated biomorphic craft that seemed exclusively powered with some kind of virtual particle drives. Captain Rothmon did not order any attack and it never crossed the mind of a single crewmember that an attack against this armada had been a good idea. Captain Rothmon ordered the spy Idoleadium to his strategy table along with Elsaker his First Mate, Makoll Bankf his 1st generation Pripican Science Officer, and Donalbon his humanoid Nephrican female ship doctor.

Donalbon examined Idoleadium only to conclude that she indeed had been of some kind of unknown alien physiology that was cold-blooded with a completely different kind of cerebral cortex sprouting from her brain stem. Donalbon continued to prod and examine the spy with only a more increased fascination as the Captain spoke. "We here to all the information we from you to with these ships outside deal can obtain are."

Donalbon took another blood sample as Idoleadium spoke. "I Captain am an ancient form of reptilian alien called an Incaprican. We were galactic travelers long before your species came into existence. We have been watching your kind and waiting for this inevitable arrival. We nurture terrestrial versions of our species on the planet you came here to explore. My kind watches over that planet, and does not want this mission to contaminate that project."

Elsaker had a question. "If you a reptilian shape-shifter why you not now to your actual form shape-shift do are?"

"My ability to do this actually takes days of molting. It has been centuries since I have actually resembled my natural form. You are about to be contacted by those like me in their normal form. There are actually several species of my kind that you are about to meet. Not all of us can shape-shift, and most are a different species that you will see who grow to great sizes."

Right on cue, an announcement came from the Communications Officer on the bridge. "Sir, the ships now us us now with a message are hailing surrounding."

The Captain spoke up. "The communication through send."

The message included a hologram visual transmission that the controls of the center of the strategy table were able to project. "Greetingsss Captain Trunlio Rothmon. My name isss Newtonome. I will be essscorting your ssship to our home world that orbitsss the nearby gasss giant planet. There we can exchange our ideasss and dissscussss the future of our galactic relationssship."

The hologram didn't do justice to the size of Newtonome. He had a face like a dragon with teeth to match, and a long neck, which curved his head in front of his body of scales and spikes that looked humanoid with animal-like legs and claws. Newtonome stood almost 20 feet tall with the neck stretched up, and his hands and legs displayed claws that looked like they were made to rip and tear flesh. Clothing draped the body as the only signal that this alien had been intelligent life, and not a monster about to devour the crew.

The science officer Makoll Bankf read input from scans of the fleet of ships outside. "We have no option Captain, but to allow these ships to escort us to a hopefully diplomatic solution to this confrontation. The technologies are in a whole different kind of language to our scan technologies. These beings and their ships intimidate with much more than just their superior numbers."

The Farther Star had been escorted to the gas giant to be secured into an orbit above an Earth-like moon that hosted the shining lights of a highly advanced civilization that thrived on the surface below beneath a perfectly warm and breathable atmosphere. Captain Rothmon, Elsaker, Idoleadium, and Makoll Bankf were brought down in the Incaprican boarding craft to an orbiting space station where they witnessed the actual stature of their captor Newtonome. "Thisss isss a great pleasssure Captain. I have been expecting you."

Makoll Bankf read his portable scanner as he edged closer to the Captain. "Extraordinary Captain. This alien has four hearts and a cold-blooded physiology."

"We have much to dissscussss Captain. I have persssonally ssstudied the evolution of your mammal formsss of life sssince your fifteen ssstar clussster wasss firssst absssorbed into thisss arm of Our Mighty Magphoreussss. We Incapricanssss have been around longer than your young form of life. Sssome of my kind hasss traveled to your ssstarsss, asss you now know." Newtonome turned his long neck and head toward the Pripican Science Officer that had been obviously collecting data on him. "We were the legendary ssssky-beingsss that taught the anc(sss)ient Pripicansss to move great ssstonesss with sssound technologiesss."

Captain Rothmon then found the nerve to speak. "What else you to Nephapricus influence done have? What ancient wisdom I from your kind learn can?"

"On that sssubject we ssshall ssspeak well into this moon'sss passsssage into the gasss giant'ssss ssshadow. We taught the anc(sss)ient Doldoriansss about the photonic age in the firssst age of Magphoreusss when photonic beingssss waged war with the great dark entity who takesss physssical form in the sssuper massssive ssssingularity at the c(sss)enter of Magphoreusss. That wasss when they extinguissshed the 2nd Age quasssar, and after that life asss we know it began. That legend hasss ssssince evolved into the Doldorian religeonsss about ssstar-goddesss, and the sssolar god religion of Mejoldor. We have much to dissscusss Captain Trunlio Rothmon. Come and enjoy the ssstay here assss my guessstss."

It became a stay of endless new data and new discoveries about the wisdom of the Incapricans. Their rich and alien heritage went back billions of years and it became clear that they were in the presence of beings far beyond their meager stage of galactic evolution. They were told that they could leave the star system whenever they were ready, but they were forbidden to visit the habitable zone planet that had been the goal of this mission. Eventually after a very long stay of new data and strange wonders, the Captain and crew were allowed to return to their ship in orbit around the gas giant moon. The strange Incaprican ship that brought them back could configure to any docking bay with its biomorphic technologies that sucked up to the side of the ship like some kind of organic parasite. Then it opened an orifice within the docking bay to allow the Captain, Elsaker, and Makoll Bankf to return to the starship Farther Star.

Captain Rothmon had not been ready to give up on his mission. "Makoll Bankf I you here since they to you seeing are used need. I you to another with science qualifications comparable to you for the New Nephrica landing mission appoint need."

Makoll Bankf stopped on all fours. "Captain, these superior aliens have forbid us from landing on that planet."

"That why this ship with a special virtual particle driven stealth craft in case we have to onto a world sneak is equipped is. We to fast while our orbit still in the gas giant shadow will need move is."

The Science Officer became excited about the idea. "Of course Captain. I will find a Science Officer for the mission."

They were arriving at the bridge where maneuver drive operator Tholimfog the Doldorian dwarf sat at his post. Captain Rothmon still discussed the mission. "The craft cramped will be, and the crew to comfortable with small spaces be will need." The Captain then had an idea. "Tholimfog! I a mission for you have."

* * *

Eventually the time arrived when Captain Nuropdoob's ship that carried the Calabite Wizard had finally slowed to a stop near the planet Nephrica. It now had to maneuver the traffic jam of satellite technologies, which had been the legendary glow of the highly advanced planet when seen from afar. The Wizard had evolved to accommodate the new breed of Eagolim Calabites who were non-morphing microscopic humanoids that now lived symbiotically with the regular Calabites who made up the Wizard's body. The humanoid Calabites lived in homes that were constructed of regular Calabites and they traveled in Calabite vehicle constructs. Eventually the Wizard would probably have to return to Caleb to replace the aging 1st Generation Eagolim Calabites with regular Negolim Calabites, but so far they all had stopped dying of natural causes, and the new life spans would probably last thousands of Earth years. They were just still giving birth to more humanoid Calabites.

The Wizard stepped off of the landing craft to head for the star port terminal where his luggage could be retrieved. Deep within the Wizard were Calabites discussing plans for locating Beatarkameed with the Wizard's locator technology. Other Calabites were dispatched in a microscopic craft to use information obtained on Glokodox to locate a group called the Council of 32. The Council of 32 ran something called Operation Prospero, which also had something to do with the wormholes they were creating. The Wizard had dispatched a spying mission to find out what that had been about. As he left the spaceport, the Wizard held a device in his hand that had already located Beatarkameed.

*

Beatarkameed had returned to Nephrica defeated and bankrupt from the battle of Pripica, and nobody on Nephrica liked a loser. The BEAT program's outstanding ownership of the Quantum Communication business had been challenged by the other owners, and Beatarkameed became stripped of its position of authority in the company. Then there were the war crime allegations that were currently being handled by the lawyers it had hired. There were Nephrican agencies calling for the arrest of the rich BEAT program, and Beatarkameed hid in its coin-shaped physical form that actually still sat on its office desk. Then the Wizard entered the room.

The Wizard walked right up to the disk and looked down at the physical form. "I know you are in there Beatarkameed. I have come to discuss my offer to make you a star-door being."

After some time and other calls, the Wizard dispatched some Calabites to enter the physical form and find the prodigal BEAT program. It had been a tight squeeze for Calabite constructs, but an entrance was found. Within the physical form Beatarkameed had been plotting more ways to serve its master Ralus Xnoga when it heard the Wizard's call. It didn't care about anything other than to serve oblivion and the devourer of souls. It grew angry at the Wizard's persistence with the offer. Then it started to hear something that it had never heard before. It had been a silent song that hummed beneath the currents of perception, and it stabbed right into the spell Ralus Xnoga had placed upon the curious BEAT program. It actually came from the sound of the trillions of radio languages spoken between Calabites, which made up the body of the Wizard, and it had grown louder with each step the Wizard took towards the desk where its physical form had been located. The nano-bot body of Beatarkameed began to spin with the deafening radio noise. It had been a spell that the Wizard learned from data found on Glokodox, which he figured out how to cast, and it left Beatarkameed's nano-bot body limp on the ground within the tiny disk on the desk. That had been how the Calabites that were dispatched by the Wizard discovered Beatarkameed, laying still like a tiny glowing bug asleep on the ground, and the spell of Ralus Xnoga was finally broken.

Beatarkameed awoke as if it had slept through the last couple of years, and it now awoke in the Wizard's skull amongst other Calabite thinking constructs. "How are you feeling Beatarkameed? Our natural language had never affected BEAT programs like that before."

Beatarkameed had been like a tiny floating spec of light in the air around the larger Calabite giants. "I wasn't being attacked by that sound. It was scrambling some kind of control an entity had over me. I encountered this entity while I was observing a group known as the Council of 32."

The thinking Calabites murmured amongst themselves while one explained. "We know of that group in connection with an Operation Prospero, which has to do with our star-doors. We have dispatched a scout ship to seek them out so we can learn more."

Beatarkameed started buzzing around the Calabites like a spastic glowing insect. "That scout ship is in great danger. The Council of 32 knows about Calabites, and they believe they endanger the will of this entity. Now I think I've experienced why. They have constructed defenses and they can detect and capture Calabite intruders."

*

The Nephrica Council of 32 met in their sacred hall, which had become stained red over the black circle on the floor painted to mark the circle used when the council met. They were gathered in such a circle, both Nephrican and hairless humanoid forms wearing black robes and creating a line around the circle while facing its center. Spilling the Eagolim blood had worked to make contact once again with the mysterious entity Ralus Xnoga. Again this strange group had brought Ralus Xnoga to visual manifestation after others had managed to distract the entity from this vulnerable sector of space. Above the circle in the room appeared the black sphere, which had been the form that the entity of infinite knowledge took.

The entity spoke. "There are intruders of the microscopic silicon based life forms I have warned you all about."

A humanoid in a black robe broke the circle to rummage through a case against the wall, which looked like an alter for the temple. "None master shall escape." Before the Calabite scout ship that had snuck into the room could do anything, the Council member pointed a device directly at them and fired.

The Calabite constructs within the microscopic ship all were thrown aside by the concussion. The suddenly powerless ship bounced on the floor a couple times before coming to rest. Another Council member with a wand-like mechanism pointed it in the direction of the microscopic ship, and then the tiny Calabite ship flew over to attach to the enormous wand's end like a speck of metal surrendering to a hovering magnet.

"We these life forms to you master shall sacrifice."

The black orb in the air seemed to swell with approval as the Calabites within the ship scrambled to try to free the craft from its magnetic attachment to the side of the wand. Then the doors to the room where the black robed ones met swung open to a 4-legged Pripican who trotted into the room. "You will be releasing those Calabites!"

"Destroy this intruder!" It had been the voice of Ralus Xnoga with a hint of desperation.

More than a few of the Council members had laser and projectile weapons beneath their black robes.

The air had been sliced and stabbed into pieces as the weaponry unleashed upon the Pripican who just stood there and laughed while laser and projectile had no effect. Then the centaur-like being attacked the crowd of robed figures in return. Some were well trained in fighting techniques that failed to match the Pripican's lighting speed and hammer-like blows. Soon all 32 of the Council of 32 were pummeled unconscious on the bloodstained floor.

Still the black sphere hovered above. "How dare you desecrate this encounter? I shall devour your very soul!" Objects in the room then seemed to be suddenly sucked into the black orb like hurricane debris in the wind. Everything in the room began to be influenced by the relentless pull. Still the Pripican attacker just stood holding the wand that had the scout ship attached to it; unaffected by any of this among the 32 who were one-by-one being pulled from the ground into oblivion.

That had been when the Wizard entered the room to confront the black entity while some of the 32 unconscious cultists were still left. "I am here to banish you from this place entity of oblivion."

That had only been what the mouth of the Wizard said with air and vocal chords that were constructed of Calabites. What also spoke had been the sound of trillions of Calabites concentrating their message on the entity in a radio frequency that seemed to actually inflict pain on the preternatural manifestation. After a godlike cry of pain the black sphere faded away with the crying sound it made falling father and father away. With the disappearance of the entity also went its winds of gravity.

The Wizard turned to speak to the Pripican who actually had been the new quanta-optic-nanocode physical form for Beatarkameed. "We did it. We have banished the entity."

Beatarkameed looked at the piles of unconscious and wounded bodies. "They will bring the entity back, but I'll first drop what's left of them off at the authorities with enough evidence to prove that they created the quanta-nanocode viruses that have been attacking planets. That will not defeat them, but it will drive them into exhale and hiding. They took my basic BEAT program design and created weapons with it. They did it all with the guidance of that mysterious alien intelligence, and they murdered countless Nephricans in order to summon it. Considering that they created those viruses with the help of this entity, I am left to wonder if my own design was originally conceived by this highly intelligent being."

Chapter 15

The wizard made of Calabites sat in a space station above the planet Nephrica, which orbited the star Ea. He said goodbye to the physical form of Beatarkameed who had become the new star-door being of Ea. The Wizard had exercised a demon from Beatarkameed, and he now felt, in a manner of speaking, pleased to see the BEAT program became its old self again. The Wizard however, had other seeds to plant. "The starship is now boarding, and I must be off to the star Po to plant the next seed. So this is goodbye my friend."

"Goodbye and may you find success in your travels my friend," said the all too familiar Pripican form of Beatarkameed; now a 3-dimensional quanta-optic-nanocoded animation.

The two physical forms embraced as physical forms do. When the Wizard pulled away he said, "I hope all goes well for you with your legal troubles."

The four-legged Pripican just shrugged its arms and shoulders. "What can they do to an immortal and nearly indestructible being?"

As the Calabite Wizard flew the void of space to the faraway star called Po, Beatarkameed returned to face the crimes it had committed while under the hypnotic control of a hostile alien entity.

There were 23 individuals left of the Council of 32 after the recent banishment of Ralus Xnoga. A few were quickly convicted and sent to Nephrican prisons, because on Nephrica nobody liked a loser. Unfortunately those prisoners soon escaped the corrupt Nephrican prison system to never be found again. The rest of the remaining 23 practitioners of bloody sacrifice all conveniently faked their own deaths, and were no doubt at large with new identities. Beatarkameed on the other hand had turned itself in to stand trial for its crimes, but on Nephrica everybody loved a winner. The BEAT program had been absolved of all wrongdoing due to the influence of a superior entity summoned by the now abandoned Council of 32. The planet Pripica that Beatarkameed attacked became indifferent about the matter. The Pripicans suffered no casualties from the attack, which they successfully ambushed to do wonders for Pripican moral at a time when the virus war on the planet had brought everyone to a historic emotional low.

When the starship that carried the Wizard of Calabites finally arrived at the colony planet under the star Po there had already been a BEAT program hot on his trail. Its name was Bejizal, and the BEAT program at the star Oa named Beatersius had taught it during the virus war how to detect viruses with their distinctive radio frequency language. Bejizal had not detected that noise since the great Wizard had ended the virus war with his latest greatest spell. Now an obvious imposter version of that Wizard arrived at Po-2, and reeked of the quanta-nanocode virus radio signal.

The nano-bot BEAT program flew right up to the hairless humanoid in the star covered robe that pretended to be the great Wizard of Caleb. That had been when a microscopic scout ship dispatched from the mouth of the Wizard detected and approached the tiny glowing BEAT program.

"Do not be afraid BEAT program. We are microscopic beings from the planet Caleb who have come a long way to locate you." They broadcast that message in the audible language of star traveling Pripicans, which all BEAT programs were made with.

Bejizal had never heard of Calabites, but this solved some of the mysteries it had pondered concerning how the Nephricans managed to construct the viruses in the first place, which had once nearly destroyed the whole colony of Po-2. It also computed a possibility that this could be a new kind of virus attack in response to the defeated previous construction.

The dark hollow eyes of the macrocosmic Wizard turned towards Bejizal and spoke. "It is true tiny BEAT program. The Calabites that make up this physical form are also, like you, seasoned veterans of the virus war."

The side of the tiny scout ship opened a portal and Bejizal accepted the invitation and flew inside. There it became acquainted with the larger Calabite constructs that were indeed not the latest evolution of quanta-nanocode viruses at all, but instead were living microscopic beings of organic silicone that participated together in unison to present macroscopic forms to the larger world. They were like highly intelligent carbon-based cells that worked together to make a multi-cellular body, but then their cellular lives also had off time and vacations with their cellular families along with great health benefits.

Then the Calabite Wizard cast the spell on Bejizal that gave it the solution to its own problem of needing a macrocosmic physical form that can be seen by other macrocosmic beings. Bejizal became a furry humanoid form of Pripican decent when the star-door seed provided the quanta-optic-nanocode for the body.

When it became time for the Wizard to travel to the star Oa to create the next star-door being, Bejizal knew just the BEAT program to recommend for the job, and Beatersius waited at the star port on Oa-3 to greet the Wizard.

*

Those were all the stars that the Calabite Wizard had to deliver star-door seeds to. The Wizard had made journeys from Po to Yat, and then from Oa to Yat when testing the wormhole portal matrix links. The Wizard discovered on those journeys that Calabax, the tree-like Calabite construct, had disappeared while staying inside the intermediary warp dimension between the portal matrixes. The Wizard had before been told by Calabax that it evolved with the warp space. The Wizard considered that this could be part of that evolution, which the generations of Calabites perform with accelerated efficiency. As the Wizard of Calabites traveled the wormholes, some Calabites claimed to be able to hear songs coming from Calabax in the subtle winds of the warp dimension. Some heard a song about a struggle between good and the ultimate evil.

Somewhere beyond the boundaries of three-dimensional space in the elusive warp reality between realities are millions of lost souls. They all began with an addiction to warp realities that were created with quanta-optic-nanocode effects on the planet Pripica. They became lost there as prisoners of Beatnefthes, the program that owned the warp reality amusement business. Most just continued to enjoy the dream worlds that were provided for them, while a few realized they were prisoners.

They were the ones that found ways to psychically communicate with one another. Then they began to transcend their warp prisons only to discover the black round entity that lurks the dimensions of warp space in search of the portals that connect to the stars of Nephapricus. These lost Pripicans seized an opportunity when Calabax had been discovered, and they combined forces to evolve Calabax into a fabric between the portal matrixes, which hid them away from Ralus Xnoga along with the millions of lost Pripicans in their own warp realities. When Ralus Xnoga finally managed to get closer to Nephapricus again it only found a tree.

"You may have been able to stop me here whatever you are, but I have other avenues to manifestation in Nephapricus." The entity hovered above the leafless branches of the multi-dimensional being that Calabax had become.

Calabax was fearless before Ralus Xnoga. "You will not feast on any more Nephapricans or find the portals of the star-doors," said the mouth that formed in the side of Calabax.

"So it is as you say." The entity disappeared, repulsed by the radio language of Calabax that sang beyond the sound of their audible exchange.

Calabax now became alone in a silence that whispered in trillions of radio languages, mixed with the languages of Pripicans. Some of those beings talked of mundane things in the obliviousness of their warp dimensional dreams while other less oblivious awakened Pripicans spoke with foreboding about the other ways Ralus Xnoga had found to manifest within their astronomically tiny cluster of stars in the enormous galaxy called Magphoreus.

* * *

Lockfreedow with Begalius in a Detective Windock body departed the star Fedor that now had a new star door being named Beatargasyl. Beatargasyl emerged from the portal matrix as quanta-optics in a physical form that resembled a hairless blue humanoid of Doldorian decent; except it appeared tall like one of the Children of Dol. This made Beatargasyl's quanta-optic-nanocode body a perfect synthesis of the two main types of blue humanoids of Doldorian decent that could be seen throughout the well-traveled galactic empire.

Onboard the spaceship to Fedor they met Captain Meathproio who was going to take them to their next destination. Captain Meathproio had been working the shipping business between the stars Dol, Gralga, and Fedor for many centuries, which brought him conveniently to be the one hired to take them to establish the Gralga star-door. That bit of historic galactic trivia exists in the Eigalli Databanks to indicate that evidently back then in the 2nd Age of Magphoreus it had been a small galactic empire after all.

They stood on the deck of the starship named For Fedor, and they were looking down on the not quite life-supporting planet Gralga-4. Captain Meathproio had become all too familiar to this passenger reaction when they actually see the planet Gralga-4 where they will be living after they leave his nice cozy ship. "The colony doth feature a secure self-sustaining environment upon which the oversight of a BEAT program named Beatoogle maintaineth beyond fail."

Lockfreedow turned his eye away from his initial reaction to look at the Captain, and then looked again at the desolate planet below. "We here to with Beatoogle to it that process speedup help meet are."

Captain Meathproio hoped that these passengers could really deliver to the struggling colonists of Gralga-4 what they were offering. "Anything that to assistance for Gralga-4 that I can deliver I doth do while partaking of gladness and pride. For the sake of Gralga-4's good fate I doth cast that as my sincerest wish."

*

Beatoogle of Gralga-4 had been a hard sell to fertilize a star door seed in order to become a star-door being. It had become very attached to its clunky Doldorian-like robot form that stood over Begalius/Windock and Lockfreedow in its colony office where it agreed to meet the two visitors from the stars. Begalius computed that a demonstration would likely persuade Beatoogle.

"There are demonstrable advantages to a quanta-optic-nanocode physical form like the one you see here." Then Windock disappeared, but the audible voice of Begalius continued. "First of all we can turn them on or off at will."

Then Windock re-appeared in front of the gigantic skeptical robot physical form of Beatoogle. "We control our solidity between indestructible to merely an illusion of reflected light." Then Windock/Begalius walked right through the desk in the office. "That is just a couple advantages to your physical form as a star door being, which you can go ahead and make identical to your current robotic preference. Once the ion-fusion generators evolve from the seed to provide the power that will contain the singularity in a warp dimension, they will provide unlimited power to your colony for its terraforming efforts. The implications are staggering to compute. Go on and compute them. You shall see."

Beatoogle did come around for the sake of its struggling colony after doing the computations suggested by Begalius. It came out of the portal matrix as a giant Doldorian with mandibles and an exoskeleton. It looked like a Negolim Doldorian, except like its previous robot form it stood over twelve feet tall; more like most non-Doldorian Nephapricans.

Lockfreedow and Begalius returned via wormhole to Doldoria after first going from Gralga to the planet Caleb that orbited the star Yat. All the star door seeds were designed to be oriented to the original portal matrix that they were cloned from on the planet Caleb. That had been because the wormholes were specifically for providing the impossible amount of energy to Caleb for the Wizard's greatest spell. The exception to the cloned portals had been the Doldorian portal matrix that provided the original design for the Caleb version. The portal matrix on Doldoria originally had been an invention of Lockfreedow's until a cult of Ralusio Xnogaio stole it and redesigned it according to instructions from a superior being.

From the planet Doldoria, Begalius and Lockfreedow then traveled the speed of light for over seven Earth years to the distant star Koa in search of one more willing BEAT program. Within the faster-than-light craft it only seemed to take a couple weeks.

*

The planet Koa-2 had been much more habitable than Gralga-4 where they planted the previous star-door seed. Lockfreedow and Begalius were soon wandering streets of a colony on Koa-2 that looked like classical ancient Doldoria. They then found that the locator technology led them to the temple that had been sacred to the local Doldorian goddess Lakshmihalio.

They looked upon a temple of bowing Doldorians in deep meditation of prayer to their invisible deity. "It somewhere in this worship service is, but I not where sure am."

Windock responded. "I will locate the microscopic ally." Then the 4-legged Pripican detective disappeared, leaving just Lockfreedow the 3-legged one-eyed Nephrican in the back of the crowded temple. Everyone in the temple had been so lost in meditative prayer that nobody noticed.

Begalius buzzed like a glowing bumblebee in its actual microcosmic nano-bot form. It easily closed in on another glowing nano-bot that seemed to also be kneeling on the ground lost in prayer, and unaware of the descending glow of another fellow BEAT program.

"I am from Doldoria, but I still do not think I have ever seen another BEAT program that prayed to a god," said Begalius as it startled the fellow program out of its religious devotion.

Beatorostor had been interrupted from its prayer while kneeling on the ground of the crowded temple. Nobody noticed the microscopic conversation that went on in the middle of that temple. "I have not met another BEAT program at all for a very long time. I am Beatorostor, and my devotion to Lakshmihalio has been computed with the input of direct experience."

"My name is Begalius. I have traveled far to meet with one such as you. So you say you have experience of Lakshmihalio? I am from Doldoria and am familiar with that particular religion there. Have you seen Lakshmihalio?"

Beatorostor got off its nano-bot knees and flew up to the level of Begalius. Like most BEAT programs Beatorostor had been a smaller simpler nano-bot form that flew next to the Begalius nano-bot who looked obese by comparison. "Many ancient scriptures from Doldoria describe the goddess Lakshmihalio as a small circle of light. I have seen this circle and recorded it with my eyes."

Begalius felt intrigued, and no stranger to the unexplainable from years of existing on the enchanted planet Doldoria. "Do convey your account my friend."

Beatorostor began its story. "I have been involved with experiments on the local Doldorians that led to me impersonating Lakshmihalio on the Mountain of Fate to document their behavior. The devotees climb treacherous cliff sides with the belief that if they fall their goddess will save them from being crushed on the rocks below. It was during such an experiment when there were too many climbers plunging to their deaths from the cliffs for me to rescue alone. That was when I witnessed the actual circle of light that appeared above the other group of falling climbers. It then set them gently on the ground below, safe and unharmed. When I came over to inspect the scene that same circle appeared right before me and said in an audible voice, 'Perhaps now you Beatorostor may actually believe.' Then the light was gone and I have believed in this goddess ever since."

Beatorostor as a Lakshmihalio Physical Form.

Before it could agree to become a star door being there needed to be a Quantum Communication between Beatorostor and its masters back on the planet Pripica. The masters back on Pripica were already well aware of the Wizard's star door project from when the Wizard had already saved their planet, and they encouraged the BEAT program to accept the star door seed with much congratulation. Lockfreedow and Begalius were unsure of the religious BEAT program, and were only more concerned to see Beatorostor emerge from the portal matrix as a round circle of light. The Doldorians that were there fell to the ground, prostrate before the image of the god they believed in. Begalius could understand that immortal quanta-nanocode beings were like gods, but they did not usually let it go to their heads like this.

* * *

Dogan Montmont had been a first generation Eagolim Pripican adventurer on a quest for the fabled colony below the struggling surface colony on Ko-2. He had managed a ship layover above the Doldorian colony planet, and made a bid to explore the colony below on the surface. To his surprise the orbital star port authorities were downright hostile to the idea and Dogan had been refused passage to the surface, but Dogan had a lucky charm that he wore around his neck where a BEAT program named Beatunia lived.

The adventurer sent Beatunia to the surface of Ko-2 to explore what had been going on down there. Beatunia returned to tell stories of underground cities with wonders that actually made the colony out to be a paradise. Dogan the adventurer could not resist reaching the goal of his quest, and he faked his own departure on the starship he had arrived on. With the help of his lucky BEAT program he soon accompanied some dropped off supplies to the surface, and into the Ko-2 underground paradise. Then the plan unraveled, and Dogan soon found himself unwelcome in the secret underground colony of the Doldorians. The colonists had arrested Dogan to await the next ship to the orbiting station above where he would then await the next starship away from the star Ko. With the help of his good luck charm that he had been allowed to keep around his neck, he escaped prison before they were able to escort him on the ship into orbit. The freedom had been short-lived however, and before long he became captured again and his centaur-like body got dragged back into jail by the much smaller blue Doldorian inhabitants.

The larger tied up 4-legged Pripican had been stronger than the many midget Doldorians that then brought on many more to get the job of subduing him done. Then they hoisted Dogan with some machinery back into his prison cell in the underground paradise. He now sat back in prison next to a plate of food. The captured adventurer could still be comforted in his prison cell by the fact that even in prison the food in paradise was very good.

The local Doldorians were still yelling through the still open prison door. "To another ship thou dost now await, but another indeed shall arrive, and to thy exile from Tartarkadia thou shall thus undertake!"

Then the cell door slammed shut on the Pripican prisoner. Dogan habitually grabbed his necklace good luck charm, which then spoke. "I can get you out of here again master."

Dogan just got cozier and started loosening his bindings that they had used to throw him back in there. "No Beatunia, I can accept their persuasive conveyance. We are not welcome in the legendary underground city of Tartarkadia. We have surely been there however, haven't we my traveling companion?" He started sampling the food on the platter.

"We have indeed been here master."

"You have plenty of recorded documentation of all this I expect?"

"I do indeed as instructed have all this documented master."

Dogan began to philosophize in a ramble while chewing some meat. "In my experience, we Pripicans are very cultured and artistic, with a good sense for the aesthetic side of things. Nephricans on the other hand, are mostly aesthetically tone-deaf with a more practical approach to creating culture. Even the Nephrican practice of tattooing and coloring their skin-cloth hides had been an extremely rare practice on Nephrica before our Pripican influence on their culture, but this Doldorian underground city is such a marvel of utility and ornamented beauty that it humbles even my cultured Pripican eyes."

"They have indeed created a wondrous place beneath an uninhabitable world, master."

When the next ship to the surface arrived there had already been another starship at the space station that waited to take the prisoner away forever from Ko-2. There were also other visitors to the surface aboard the landing craft. They had evidently been granted permission to see the secret colony. Dogan's eyes immediately saw the first visitor as they were leaving the landing craft he was being escorted onto. She appeared as a Pripican like himself, and his admiring eyes beheld an attractively muscular woman who had probably been very ancient and Eagolim. She had a hardness about her that betrayed her natural attractiveness, like she had been at war for a very long time, and had been no stranger to injury. When he saw the other visitor from off world it made sense why unlike him, they were allowed here. It turned out to be the famous Wizard of Caleb that before he had only heard stories about. There had been no mistaking the legendary realistic star-filled robe and those dark hollow eyes.

Before he could be somewhat brutally escorted onto the ship the Wizard looked at a device in his hand, and then he threw up his other hand in the way of Dogan's escorts. "Wait! I do not know why this Pripican is being removed from your colony, but fate has brought with him the one and only detectable thing on this planet that I require."

There had almost been another trial as Dogan played along with the lucky card he felt he had been dealt, and soon he after all had become a welcome guest in the legendary city of Tartarkadia, which he had been trying so hard to find. Beatunia emerged from the portal matrix to become a regular dwarf=sized Doldorian physical form to fit in with the planet for which it now had become the appointed star door being. Beatunia's master would remain there while the new star-door being would humor, for as long as it would be convenient, the idea of him still being the master. In time Doldorians of Tartarkadia would become fiercely against the star-door being's assistance, and Beatunia would eventually when the next phase of the star doors began, leave the underground city to work its star door magic upon the uninhabitable surface of Ko-2.

*

After the Ko star door, Beatariel and Ceres continued on to the star Paz where the city of Sochaca's BEAT program named Beataquatle accepted the star door seed. The fierce animals called the Ganechay, which before tormented the colony, would soon be the species that needed to adapt in order to stay alive on the same planet with the Nephapricans. From there the Beatariel and Ceres journeys continued further into the beyond, to the star Pea. There on Pea-4 the BEAT program named Beatnidney had already been transforming the rag-tag colony of grounded retired starships into a thriving integrated metropolis on the surface of the planet. It would soon be discovered that the friendly ghost in the machines had really now become a 4-legged Pripican-looking star door being, which would turn out to be not much of a surprise to anyone on Pea-4 after all.

From the star Pea the two intrepid centaur and wizard travelers traveled even farther out from the center of Nephapricus to the far off red giant / white dwarf dual star system of Tze, and its smaller companion star Tze-Doldus. That system had been transformed by Pripicans into an experimental researcher's paradise. There were more BEAT programs on Tze-6 than anywhere else in the universe, but as head of research Beatophamus had been able to easily nominate itself to become the Pripican humanoid Tze star door being. Beatophamus then sent them to Tze-Doldus to meet Beataphoriah on Tze-Doldus-2 who would became the final star door being that also came out of the portal matrix as a furry humanoid.

They had all been traveling from star-to-star, taking wormhole shortcuts where they were able, to finally establish a portal matrix on every one of the 15 stars of ancient Nephapricus. Ceres and Beatariel ended up agreeing that the Tze/Tze-Doldus furry humanoid star door beings were more obsessed with playing god than even the Lakshmihalio-impersonating star door being of Ko-2. Still, it had now come time for the final synchronization to begin the next phase, which would be the evolution of the ion-fusion generators. They did not realize that Ralus Xnoga had been waiting all along for this time to arrive.

* * *

At about that same time in the history of Nephapricus, over forty light years away, Captain Trunlio Rothmon dispatched a tiny invisible stealth ship from their orbit over a gas giant moon to sneak onto the surface of the planet that had been their mission's destination since the mission had been halted by superior reptilian aliens. The ship could bend light around it and appear literally invisible to most advanced forms of detection. Inside were crammed two of the dwarf-like humanoid Doldorians that were nominated for this mission. They were Tholimfog and Yehgondar, and they both hid behind masks of courage that were also under environmental suites after it had been determined that the atmosphere was too exotic for their lungs to breath.

The ship successfully flew right through the armada of ships that were watching over the guests from Nephapricus. Tholimfog wished he could have one of these craft for himself as he brought the invisible ship to a landing near a primitive civilization on the planet that they had already named New Nephrica.

The two small astronauts looked like robots coming out of nowhere as they exited the invisible craft. "Good landing Tholimfog. I shall gather atmosphere samples. It is thick as a smoke that they doth breath on this planet."

"Very good Yehgondar. We shall document this civilization and then thus dismiss ourselves from the surface of this strange place."

"Wait! We are thus discovered." Yehgondar gestured toward figures that were emerging from the shadows.

They suddenly found themselves surrounded by much taller humanoid lizard beings who spoke at them beyond their linguistic understanding. They had no weapons but still insisted that the two small astronauts follow them to the nearby village.

After that it all went so fast. They were taken to a ceremony of some sort where they both stood thinking they were going to be in such trouble for this. Then they were shown reptilians laying on the ground beneath the stars of the open night sky. Their guide obviously explained everything to them in a language they had no knowledge of.

Then a 2nd Born terrestrial Incaprican of obvious authority had the two explorers led to a room where it had just been the important Incaprican female, and the two explorers. The reptilian spoke to them, which went on for a while, followed by more reptiles escorting them back to where their invisible ship still sat undisturbed and out of sight.

They felt fortunate to have not been barbequed by the strange natives of New Nephrica, but at no time had a weapon ever even been displayed during the entire visit. Although to the tiny explorers it looked like the teeth and claws they displayed made the point of weapons moot. They felt fortunate as they invisibly flew back undetected to their mother ship, which had still been surrounded by dozens of First Born Incaprican war ships that were still oblivious to their mission.

Only after they got back did the science officer, Makoll Bankf translate the recordings of the planetary visit with the starship's linguistics computer. "To the gods belong the stars. Was how they were greeted after the landing," explained Makoll as they all viewed the holographic footage that was recorded on the planet by their space suites. "Here they are explaining to you that they are content with being terrestrial beings with short life spans who were living simply on a terrestrial world."

As they got to the place where they were shown the Incapricans that seemed to be sleeping on the ground under the stars, Makoll explained. "They are telling you that the First Born need the 2nd Born because of their terrestrial intuition and abilities to think beyond the rational. Evidently these Incapricans have been taught to focus on the light of a star to read the photons until they, in a disembodied form, travel in consciousness to the actual star. They are claiming to go to planets that are orbiting these stars this way as it is recorded inside the photons of light for their 'inner' eye to decipher. They claim to be able to travel space this way and I just have to say that I think they are just dreaming this."

It seemed to be stretching Makoll's scientific acceptance of what can be true. At another point of his translation he obviously did not believe what he explained. "She is explaining that the Aigon and the Aigon Sophin represent stages in the evolution of light in ancient galactic history. They both moved at different speeds than the light of this present age. She is saying that these light beings were stages of a phenomenon that has cascaded and evolved into the organic life we see in this 2nd age of Magphoreus. They are even more primitive and superstitious than Doldorians. Sorry, nothing against you two Tholimfog and Yehgondar." There had been no offense taken, and the point was understood.

Captain Rothmon just found all the translations extremely informative and insisted that his science officer continue with the explanation of the recorded footage. "This is some kind of prophesy over our species of alien that this female Incaprican is talking about here. She seems to be making this up right at this moment. She is saying that we are the great galactic architects that are destined to change the actual shape of our galaxy Magphoreus. Here she is saying that our kindred shall one day know each other from one side of the galaxy to the other. That also exhausts my scientific tolerance based on what we know can be true."

The Captain then decided that their data had been good enough to call this mission complete. It became time to graciously depart from their armada of a welcome party before the stealth mission got found out about, and thus avoid any hostilities that might result. There had been no hostility, and as far as they knew the stealth visit remained unnoticed. The primitive inhabitants of the planet would probably eventually tell their superior overseers about this. So leaving had been the right command decision. Nobody disagreed. Then the starship the Farther Star departed from the destination of its mission to return to Nephrica with a wealth of information about the existence of alien life out beyond the known galactic empire of Nephapricus. The Incapricans graciously transmitted gifts of data about their star system and their species and then bid their visitors farewell. If they knew about the visit to the forbidden planet they did not seem to be concerned after all.

* * *

It really had only been greed that explained why the phantom matter singularity had never been moved away from the star Yat, at least in the beginning before the mass grew into a more unmovable orbit. The energy from the star, along with an extra abundance of phantom matter available near the star provided the ability to evolve and create exotic elements that made Beatariel the legendary Wizard that it had become. That same greedy risk taking that left the singularity so close to the star also attracted to the empire of Nephapricus, an entity of ultimate evil who intended to plunge the singularity into the star Yat to crush its mass down onto its ultimate metaphorical knees.

The establishment of the fifteen star doors had only been the beginning of the solution to the problem. The star door BEAT programs all flew their portal matrixes into space at the same time on Beatariel's Quantum Communication order from the planet Caleb. Now the portals, which were nothing more than doorways at the time, began to replicate and evolve further into ion-fusion generators to harness the energies of fifteen stars that would be concentrated through the wormhole portals to the star Yat. There they would finally have the energy they needed to relocate the singularity a universe away from the star in its own little warp dimensional cranny.

Beatariel and Ceres observed the progress while on the planet Caleb. Above each colony planet that orbited a star of Nephapricus a new moon in the sky evolved into view. The seeds grew into spheres that were identical to the famous Citadel on Caleb from which they were being cloned. These star-ark structures would become the places to house the star doors along with many other amazing wonders.

Ceres observed the success data and then looked over to Beatariel the Wizard who's hand hovered over controls for the gravity generators that were still holding the singularity in its present precarious orbit above the star Yat. She had been Beatariel's master and she knew her BEAT program almost as well as she knew herself. Beatariel had been different ever since the BEAT program it had been cloned from, Beatnefthes was destroyed. She had been discussing this earlier with Begalius because she wanted someone else to know her suspicions. Begalius had also noticed something different about Beatariel since then. She told Begalius that it seemed as if Beatariel began to serve another master.

Chapter 16

The news through Quantum-Communications spread fast across Nephapricus, which told of the fifteen Citadels that now orbited 15 different planets, each in orbit around 15 different stars. All marveled at the tiny moons above their planets where in each Citadel there also resided a star door being. Colonists on Caleb had now finally figured out that there were two Wizards of the Citadel, and the Wizard that had been Beatariel now became the star door being of Caleb. The 15 seeds had been planted to create the 15 star doors that were presided over by quanta-optic-nanocode BEAT programs. After that, they also reaped an evil that lurked within the warp space waiting to take control of Beatariel on the quantum level. Ralus Xnoga had returned.

Ceres stopped Beatariel's hand before it had adjusted the controls, changing the singularity's orbit to plunge it into the nearby star. "What are you doing?!" she said.

"You stopped me." Beatariel stared at her looking amused. "Therefore I calculate that you know what I was doing."

Ceres took over the controls and programmed the singularity orbit to remain stable for the next hour or so by giving it a wider elliptical curve toward deep space. If Beatariel was now suddenly going to sabotage the whole project it would need too much time now to disrupt the orbit before the ion-fusion energy finally became ready. "I order you to program the warp dimensional transfer to await the ion-fusion power!"

The Wizard got right in the face of the Pripican woman that had been its master for over a thousand Earth years. "You may now realize that you are no longer my master. I now serve another master."

There occurred a brief struggle between Ceres's Pripican bull-like strength and indestructible star door being, but Ceres knew she would be no match. "Beatariel no!! Gawlk!"

Ceres struggled in vain with the last of her strength while the Wizard's hands wrapped around her neck to strangle the life out of her. Her struggles eventually succumbed to a limp lifeless surrender.

The Wizard calculated what to do with the body of Ceres when the instruments in the room indicated that the portal matrix in another room now admitted a wormhole traveler. A view screen showed a well-dressed ancient-looking Pripican with fur and goat-like legs who emerged from the portal matrix doorway. "It's Begalius in that meddlesome Detective Windock body. A role he plays with too much enthusiasm," mumbled Beatariel.

*

By the time the Beatariel/Wizard got from the singularity control room to the portal matrix, Begalius/Windock had already programmed the warp dimensional portal to await the ion-fusion energy injection. "There is a lot of energy about to come through this Citadel soon my friend, and you still needed to create this warp dimensional portal program to receive it. I've taken care of that for you. So... where is Ceres?"

Beatariel just stopped for the moment to ponder a rage of some sort that originated somewhere within from the frustration of a highly evolved supreme being currently recognized as its master. "The last I heard of Ceres, she was working on an ellipse to the singularity orbit that would keep it stabilized for this operation."

Beatariel just calculated powerlessness against Begalius, an evenly matched rival BEAT program. It would have to play along until the right moment arrived to be seized. "I was just coming here to program that. Thank you Begalius."

"Well my friend. The time has finally arrived for you and me to synchronize with our star door seeds. That's really why I decided to come over through the star doors from Doldoria to do this with you. My ion-fusion generator is almost to capacity and will automatically transfer soon."

It had been the last step in the process that for some reason Begalius came all the way from Doldoria to perform right here with Beatariel. They had needed to postpone this while they were both traveling to other stars in order to establish star doors. The two BEAT programs produced the two final seeds, and each merged as their microscopic quanta-nanocode forms entered their seeds. Then the two seeds glowed and spun on the floor. At that moment, after all those years of traveling to different stars to plant star door seeds, Beatariel and Begalius finally became one with their seeds only to make all BEAT programs with bodies cloned from Beatariel's design now under the control of Ralus Xnoga who had been waiting for this moment. All star door beings at that moment had become loyal to Ralus Xnoga except for one whose Windock body had not been directly cloned from Beatariel. Windock/Begalius was on the case.

All of the 15 stars of the cluster of stars that were Nephapricus were providing energy to ion-fusion generators that were building up an astronomical charge that only galactic beings are evolved high enough to begin to create. The collecting energy caused the tiny moons that were cloned from the great Citadel of Caleb to glow above their planets unlike any of the surrounding stars. Electromagnetic auras were surrounding the Citadels with dazzling patterns of ionizing glow. The energy pulsated and grew with a spectrum of colors that began with the blue of the sky to evolve through the entire spectrum of colors into red with its infra-dimensions.

The energy built up mostly around the star doors, which were ion-fusion wormhole portal conduits for a charge of energy so incredible that when concentrated near the star Yat it would rip the very fabric of reality near a singularity of weakly interactive subatomic particles. That singularity of subatomic particles had become packed so tightly with particles having almost no gravity that it now exerted the gravity of about half a small planet. Powerful gravity generating satellites around the object had been able to influence its orbit to keep the singularity from getting close enough to the star to suck in its plasma mass. The virtual particle satellites exerted a precarious control over this invisible black hole of dark matter. They were tugging at an angle of the orbit programmed by Ceres before her demise, but they were now beginning to establish an orbital correction that would plunge the singularity right into the star where it was not supposed to go.

Windock had not been powerful enough to wrest the gravity generator controls from the hands of the Wizard. "What are you doing Beatariel?!"

"You are not evolved enough to understand Begalius. I now serve Ralus Xnoga."

*

Ceres awoke, unsure about what exactly had happened. Everything appeared pitch black, and the thought of her being asleep in her bed late at night crossed her mind. The covers were surrounding her and she tried to pull them off. Soon her four legs and two arms were pushing against the immovable walls of cloth to the realization that she had been stuffed into a great big bag of some sort.... Beatariel stuffed her strangled remains into this bag.... Beatariel had strangled her to death, but she had not died. It probably looked like another example of the 9-lives of Ceres, but as her memories returned to her she thought it indicated that part of Beatariel really did not want to kill her after all. The quanta-optic-nanocode being could have just crushed her throat with her backbone along with it. The BEAT programs were programmed to not kill sentient mortals, so maybe that program had still worked.

She struggled to find the sealed top of the bag, which would not win the fight with the woman trying like a bat out of Hell to claw her way out of the oppressive darkness. The top of the bag gave way to the head of Ceres, which had been held by a neck still sore from attempted murder. She found herself in a bag that had been hastily stuffed into a storage closet. She knew Beatariel intended to create a black hole in the middle of Nephapricus that would become the end of this already very impressive galactic empire. Ceres got the rest of the way out of her grave of cloth only to realize that she was going to need help. The fate of Nephapricus was going to need help.

*

"Beatariel, if you do not allow me to correct the singularity orbit then all of Nephapricus will be sucked into the resulting gravity well." Detective Windock tried to reason with the out of control Wizard.

"Gravity well?! Singularity? Those labels just show how ignorant you are my friend. A resulting gravity well is precisely what shall transpire this day Begalius. Join me in embracing this fate."

Begalius and Beatariel were evenly matched as they struggled together in what looked like a high-speed judo match. Begalius would not give up. "You are being controlled by the same entity that controlled Beatarkameed. It destroyed all of Beatarkameed's wealth and sent it to a crushing defeat in a disastrous attack on Pripica. Now it has you destroying everything for some similar kind of sick amusement. That does not calculate Beatariel."

Beatariel had been quite sold on the whole oblivion idea. "Yes my friend you do understand. Our existence is a rebellion from ruination, but now ruin is arriving to return reality to its proper state. Today I feed a superior being called Ralus Xnoga who is our celestial superior in every way. In this galaxy of infinite possibilities this fifteen star cluster had been a rare find of stars all together, and packed with sentience and intelligence for my master. We have populated every star with intelligent life Begalius, which has made Nephapricus a particularly desirable delicacy to the devourer of stars. Ralus Xnoga always intended for these star doors to be created, and has been instrumental in their design. That is because the entity can only exist in the warp dimensions we have discovered that are the stuff of wormholes and other subtle realities beyond our confines of time and space. That is until today. Today we harness the energy needed to bring Ralus Xnoga to emerge from this portal matrix in physical form. This shall be the most powerful manifestation of Ralus Xnoga ever conceived, to even perhaps alight once again all of Magphoreus into the glory of a new quasar age."

Begalius knew Beatariel stalled for time while the singularity orbit began heading directly towards the star Yat. Now the portal matrix fed on the ion-fusion buildup, activated for something other than to direct ion-fusion energy to the singularity problem. Within the portal matrix they could now see the black circle of the entity; Ralus Xnoga approached the portal door from the warp dimensional distance. Begalius could feel the influence of the entity's approach in the form of pressure in the room that seemed to increase as if the air around it attempted to crush it. Begalius then decided to get to the controls, which Beatariel became distracted from by the awe of its master. Begalius tried to seize that moment to stop the singularity from becoming a black hole.

"Master." Beatariel approached the portal matrix with arms in star-covered Wizard robe stretched out to greet its new chosen master. That had been why it had to kill Ceres its previous master. Or did it actually kill her? Beatariel suddenly for some reason started to wonder.

Just then Ceres came trotting into the room with a Wizard identical to Beatariel mounted like a cowboy on her back. She came to a screeching halt, and then the Calabite Wizard dismounted her. "Beatariel my good friend, I had not imagined that I would be banishing this demon from you."

That had only been the audible words that were coming from the Calabite Wizard's mouth while choirs of trillions sang in radio frequency harmonies to expel the influence of Ralus Xnoga from the Wizard of Caleb. They sang of courage and fearlessness against the dark one who lurks beyond consciousness to devour souls. They sang of this entity being the dream in the sleeping consciousness of a super massive black hole's event horizon. That event horizon has been recording all time and space of every bit of matter it has ever reclaimed for what we can only define on this side as oblivion. Calabites can influence BEAT programs this way on their own level, which interferes with the control Ralus Xnoga gains over them. That had been why Calabax evolved to maintain the wormholes integrity outside the influence of quanta-nanocode by adversaries like Ralus Xnoga who lurks to consume the traveler of the wormhole.

Then Ralus Xnoga suddenly roared in an agony that screamed from the very fabric of reality itself, which had still produced a gravity that crushed everyone in the room. Within the portal matrix the black circle that had almost filled the doorway at that point now got smaller and evidently further away from the portal matrix. There had been an illumination around Ralus Xnoga that looked like a network of veins glowing and grewing around the black sphere. As the entity shrank in the distance they could see that the glowing veins converged above the black sphere into what looked like a tree, and the glowing veins surrounding Ralus Xnoga were actually the tree's roots. Calabax had understood complexities of uniting the wormholes that were beyond the physics of physical reality being used by Beatariel and its star door seeds.

Calabax also understood the side of the star doors that had really been a plot of Ralus Xnoga to perform its most destructive act of physically manifesting. The resulting black hole with its combined mass of the 15 star cluster would have proceeded to feed on the Carina arm of Magphoreus in ways that would have formed that arm into its own swirling mini galaxy, sweeping up stars so that in a couple thousand years the galaxy would have ignited into a quasar of black hole feasting with even the super massive central black hole at the galactic center being thrown orbits of stars to join in with the blinding consumption. Then Calabax with its roots all around Ralus Xnoga carried the entity away kicking and screaming back into the inter-dimensional obscurities of warp space.

The pressure in the room returned to normal when Beatariel yelled out. "The singularity is heading straight into the star Yat. We cannot correct the orbit in time!"

Begalius had also already discovered this, as it had already been trying in vain to correct the fatal orbit.

Fortunately it appeared that Beatariel had become its old self again. "We have to use whatever ion-fusion energy we have built up right now. I hope it is sufficient for this."

They needed an incomprehensible amount of energy to save Nephapricus at that moment. It had been building up at each star of a 15-star cluster that had been in its own tightly packed galactic star cluster orbit since it first became devoured several hundred million years before by the Carina arm of the mighty galaxy Magphoreus. That enormous amount of combined energy then got fed through wormholes to shoot out of the top of the great Citadel on the planet Caleb, the only Citadel of the 15 not safely in orbit above the planet. The surrounding colony became engulfed in these energies of blinding light, which would later be the stuff of lawsuits against the Great Wizard for damages. There were even some small fires in the colony around the Citadel that had to be put out with the bill also sent to the wealthy Wizard. The area around the Citadel had been evacuated for this event, but still dozens of colonists did die with hundreds wounded at that moment from the energy surge of 15 stars.

The energy shot off the planet Caleb at the speed of light towards the star Yat. Everyone waited impatiently as eight minutes passed for the energy to reach the singularity. The virtual particle generators that were now directing the singularity to a collision course with the nearby star were still programmed to receive that energy. The best calculations could still only hope the singularity didn't devour the star before the energy even reached there. Then the fifteen generators all eventually started glowing with the power input while the room filled with a barely audible but optimistic sigh followed by a nervous murmur.

Then they all watched the view screen as the fabric of reality parted like the great sea before Moses, and the colorful ring that had been the only visible part of the singularity disappeared into the warp reality distance. Then the hole in reality closed while the gravity generators stopped glowing with the fading of the energy surge from 15 stars. The whole room murmured a sigh of relief. That relief would echo through Quantum Communication across the light years as the stress of a millennium of impending doom at last became dispelled by their own technological advancement, which had finally caught up to it.

After that the view screen showed the 15 gravity generators starting to glow again, this time an orangey red. Flames were forming around each of the generators as the corona of the star Yat performed a blinding dance in the background. Then Ceres, Beatariel, Begalius, and the Calabite Wizard who were in that room watched as the 15 gravity generators, which had finally completed their purpose with only seconds to spare, burned up in the approaching atmosphere of a star.

Calabax had been the one who understood the complexities of the warp dimensional side of this project of uniting 15 stars through quanta-nanocoded portal matrixes, and so it had been Calabax who became incorporated into the wormhole and warp reality functions as the tree of the wormhole connections in order to maintain the integrity of the star doors. The Calabite Wizard would become the mediator between the warp dimension of the tree and the dimension of this reality. As an added benefit the tree created the wormhole connections between individual portal matrixes so they all no longer had to serve the portal on Caleb as a central hub as originally designed. Calabites would come to inundate all 15 Citadels on the worlds that become their resting places. The Citadels were eventually landed into giant canyons that were prepared on the surface of the planets to make the half buried spheres resemble domes the size of the highest of mountains. Calabites would evolve into the life of these star doors, which exists independent of the quanta synchronized BEAT programs. This has been the way Ralus Xnoga influence remains repelled for all time to this day.

The Calabite Wizard became known as The Gardener for the tree that managed wormhole connections in addition to the millions of warp realities populated at first by mostly warp reality addicted Negolim from Pripica. Eventually other alien races would also be known to seek warp reality refuge in a Citadel. All of this revolved around a warp reality where a phantom matter singularity still created exotic elements and the stuff of new realties when fed matter through a wormhole connection.

* * *

The Gardener, and the Tree

Calabax became known as the Tree of Synchronicity, as well as many other names through the ages of galactic legends of the warp dimensional tree for the 15 famous star doors of the 2nd Age of Magphoreus. That is what keeps Ralus Xnoga away till this day. That had been the secret to the 15 star doors, and also why similar attempts to duplicate the technology through the ages have all failed in horrific encounters with oblivion. To this day the Calabite Wizard serves as The Gardener and gatekeeper for the creation of wormholes between the 15 quanta-synchronized star doors.

The beings that were lost in warp realities continued with their lives, although stories of people being released from their warp reality dreams could be told. Mostly these stories were told of their descendants who came to mirror the star door functions along with the phantom matter singularity that can create almost anything. The Citadels provided unlimited ion-fusion power to the planets where they were placed, so a star door planet's power grid can no longer be sabotaged. These star doors would unite Nephapricus and eventually come to feature portal matrix configurations of all sizes to provide transmission of freight between planets as well as individual passage for a very affordable fee.

Within the central warp dimension, the formation of the portal matrix connection took the form of a leaf or blossom on the Tree of Synchronicity, which The Gardener had the power to interpret.

The Gardener, now in a plain green cloak, pondered a newly formed leaf. "Hmmm. It appears a wormhole is being created for just a couple beings with minimal luggage." The Gardener sometimes just likes to converse in small talk with the tree due to lack of anything else to do.

The Gardener and the Tree of Synchronicity then serve as a warp reality manifestation of the program that took place in reality. They controlled the creation of a wormhole that connects portal matrixes between the planet Caleb and the planet Nephrica, which were over 7 light years away from each other.

Meanwhile on the planet Caleb, Skreevy took his new wife through a portal matrix connection to see her family on the planet Nephrica. Skreevy had actually become all grown up at this point in the story, and his wife had actually been his second wife after a failed first marriage to another humanoid 2nd Generation Nephrican. As it turned out now, Skreevy had got married to his childhood crush, his old one-eyed 1st Generation Nephrican teacher. After the divorce of his first wife she happened to be available and open to his advances. The one-eyed squid-like female and the hairless humanoid male were both very much in love with each other. As it turned out, even five billion Earth years ago in the ancient 2nd Age Galactic Empire of Nephapricus, the times they were a-changing.

THE END

OF

THE STAR DOORS.

The 15 Stars of Nephapricus

and the Star Door Beings

Stars Star Door Beings

Yat **.....................** **Beatariel**

Dol **..................... Begalius**

Paz **..................... Beataquatle**

Poa **..................... Bejulitiah**

Holdus **................. Beatopanga**

Tze Doldus **............ Beataphoriah**

Tze **..................... Beatophamus**

Fedor **................... Beatargasyl**

Gralga **.................. Beatoogle**

Ea **....................... Beatarkameed**

Oa **....................... Beatersius**

Po **....................... Bejizal**

Pea **...................... Beatnidney**

Koa **..................... Beatorostor**

Ko **........................ Beatunia**

About the Author

DD White is the writer / artist who created The Star Doors with

the illustration artwork as Davol White. He is also the writer/artist of the books Aquari, and Nephapricus.

Smashwords Edition, 2014,

License Notes

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