The Alpha Choice (53 page)

Now that he had his bearings, he recognised the houses of his neighbours, intermittently moving in and out of sight, sometimes briefly replaced by another building, sometimes moving straight on to the
nothing
.
 

Glancing down at his feet, he saw rather than felt the ground changing and was unsure whether his suspension above ground was down to
Alf
, or a natural phenomenon. Either way, it added to the sense of total isolation that came with being an observer
.
At times the ground was smooth and solid, as befitted a tarmac road; this state coincided with the image of his house. However, the road did not remain constant. When his house morphed, the ground briefly took on the texture of a well-tended lawn, albeit in grey, before it too was replaced by
nothing.

The
nothing
frightened him, and prompted a look at
Alf
who spoke for the first time since they arrived. ‘It is time we moved on, I suggest another three years, in the same place.’

Before Jon had the chance to reply, the scene before them changed. Neither his house, nor its replacement, were visible. He looked around, above, below and behind. There was no building, there was no ground and no fleeting
people
images. They were suspended in space with only stars in view. The Earth was gone. Then, for the briefest of moments, something appeared before them. Unfortunately, the sighting was so brief, it was impossible to make out what it was. He waited for a couple of minutes and it appeared again, still too fleeting to make anything out. Concentrating on the point where the image was most definite, he waited. When the flicker next appeared he thought he could make out the mound upon which Clifford’s Tower was built in the High Middle Ages, and which served as a backdrop to his house.
So this is still Earth
, he thought, with relief.
 

He turned to where he knew the substantial and real form of
Alf
would be. His guide looked at him, and said. ‘Let us move forward another fifty-one years.’
 

The scenario before him appeared unchanged. ‘I thought we were moving forward?’

‘We have, be patient and watch for your landmark,’
Alf
replied.

Doing as he was bid, Jon waited and watched for the flicker, but it did not appear. Where before, the image of space without the Earth was persistent, it was now constant.
Alf
spoke again. ‘It is midday, in late May,’ adding, as if reading the doubt in Jon's mind, ‘trust me.’

Jon nodded slowly, and wondered where this was taking him.

‘Now,’ the Custodian continued, ‘please point out your Sun to me.’

He followed his instructions, knowing that he was floating opposite the place where, moments before, the front of his house used to be, and that his house faced east. He estimated the Sun would be above and behind him, slightly to his left.
 

Turning, he held up his hand to shield his eyes, but found nothing. He withdrew his hand and scanned the sky, not just where he expected the Sun to be…the whole sky. There was no Sun. When he was satisfied he had missed nothing he looked back at
Alf
. ‘I don’t understand.’

His guide spoke again. ‘Now, let us take a look around the solar system,’ once again, Jon felt no sensation of movement, although he thought he saw subtle changes in the position of the stars. After about three minutes
Alf
asked. ‘Tell me what you saw?’

‘Saw? I saw nothing, we haven't been anywhere.’
Alf
said nothing.
 

Once the words were out of his mouth he knew, he was again being too simplistic. The Custodian would not need flashes and bangs to signal what he was doing. If he said they were going to look around the Solar System, then that is what they did.
 

Then the horror of the situation hit him full on, there was no Solar System, everything was gone!

Alf
was not finished. ‘Do you remember the ritual your father introduced you to, on your sixth Birthday?’ The question was so inappropriate at a time when he had just seen a future, with no Solar System, that he was about to make his thoughts known, Custodian or no Custodian…

It was then that he realised what
Alf
meant. Soon after sunset on his sixth Birthday - after his friends had been taken home - his dad took him outside, and without saying anything, led him into the middle of the park, adjoining their house. Pointing into the sky he told his son to follow his finger, before proceeding to describe the stars found by the six year old. It was the constellation of Gemini, the twins. Most of what his dad told him that day was forgotten, but every year, on his Birthday, they repeated their walk and each time Jon learned something new. This only stopped when his dad suffered a massive heart attack, a few weeks before his son’s fifteenth Birthday.

With that firmly in mind, he looked around to find his old friends, and of everything he had seen, this sight shocked him the most. He remembered his dad talking to him on his ninth Birthday as though it was only yesterday. ‘The myths I’ve told you about those two are fun, but the truth is far better…’

He then told Jon about the age of the Universe, and about Castor and Pollux, in particular. Wrapped up against the chill that sometimes came with May evenings, he could listen for hours to his dad telling him about the immense ages of the stars, and distances that could only be measured in the time it took for light to travel. One memory in particular stood out, as he
floated
with
Alf
sixty-six years in the future. ‘Even though they seem to be side by side, one of the brothers…’
 

‘You means stars, Dad,’ the young Jon corrected.

Robert Tyler smiled at his son. ‘One of the stars, Pollux, is thirty-five light years from us, while Castor is…’

‘Fifty light years away,’ beamed the nine year old.

‘You know what that means?’

‘If Castor died tonight, we wouldn’t see it until I was fifty-nine!’

It was that recollection that horrified him now. Looking at the constellation, the two brothers were gone. He knew it made no sense to be more concerned with their loss than the planet that was his home, and the Sun that made life possible, but he had grown up believing Castor and Pollux would always be there, except he now knew they would not, and that whatever was going to wipe out his Solar System, would go on to destroy every star system within fifty light years.
     

He was back in the present with
Alf
and
Jane
standing in front of him.
 

‘You are shocked,’ it was not a question, but a statement from
Jane
. ‘Take a little while to collect your thoughts.’

After his experience, he was unsure whether he was capable of coherent thought, and it would be some time
before that state changed. Then, as before, he felt the panic recede, it was nothing palpable, no tingling or ringing to herald intervention by a higher power, but it was unmistakable, they had calmed his mind and he was too relieved to feel aggrieved at the intrusion.

Jane
continued. ‘Tell us what you learned from your visits to the three time periods and,’ she added, ‘please start from the beginning. We would not like the entire conversation to be dominated by the last images you saw. It is important you have a rounded picture of what it all meant.’

He fought the urge to rush to the end. ‘I
think
I understand,’ he slowly began. ‘During the first visit, there was nothing tangible.’

‘You are, in part correct,’ replied
Alf
. ‘You must have noticed some images were darker and more present, than others?’

‘Yes.’

‘That signifies that the future portrayed by those images is more tangible than the future of the fainter, more intermittent images of life forms, which by their very nature, are less constant than buildings and even more fleeting when compared to rivers and mountains. In the short space of twelve years that passed, there were myriad possibilities that could affect life forms, even in the tiny area that constitutes the environs of your home. As we moved forward in time, I think you will agree, the images became more certain, clearer if you will. That is because there were no life forms in the persistent image, and any that would be present, in the moments the Earth reappeared, would not be there long enough for you to notice.’

‘I’m not sure about clearer, most of the time there was nothing.’

‘How sure are you of that?’ asked
Alf

‘Very sure,’ Jon replied.

‘What you perceived as nothing points to that being the clearest outcome,’
Alf
responded.

The very thought of asking the next question filled Jon with dread. ‘You’re telling me the most likely outcome is one with no Earth, or Solar System?’

‘The most enduring and tangible future, for this region of space,’ answered
Jane
, ‘is a future where your planet has been, completely destroyed.’

‘Castor and Pollux?’

‘You did not stay long enough to see that there were infrequent flashes, showing your Solar System, as well as what you call Castor and Pollux. But, as with the earlier time frames, the most persistent image is the most likely. Events, between now and the times you visited, will constantly add to the possible outcomes. However, it is probable that, in a little more than fifteen years, your star system will have been destroyed, followed soon after by your nearest stellar neighbours.’

Whatever calming influence they had exerted upon his mind was deserting him fast. He shook his head. ‘This isn't what you said, you told me we were being invaded by the Te, because they want our planet. You went into my head and showed me the reasons. They're hardly likely to go to all this trouble just to destroy the planet, and why go on to destroy everything within fifty light years!?’

‘Everything we have told you, and shown you is true, but there are other issues at stake, far too convoluted for you to fully comprehend. What I will tell you, however, is that the ramifications of what happens to your planet will extend far beyond this galaxy.’

Until now, Jon had wondered why beings with such power would bother themselves with the troubles of his world when, from what they had told him, they had not prevented the destruction of other worlds. He was not so
naïve
as to think there was anything intrinsically special about his planet, over and above all the other races targeted by the Te. So, why single out Earth? Now he had the answer, damage limitation!

He hoped that one of them would explain, as he was sure they knew what he was thinking, even before he had finished thinking it. He decided to ask them straight out, after all, what did have to lose?
 

‘This isn’t about us, is it?’

‘Yes,’
Jane
replied, ‘more than you can imagine. We have shown you all that we can, for now. The dangers we have alerted you to, are real. How you act in the future will, in part, be determined by what we have shown you. Use the information wisely and you may yet prevail, and know this, if we thought there was no hope for your race, we would not have become involved.’

‘What I saw, and from what you've told me, there’s something beyond the Te, isn't there?’ Jon asked.

Once again, they answered a question he did not ask, almost as if sticking to a predetermined script. ‘As we told you, much of what could be seen in the futures you visited was filtered out. In reality, there were many possible outcomes, overlapping one another. Showing them all would have proven meaningless. We can tell you that whilst the clearest image is the likely outcome, there is a remote possibility that another future might prevail.’

‘A future hidden within the flickering images?’ Jon responded.

‘No, the future I am referring to is far too indistinct for your senses to process, but we know what it means. To us the fleeting figures, and flickering images are more discernible, and the greys…less grey. Accordingly, we have seen both the most likely future and the future with the most hope. We would protect you from one, whilst encouraging the other within the limits we have spoken of.’

‘What limits, I thought that only applied to the Te, and what they want to do to us?’ he asked

Alf
took over. ‘Imagine the passage of time as a mountain stream. Drawn by gravity, it travels onward and downward, unless it is dammed. It will meet obstacles: rocks, rubbish left by campers, dead animal carcasses and so on. Most often, the water will flow over the obstructions, or around them, without the entire stream needing to change course, but occasionally it encounters momentous events such as a landslide. In such circumstances, the stream must alter course, if it is to join the river and, ultimately, the ocean. Now, consider that you are able to prevent, or divert the landslide, so allowing the stream to continue unobstructed, or do nothing and let the stream naturally alter its course. If your sole consideration is the flow of the stream, what would you do?’

‘I suppose, I wouldn’t interfere.’ Jon replied.

‘What if your responsibilities went beyond the stream? For instance, your aged grandmother lived downstream, and relied upon the water passing her home in order to survive, what would you do then? Remember, none of the dilemmas we encounter are that straightforward.’

‘I think I get the point,’ he replied.

‘That is why we impose limits upon ourselves.’

Jon went back to the unanswered question. ‘You still haven't explained what the other danger is. If we stop the Te, how do we stop the
nothing
?’

It was
Jane
who answered. ‘You are to be congratulated on your persistence. Your reasoning is fairly accurate, but there are reasons why we cannot explain more to you. The Te must be the sole object of your attention.’

‘Why hint at the
nothing
if you had no intention of explaining it?’

‘We have our reasons, and you must accept that,’
Alf
answered or, to be more exact, did not. Either way, the response was final.

Jon remained uneasy, but he was not going to discover anything more, for the moment. He turned his attention to more pressing matters. ‘Perhaps you can tell me about this help I’m getting?’