A Dream From The Past
The End of the Beginning

When Josh regained consciousness he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place; there were no walls, floors, or even a ceiling. There was just nothing. It was as if he was floating in a brightly lit fog, even still it seemed his feet found something to stand on. Were those really his feet, was this really his body? He thought, but he couldn’t tell. It didn’t seem that way but—was he dead? But before he had time to ponder that question, a bright figure started to shimmer into view.

“Josh is that you?” said a familiar voice.

“Michael? … Michael Martin what are you doing here, and …and where is here? What is this place?” Josh questioned.

Michael smiled and was quick to answer, “It seems you got my message. This place exists outside of time and space. It is the realm in which our essence exists.”

Josh was puzzled, “but … but to get here, don’t we have to be…”

“…dead?” Michael finished, “Not really, we come here every time we jump from pod to pod.”

“Time jump?” Josh inquired.

“Any jump, and I got stuck here my last jump,” Michael replied

“But you came back on your last jump, and that’s when you had effected the timeline, and were found to be certifiably insane,” Josh stated.

Michael looked incensed. “I’m not insane, I have evolved. I have taken the next step for humankind, and helped others do the same.” Michael proclaimed.

Josh began to realize that he had found the answer he was looking for, “Then you are the one responsible for all the missing people? Wait! The message—the dream—that was you.”

Michael answered, “Yes that was me. When I first found myself stuck here, I tried to reach out to you in the hope that you would figure out I was here and come back to ‘rescue’ me. However, over time I began to realize that this place is where I belonged, that this is the place we all belong. This is the next step. Those people, they are not missing, they have evolved. I have helped them evolve.”

“Wha… How did you do that?’ Josh asked, a little nervous now.

Michael went on to explain, “At first, I would capture them as they went through a teleport pod nearby. After a while I discovered how I could use the pods to bring everyone near them, here. Soon I will be able to link the telepods and bring everyone here.”

“Where are they?” Josh asked looking around.

Michael made a sweeping motion all around him, “They’re out there.”

Trepidation began to flow over Josh like a frosty arctic breeze, but still he forced himself to remain calm and curious enough to continue, and for reasons he was not sure of, he felt he had to keep Michael talking, “Why are you doing this?”

Michael was eager to answer, “Humans as they exist in this solar system are a parasite; they destroy and plunder without a care as to how they affect their surroundings. They still kill each other even after millions of years of evolution. Millions of lives have been lost through vicious power hungry humans like Hitler, Stalin, even a president of your own country used nuclear weapons of mass destruction to suppress a nation. For thousands of years human have grown more technologically savvy, but we still have poverty, we still have wars, and there is still pain and suffering. Careless treatment of the planets has cost even more lives from pollution, and neglect of the environment, and yet humans still seek personal gain, at the expense of the environment. I’m simply taking humans to the next level and removing all the pain, and preventing the further destruction of our solar system.”

Josh could understand where Michael was coming from, but felt compelled to defend humankind, for he was one of them after all, “The human race is still growing, and learning from its mistakes. Maybe not everyone, not all at once, but we are still getting there. You have to admit we have come a long way, but I’m not sure we’re ready for this.”

Michael stared scathingly at Josh, his eyes like daggers burrowing into Josh’s sole, but then instantly softened his expression and added, “You can’t stop it; you are already a part of it. You have always been a part of this.”

Again, Josh was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Michael smiled and answered, “I am here, because of you.”

“I thought I was here because of you; you brought me back from the past before I died from injuries caused by the plane crash.” Josh exclaimed, but even as he said the words there was something about this story that didn’t click.

Michael glared at Josh with a sideways glance, shook his head, and started to explain, “No, I didn’t. You weren’t supposed to be on that plane; I was. You weren’t supposed to die from those injuries; I was. You were the Stepper and I was the host that you spoke to and invited back. But I never made it there, not entirely. Part of me ended up stuck here, while the other part, that part came back with you. That part of me kept trying to come back—with every time step—to retrieve me.”

“I shouldn’t have brought you back; I shouldn’t have spoken to you. It destroyed you, it turned you into a multiple personality—made you insane,” Josh muttered absentmindedly.

Michael smiled again and continued, “We were friends; you couldn’t just let me die; besides, you did me a favor. Anyway, finally we figured out a way. If we put you on that plane, instead of me, I would be the one coming back for you. This would allow me to become whole again. It worked, we became one again, but then something happened on the return—I got stuck here. Over time; though, I discovered that I had a new source of strength, I had new insights into the past, the present, and the future. I could affect things in all times and space; I had evolved to a new species, so I decided to remain here and allowed that other part of me to stay out there to stay in contact with you and keep my body alive just in case I needed it someday. Then I began my quest, and now that you’re here with me, together we can bring the entire human race here and…”

Josh interrupted, “…but my body is still back at the time port; I can return. You too can return with me, Michael. You can meet Albert Einstein and all the wonderful people that we have brought back from the past since your departure. There are so many wonderful people, you should come back and meet them, and see who they really are inside. You would like t....”

Michael stopped him and proclaimed, “You don’t understand, they are still wonderful people—here. They just can no longer kill each other here, and there is no need for power, wealth, or personal gain. They exist here in peace and harmony; there is no struggle or pain here.”

Josh interjected, “Without struggle or pain, there is no growth. I will grant you that peace and harmony is a wonderful cause to strive for, but then how would anyone be allowed to evolve beyond this existence, without a reason to grow. Why would anyone choose to gain knowledge if there was no personal gain from it? Why is it so bad to seek power or wealth, when many simply seek the power and wealth to have control over their own destiny, and nothing more? All this leads back to growth. Why should you take that away from humanity?”

“But this is growth! Don’t you see? Everyone can evolve to this existence,” Michael stated.

“Then why not let us grow to this, through the natural course of evolution?” Josh pleaded.

Michael was growing frustrated, “Because too many will die, not everyone will make it here.”

“Shouldn’t that be their choice?” Josh finally asked, hoping that Michael would concede.

This just infuriated Michael. His eyes narrowed and his posture stiffened, “Enough! Leave here; go back to your time!”

Michael pointed in the direction of what could have been a time pod. It had just suddenly appeared from nowhere, but there was more than one—there were three. They must be from the Time Port, was this how Michael could exist here? Josh suddenly realized what he had to do; he had to shut down the power to the time pods.

Josh looked back to Michael and said, “I cannot let you continue,” and then he ran for the pods.

Michael realized what Josh meant and was not going to let him, “Oh no you don’t!”

Michael stuck out his hand and blue lightning bolts shot out of it. They struck Josh down, and sapped his energy from him. He didn’t seem to have the power to get back up. He began to panic; how could he fight a force such as this? He had no body, and he existed in a realm that was totally different from anywhere he had ever experienced. He had no weapons or defenses of any kind, even a sword and shield would be something.

Instantly with that thought Josh had a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left hand and as he looked down he saw that he wore a medieval suit of armor complete with chain mail and a helmet under his arm—gritty, tarnished by battle. Everything was just how he had seen it in the historical holovids he had watched as a kid, but before he could really take it all in and admire his work, he heard a blood curdling scream; it was Michael’s battle cry. He too, wore the full armor of a medieval knight with his mace drawn over his head in both hands, and even though there did not seem to be any discernible source of light Michael’s armor gleamed brightly as he raced towards Josh. Josh barely had time to raise his shield when Michael brought his weapon crashing down. CLANG! Went the mace to the shield with a glancing blow, and out flew the sparks. Josh stumbled backwards from the force of the hit and fell to the plain on which they stood. His sword and helmet bounced away as they fell out of his grasp.

Slowly and subtly the surroundings changed from an endless white foggy nothingness to grassy meadows, blue skies with puffy white clouds and a bright shining sun. The sun warmed the skin and one could just feel the touch of a light breeze and smell the flowers growing somewhere just out of sight. Dazed and confused Josh looked around at the deceivingly serene setting, only to be snapped back to reality as he caught sight of Michael racing at him again. Quickly he grabbed for his helmet and clumsily put it on, and then he reached for his shield and drew it up just in time to block another crashing blow. CLANG! More sparks. Josh back peddled as far as he could get from Michael before clambering to his feet. He then raised his sword and shield at the ready and waiting for Michael to come at him again. He didn’t have to wait long. Michael lunged forward and brought his mace down at an angle, slashing across Josh in an attempt to knock his shield away again, but Josh was ready this time and he twisted and parried the blow without even thinking. Angered but undaunted, Michael decided to change his tactics. Changing to a broad sword, he then moved in closer and began a rapid succession of swipes, thrusts and lunges, pummeling Josh and his shield. The sound of metal banging against metal was almost deafening. Through the helmet, Josh could see the white glimmer of Michael’s teeth and his wild eyes wide open as he screamed out his battle cries with each swing of the sword—he was enjoying this.

Dark clouds formed just on the horizon and light sounds of thunder could just be heard rumbling in the distance. A stronger breeze flowed, bringing with it the damp smell of a distant rain. Josh tried hard to put these distractions out of his mind and instead pressed himself to remember those epic battles from the old holovids. If he could just remember the techniques they used, he might stand a chance. Parry that blow like this, shift the feet like that, twist and spin—good, it was working. More and more Josh began to hold his own against Michael’s onslaught, and with each advance Josh made, Michael grew more frustrated, and changed from a sword to a battle axe, and finally to a mace.

The breeze turned in to a fair wind, and Michael fell back and drew a bow, firing arrow after arrow at Josh. Josh wished for a crossbow and was granted one; he quickly learned to use it to fire back at Michael. While the wind made the arrows zip away in unpredictable directions, Josh still managed to hold his own, but just as an arrow from Josh’s crossbow was about to hit its mark, Michael disappeared behind a ridge. A bugle sounded, flags waved and the battle cry of one turned into hundreds. Michael had conjured up an army; with a cavalry, archers and swordsmen. The bugle sounded again and lances, swords and bows rose. Cries rang out across the field, and on the other side Josh found himself all alone holding a meager crossbow. He would need an army of his own and a fortress with stone walls to fight behind, and so it was. Josh stood atop the 6 meter curtain wall of a castle of his own design complete with an army to populate its turrets, parapet, walks and battlements. Michael saw this and made a quick adjustment of his own, adding catapults and siege towers to his inventory. Soon arrows from both sides filled the sky like dark ominous clouds and rained down death indiscriminately to anyone in their path. Catapults launched massive fireballs that flew over the walls and crashed into the soft belly of the castle, wreaking havoc within.

The sky grew dark and the air that once smelled sweet with flowers now reeked of the smell of blood, sweat and smoke. The sounds of wood and metal smashing against stone and the cries from men both in rage and in pain thundered in the ears. Determined to prevail, Josh launched volley after volley into the oncoming hoard, as Michael pushed his siege towers ever closer to the castle walls. Without realizing it Josh and Michael were re-enacting various battles from the crusades. All Josh knew was he needed to thwart those towers and ordered his archers to launch a volley of flaming arrows at them. Just as the siege towers burst into infernos, Michael began blasting holes into the castle wall and cutting down Josh’s men by the droves. His bows and arrows had turned into balls and muskets and catapults into canons. Josh returned in kind, and both sides decimated each other’s seemingly endless supply of men.

Dark clouds filled the sky, lightening flashed and thunder added to the clatter of gunfire. The blustery wind kicked up dust and debris along with smoke from the gun powder and blew the whole choking mixture into the eyes and lungs of every unlucky soldier in its path. The castle melted away to be replaced by various fields and forests, then trenches. Muskets evolved to rifles, men’s uniforms evolved from one ancient battle to the next. Josh and Michael moved from medieval battles to renaissance battles like the French revolution and then on to colonial battles like the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

The rain started to fall, attempting to wash away the battle scars on the fields to no avail. Battered bodies and twisted metal lay strewn everywhere. Trenches and barbwire became the battleground, with tanks, machine guns and mustard gas the new weapons. The stench overwhelmed Josh’s senses; he shivered from the cold and cursed Michael’s tenacity. This sick and twisted game he was playing never seemed to have an end. Every time Josh felt like he was making progress, Michael would change the rules. Josh made a play to grab the high ground with his bi-planes and Michael flew in to take him out with P-51’s and then Jets. When Josh decided to use Nukes that war would melt away and a new one began.

The rain was coming down in sheets now. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled and now the fighting was taken to the streets of the old Middle East. Josh’s men broke up into small special ops teams, while Michael’s men fought him back with suicide bombers and terrorist attacks on his convoys and bases. Fighter jets and missiles flew overhead, taking out target after endless target. When both sides started using dirty bombs (bombs mixed with nuclear waste), Michael took the battle off world to Mars.

The battle moved from dark cloudy skies and cold sheets of stinging rain to even colder murky red skies with no sign of precipitation. The ground went from hard paved streets to soft dusty regolith. Fortunately Josh was getting good at anticipating changes and could make his own adjustments on the fly. Josh took one look around and knew this war to be the Martian revolution. Energy rifles, heat seekers and plasma bombs replaced machine guns and nukes. Josh beckoned his team to get to the high ground so they could take out the space turrets. They were just about to get to the protection of a bunker when Josh heard a soft thud at his feet and looked down. It was a phase grenade! He just had time to peak the setting on his repulsion armor when, foom! The grenade went off and the rest of his squadron was vaporized as he was thrown over a hundred meters and smacked into the hard Martian regolith, making a crater the size of a house. His ears rang from the blast and his lungs screamed for oxygen as the landing knocked the wind out of him.

Josh coughed and gasped for air as the damaged suit and visor slowly repaired itself. Curse these excruciatingly slow mars atmospheric suits, Josh thought to himself, and why did it have to be Mars? With that thought, Josh’s worst fear began to take shape. Slowly the suit faded away and a new scenario began to form around him like an amorphous blob of algae—dull greens and blues at first. Then as the colors became more vivid, and the scene more focused, Josh’s blood drained from his face, his palms began to sweat, his heart raced, and his breath seized in his chest.

“No! No! No! No! Not this! Not this! I can’t! I can’t! I can’t do this!” Josh pleaded.

Michael’s disembodied laughter filled the plane. Josh fumbled and clawed at the seatbelt until his fingers started to bleed, but he could not get the buckle to budge. He was strapped helplessly in his seat screaming at the top of his lungs, but none of other passengers even acknowledged he was there. The flight attendant casually offered him a drink as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“GET ME OFF THIS PLANE!!” he wailed, swatting at the outstretched attendant’s hand with the conciliatory cup of water, knocking it across the plane.

Blood from his nubby fingers spattered across the attendant, the seats, the floor and even the other passengers, but no one seemed to notice. The attendant simply moved on to the next passenger. Josh looked around at all the people he knew were about to be burned to a crisp, as very few were going to have enough left of their corpses to be revived. Some would be cloned and memories restored from a backup storage maybe days or weeks old, but that didn’t save these unlucky souls from the horror and the pain of being burned alive.

He needed to warn them. They needed to know.

“We need to get off this plane!” he exclaimed.

Nothing happened. Everyone just continued about their business.

“Can someone help me out of this seatbelt!” he shouted.

Nothing.

“THIS PLANE IS GOING TO CRASH!!” he screamed, and in exasperation he again clawed and bit at his buckle and seatbelt. “AHHHHHH!!!! EYAH!! ERR AHH!” he bellowed, as he bit chunks from the seatbelt and spat them into the aisle.

While this may not have been the spectacle that made everyone notice, the passengers and crew seemed to go silent. At this sound or the lack of it, he stopped struggling and looked up. All eyes were on him now, transfixed as if he had mesmerized them with a magical enchantment. Even the ones wearing the speckles of blood, he managed spatter them with moments ago, simply sat there staring, little droplets of crimson dripping from their faces and clothes.

“This plane is going to crash,” he reasoned, “We need to get off.”

…and the crowd went wild roaring with laughter, as if he got the punchline right. A wave of nausea splashed over him. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to pass out. He wanted off this plane, if he had to cut, claw or fight his way out. It was not going to happen.

As all this was going on, the captain continued to prep the plane for launch. The “Fasten Your Seatbelt” sign lit up. The flight attendants cleared the clutter, readied the cabin and took their seats. Josh continued to gnaw more chunks out of the seemingly endless fibers from the harness that bound him. Engines bellowed as they powered up and then roared to life. The plane lurched and then rocketed down the tracks. Pressed back into the seat cushion, Josh continued his mission, grappled with the buckle, bit a fingernail off from his bloody nub that once was a finger, and spat the whole mess on the passenger across the aisle. Once again he was ignored, it was if he wasn’t there—despite the fact that his fellow traveler now wore a plethora of speckled scarlet stains on his face and clothes like a painted canvas. The plane reached the upturn in the tracks and pressed everyone deeper into the seat cushions with the force of 4 g’s. Josh could not move, and it wasn’t from the acceleration, panic took hold and locked all his muscles in its icy grip. He was helpless, there was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable now. Time moved forward in slow motion.

As the plane soared off the tracks and into the Amber skies, the sound of trouble crept in from the floorboards as they rumbled loudly and pounded the ears. The plane then shimmied and shook violently, and then the dreaded moment came. Kablam! White hot heat seared through the cabin as the plane splintered into chunks. Josh was thrown out of the plane still attached firmly to his seat. He couldn’t think, or react as he plummeted towards the rusty colored floor below. All he could do is attempt to scream, but the air was too thin to carry his tune. He couldn’t breathe, but then he could.

“What? Wait a minute! I can breathe? I can breathe! Why can I breathe? This isn’t real. I’m not really here, and this didn’t really happen to me.”

The ground raced faster and faster towards him, but now instead of being terrified, he welcomed it. He freed himself from the chair and made it disappear, and when the planet’s surface finally reached him he stepped onto as if taking the last stair step. Fumbled and tripped on a rock and fell face first to the dusty rocky ground. Smack!