Chapter 4

A few hours later, they dropped out of hyperspace into the bright glare of a star tinged blue. Oliver tilted the Black Fire’s angle, and a planet came into view. For a moment, Conner wondered why it looked strange. It had continents and oceans, just like any normal habitable planet. But then he realized what was throwing him off. The land masses were entirely green, with not a hint of desert or arctic ice.

“Meysenia,” Oliver said. “You will never find another planet in the galaxy with such natural harmony as here.”

A light blinked on, on the console, accompanied by a beep. Oliver pushed a button, and the part of the windshield in front of them turned into a screen, showing what looked like a tree with night vision goggles and a smiling mouth carved below them.

“Yumans aboard the N-12 hyperspace shuttle,” the tree said, making Conner jump. Its mouth did not move, of course, because it was just a carving. “Welcome to Meysenia. I am Shoosh. Who are you who grace Meysenia with your presence, and what is your purpose in coming here?”

“He’s a tree,” Conner said.

Oliver told Shoosh their names. “We’re here to see the Great Dooku Flower.”

“The Dooku Flower?” Shoosh said. “Let me check and see if he is willing to see you.” The screen changed to a scene of falling leaves, with the message, “One moment please . . .” scrolling pleasantly across it. A few minutes later, Shoosh appeared again. “The Great Dooku Flower might be willing to speak with you,” he said. “He asks why you wish to see him.”

“We want to ask him about the elemental medallions,” Oliver said, “because we’re collecting them to use their power to get rid of the Disease. We already have two.” He showed Migrandir and Irial to the tree-person.

“Ah, the Disease,” Shoosh said. “It is not as rampant here as is reported elsewhere in the galaxy, but still it has caused an uncomfortable amount of disturbance among us. If what you say is true, you will be most welcome here, regardless of the Dooku Flower’s decision. Your patience please, once more.” The hold screen reappeared for another minute, before Shoosh reappeared. “Good news. The Great Dooku Flower has agreed to meet with you. It would please us if you would land at these coordinates.”

There was a beep, and Oliver looked down at the console screen. “Thank you,” he said, looking back up. “We will be there right away.”

As the Black Fire nosed downward toward the planet’s upper hemisphere, Mara turned to Conner. “There are several sentient species on Meysenia,” she said, “all evolved from plants. They are naturally very hospitable, allowing all kinds of creatures, both sentient and animal, to do pretty much whatever they want within their realm, as long as it is not harmful, and nothing is taken that is not offered. And to those they perceive to have kind hearts, they are very generous.”

“You sure know a lot about Meysens,” Oliver said.

Mara smiled. “Biology is my jam.”

“Why was he wearing goggles?” Conner asked.

“Oh that,” Mara said. “The sentient species of Meysenia never evolved eyes or mouths, communicating and getting all of the information about the world via fungal networks around their roots. When yumans first landed, they saw the planet as a paradise, and started a colony. There was a tragedy when they mistakenly thought the Meysens were normal trees, and cut some down for their houses.”

“That’s awful,” Conner said, feeling awful.

“Yeah,” Mara said, “but the Meysens quickly figured out how to communicate with the yumans, and as soon as the yumans realized what they had done, they stopped and offered to leave the planet forever. But the Meysens were extremely forgiving, recognizing the harmless intentions and good hearts of the yumans, and said they could continue to live on Meysenia, provided they did not cut down any more Meysens. They even said they could continue living in the houses they had already built.”

“Ugh,” Oliver said. “That sounds horrifying, living in a house made of the corpses of sentient beings you killed without realizing it. Let me guess, no one stayed?”

“That’s right,” Mara replied. “They offered to disassemble their houses and bury the wood as a gesture of respect. The Meysens agreed, although we now know that they let their dead lie on the surface like normal trees, to keep the forest’s cycle of nutrients strong.”

“These Meysens seem waaaay too nice,” Conner said. “You’d think they’d be angry. Like, a lot.”

Mara shrugged. “Different species, different temperament. In fact, even after the Meysenian contact tragedy, they wanted to keep in touch with the yumans, so that the two species could learn about each other and be friends. So through the millennia since then, although yumans have had many wars with each other, there has never again been conflict between yumans and Meysens.”

“That’s heartwarming,” Conner said.

“Isn’t it, though? Oh yeah, you asked about the goggles. Well, very soon after that terrible episode, the Meysens and yumans worked together to create implants and accessories for the Meysens, so they could better communicate. It was the Meysens’ idea, actually. So they created goggles so they could see, and speakers so they could talk, and neural interfaces so they could use them.”

“So what you’re saying,” Conner said, “is that the Meysens turned themselves into cyborgs in order to be better friends with yumans?”

“I know, isn’t it crazy?”

They entered the atmosphere above a vast carpet of green. Ahead, the trees parted, and Oliver steered the Black Fire toward the spot, descending into a hole in the canopy, which went down for quite a way, before hovering to the ground.

“How are we going to lift off again?” Conner asked.

“We’ll tilt her back, and blast off like we did from Moebius,” Oliver replied.

“Won’t that hurt the trees?” Conner asked.

“No,” Oliver said. “If it would, they wouldn’t have guided us to land here.”

As they left the ship, a wave of warm, clean air washed over them. Conner breathed in deeply, the life-giving air filling his lungs and calming his mind.

“Wow, this place is beautiful,” Mara said.

A path led forward, illuminated perfectly by sunlight, except for the shadows of tree trunks. Conner looked up toward the angle to the sun, to see the branches were bent in strange directions to let the sunlight through. “Are they purposely moving their branches for us?” he asked.

“Indeed!” a friendly voice chimed.

Conner looked around in surprise, and saw another tree with goggles. “Oh, hi there.”

“Welcome to Meysenia,” the tree said cheerily. “We hope you enjoy your time with us.”

“Uh, hi.” Conner said.

“Is this the way to the Great Dooku Flower?” Oliver asked.

“Just so,” the Meysen said. “Down this path, you will find our Traveler’s Inn, which has many amenities that yumans enjoy. When you are ready, a ride will be available to take you to the Dooku Flower.”

“Thanks,” Oliver said, and Conner nodded.

“If there is anything we can provide for you, do not hesitate to ask,” the Meysen said.

The three yumans walked down the sunlit path, with soft moss beneath their feet, and leafy underbrush all around, all a deep, pleasant green. In addition to the path, sunlight filtered through the canopy in spots and patches, dancing jubilantly, accompanied by waves of rustling in the leaves. Conner thought of the times he and Oliver had played in the woods growing up, and how much fun it would have been to have lived here during that time. His mind then turned to contemplating a camping trip here once their quest was over. They could bring their friends from back home in the Arguen Islands, and set up a tent, grill up some fish and tell stories around the fire. And he would have quite a few stories to tell after this adventure. He wondered if the Meysens would even let them build a fire in their forest.

“Do Meysens move?” Oliver asked, interrupting Conner’s thoughts. “I mean, they are trees, right? Their roots are stuck in the ground. Not exactly suited to mobility.”

In answer, the ground shook, and one of the nearby trees pulled a root out of the ground. It looped up as the length of the root and its branches continued to emerge, clumped with dirt. One of its root tips emerged, and waved like a hand, before the tree just as slowly slid the whole thing back into the ground.

“I guess that answers that question,” Oliver said.

The path took them to a clearing, which had in it what might have been described as a little community village. Several wooden structures stood close to each other in a curved pattern, giving the place a cozy, homely feel. There was a pond, which looked very much like a swimming pool.

“This is a really nice place,” Mara said.

“The Traveler’s Inn,” a nearby Meysen said. “A place for yumans and other guests to relax before meeting the Great Dooku Flower.”

Conner gestured to the wooden buildings. “These aren’t made of . . .”

“Meysen wood?” The tree said. “No, no.” He chuckled. “Those are made from the wood of non-sentient trees, like the houses you build yourselves on your planets.”

“That’s a relief,” Conner said. “You Meysens sure are friendly.”

“It’s in our nature,” the Meysen said, cheerfully.

“Aren’t there any of you who are a little more, I don’t know, suspicious?”

“We have no need to be suspicious. If anyone approaches us with the intent to harm, we perceive it quite clearly.”

“But it just seems strange that all of you are so similar,” Conner said.

“We get that a lot,” the Meysen said, “although we do not understand why. Our personalities vary far and wide. To us, you yumans appear to have much less variety.”

“That’s so neat,” Mara said. “There is a psychological phenomenon where people in a group see the differences among themselves, but see everyone outside their group as similar, almost the same. I guess it is true between species, too.”

“Indeed,” the Meysen said, swaying back and forth. “It is all a matter of perspective.” He stopped moving, and pointed one of his branches. “Oh, I almost forgot. When you are ready, the cable car at the top of that tree over there will take you to the Dooku Flower.”

“All right,” Oliver said, “well I guess we’ll just go right now.”

Conner yawned. “Are you sure? I’m feeling a little tired.” He judged the angle of the sun, which was still high in the sky. “What time is it?”

“Oh, right, the time!” Oliver exclaimed. He looked at his watch. “Right now, in the Arguen Islands, it is almost midnight.”

“Midnight?” Conner said. He had never been out of his time zone before, much less traveled to other planets, so the fact that his body felt it was midnight while it was midday bright outside came as quite a shock. He sat down on the ground, feeling dizzy. “I think I should go to bed now.”

“It’s getting late for me too,” Mara said.

The Meysen waved his branches. “Feel free to sleep in our special beds made just for yumans, in our guest cabins, right over there. We Meysens never sleep, so whenever you are ready, be it nighttime or daytime, early or late, you may take the cable car to the Dooku Flower.”

“Much appreciated,” Oliver said. He grabbed Conner’s arm, helping him to his feet. They and Mara walked to the row of cabins, and each picked one.

When Conner opened his, he found to his surprise that it was clean and had electricity. The bed was neatly made, and there was a bathroom with running water. He wondered if the Meysens had prepared this themselves, or if they had off-world help.

He stripped down to his underwear and flopped onto the bed, not bothering to shower. He was so tired, and the bed was so soft, and the air was so warm, that before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

He awoke in darkness, to the sound of knocking. He sat up, feeling groggy, and staggered to his feet. He was about to open the door, when he remembered he didn’t have pants on. One minute later, when he was fully dressed, he opened the door to find Mara and Oliver standing in the dark.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Oliver said.

“Wha,” Conner said blearily. “It’s still dark outside.”

“Well it’s ten o’clock our time,” Oliver said. “You slept a whole ten hours.”

Conner looked around at the dark woods and starry sky. The only thing lit up was one tree on the other side of the clearing, the one with the cable car. “If you say so.”

He put his shoes on, and then joined his friends as they walked to the tree. He had not gotten a good look at it earlier, and now he saw there was a flight of stairs in a spiral around the trunk, with a nice rope cage that would keep them from falling. Lights in the stairs above their heads showed them where to put their feet. At the top waited a wooden gondola with four chairs in it and a large lever in the middle. Above it, attached to the tree, three ropes ran off into the distance.

They sat down and pulled the lever, and the cable car began to move. The trip was surreal, with the warm night air, and the three of them together in that car, riding so high above the ground. Oliver had sat next to Mara, and Conner was a little jealous.

After a period where time seemed not to flow, the trees opened in front of them to show a spectacle of multicolored lights twinkling in the night. The car came to a stop, and the three of them descended another spiral staircase tree to find a wondrous clearing full of Meysens, various species of trees and bushes and other kinds of plants. Many kinds of animals, and some other sentient species that Conner recognized from movies were there too.

They Meysens moved out of the way, creating a clear path for the three of them to follow, illuminated by every color and shape of floating polyhedron lamps, which looked like they might have been made out of paper. At the far end was a tangle of vines, or branches, or stems, Conner couldn’t tell which, with tight buds all over it, as big as Conner himself curled up into a ball.

“Is that it?” Conner whispered to Oliver.

“I think so?” Oliver replied uncertainly. “That’s not how it looks online.”

They got to the end of the path, and stood before the plant. It sat there, as plants do. Then, a snapping sound came from each of its buds, and they shivered, in a wave from the center of the plant in front of them out to the edges. Then, Conner, Mara, and Oliver all gasped as the buds unfurled, spreading their petals wide in a shattered rainbow of colors rippling outward, illuminated from the lights behind them. The vines stretched, so that there was a wall of flower petals curving around them in an arc.

“Now this,” Oliver said, grinning, “is the Great Dooku Flower.”

The petals in the region in front of them rustled and changed color, forming an image of an elderly yuman boy’s face, ten times larger than life. “Oliver, Conner, Mara,” he said, looking at each of them in turn. “You brave souls who wish to fight the Disease with the power of the elemental medallions. There is something I must tell you. For if you are to wield the medallions’ power, you must first understand something of this universe and their place within it.”

The Dooku Flower’s petals changed color with a rippling motion, depicting a starry scene of the night sky, zooming in on a chain of galaxies. Conner took in a sharp breath at the spectacle, and heard two “ooh”s beside him. He wondered how the Dooku Flower had the coordination to create a picture like this, much less a moving one.

“The galactic chain we inhabit is called the Shaper’s Path,” the Dooku Flower said, turning the galaxy stream red for a second. “Our galaxy is Shaper’s Now,” one galaxy in the chain turned red. “The galaxy ahead of us is called Shaper’s Next.” The next galaxy winked yellow. “And the galaxy behind us is Shaper’s Back.” The previous galaxy winked blue.

“We know this stuff,” Conner whispered to Oliver.

“So far,” Oliver whispered back. “Just listen.”

The Dooku Flower continued. “The galaxies along the galactic chain are islands in the river of time. Four hundred years from now, as the galaxies move along the chain at the speed physics has ordained, our galaxy, Shaper’s Now, will become what Shaper’s Next is today, and this very conversation we are having now will be repeated in Shaper’s Back.”

The chain of galaxies moved forward, but the blue, red, and yellow colors remained where they were, so that once all of the galaxies had advanced one whole step, the yellow galaxy had moved into a white slot, the red galaxy had moved into the yellow slot, the blue galaxy had moved into the red slot, and one of the white galaxies had moved into the blue slot.

“The Shaper’s Way is an eternal chain of both space and time,” the Dooku Flower said. “Move to the next galaxy in the chain, and you move four hundred years into the future. Go to the galaxy behind, and you find yourself four hundred years in the past.”

Time travel? Now that was a brain-bender. There were a lot of things it would mean, but Conner did not have time to think about them, because the Dooku Flower was still speaking.

“It is possible for an object to make the journey backward to the galaxy before it in the timeline, and to become its own past self. When this happens, it repeats in an eternal cycle, traveling to the previous galaxy and living out its life over and over again. The result of this cycle, when the infinite limit is taken, is for the objects to gain powers over the natural elements. These objects are called talia. The elemental medallions you seek are talia just such as this.”

Conner felt his eyes widen, as seven disks appeared from the patterns in the Dooku Flower’s petals, floating in a circle and spinning slowly. These disks, two of which he had held in his hands, were an infinite number of years old, reliving their lifetimes which had repeated through the universe’s eternal past. He didn’t know if he would be able to use their powers so casually again.

“Two medallions you have,” the Dooku Flower said, “and the third, I give to you.” From the middle of his petals, two vines slid smoothly out, bearing a shiny green disk with what could have either been a flame or a leaf engraved on it. Loriah, the medallion of air.

Oliver accepted it gracefully, putting it into the pocket where he held the others. The three of them said their thank yous, and the Dooku Flower resumed.

“I will now tell you where to find the rest of the medallions. Wintermuse is on Mithra, in the Grand Museum of Art. Aepoch is on Chronesia, a world which flies through the galaxy in the opposite direction as the chain, from future to past, instead of past to future. It is located within the Time Palace. Chakrov is on Echinea. Where it is, I do not know, but its location may be logged in the planet’s virtual matrix. And finally, Myrandah is on Tantalus, in the care of the Drumani Order. I recommend treating them with respect, or it may be difficult to persuade them to allow you to borrow their sacred relic.”

Conner noticed that Oliver was beaming. The Great Dooku Flower had given them exactly what they had needed, and now they knew what they must do to complete their quest.

“Go,” the Dooku Flower said, “and take my blessing.” Another vine appeared, bearing a piece of stiff paper, with a thin strip of wax on one corner. It read, The bearer of this letter, OLIVER, CONNER, AND MARA, is acting with my knowledge and approval. It was signed, The Great Dooku Flower, and the wax appeared to have some kind of pattern embedded in it. Conner guessed it was his personal signet. “With this, perhaps those you meet will be more inclined to cooperate with you.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said, accepting the letter.

“Go now,” the Dooku Flower said, “and may you swiftly bring an end to this accursed Disease.”

The Meysens listening gasped. Apparently, expressing such an attitude as went with the word, “accursed,” was scandalous around here.

“You are always welcome on Meysenia,” the Dooku Flower said. “Though I encourage you to make haste on your quest. Perhaps we shall plan a celebration for your victorious return. Goodbye, now.” His petals shifted multiple colors again, as they closed up once more, from the edges inward, into buds, and he pulled his vines back to rest in the position they had first seen him.

There was a rustling behind them, and they turned to find the tree Meysens in two rows, illuminating the path back to the cable car tree. They walked through and up the tree in silence, and then the car started back along its hanging track.

“That was amazing,” Oliver said, as the mood started to wear down. “Time travel? Who would have thought?”

“Do you think it’s really true?” Mara asked.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Oliver said. “The Great Dooku Flower is like a thousand years old, and revered by the entire planet, and out into the galaxy for his wisdom. But still, time travel! Think of all the questions it raises. Like, what happens if we go to Shaper’s Back and change something so that things are different in the present?”

“I think that would make things turn out different in Shaper’s Back.” Conner said. “After all, even if it is following our past, it is still a different galaxy. I mean, what’s happened here has already happened.”

“I don’t think it works that way,” Oliver said. “Traveling backward along the chain is not just traveling through space, but time as well. In a sense, Shaper’s Back is Shaper’s Now, just in the past. In fact, if that is true, all of the galaxies on the Shaper’s Path are the same galaxy. Not different versions of the same galaxy, but exactly the same one. In that case, if we go to Shaper’s Back, whatever we do will have already happened in the past of Shaper’s Now.”

“But,” Conner sputtered, “that would mean that everything is already set, future and past. It would mean we have no free will, no choice.”

“I don’t think that is true,” Oliver said. “It might be that the future is determined because of our choices.”

“But we haven’t made our future choices yet,” Conner said.

“Tell that to the universe,” Oliver replied.

Conner turned to Mara. “Come on, explain it to Oliver so that he understands it.”

Mara shrugged, leaning back and shaking her head. “I really don’t feel anything about it one way or another,” she said.

They sat in silence for a while, and then the trip ended. They walked down the tree staircase. Oliver asked if they had left anything in their cabins. None of them had, and they made for the path back to their ship. As they approached it, some of the Meysen trees produced lights to brighten their way. They thanked the trees, and took the path.

“What do you think is at the beginning and end of the galactic chains?” Oliver mused.

Conner thought for a moment, and then said, “I don’t know. Do you think we might be able to go find out someday?”

“Probably not,” Oliver said. “Unless we find some alternative version of hyperspace that is millions of times faster than the hyperspace we already know about.”

“Do there have to be ends?” Mara suggested. “What if they just go into the future and the past forever?”

“That would be an infinite regress,” Oliver said.

Mara waited a moment. “Is that bad?”

“Huh.” Oliver thought for a moment. “I’ve always heard it with negative connotations, but I’ve never really thought about whether it makes sense or not.” He perked up, as if he had just had another idea. “What about a loop? What if, if you go far enough to the future, you end up in the past? Like going off the edge of the screen in a video game, and coming back on the other side.”

“No,” Conner said. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Why?” Oliver asked.

“Well for one, it would make the free will problem even worse.”

“Let’s not go back to that,” Mara said. “I have something better to talk about. What about other galactic chains? Since we are moving through the universe along our chain, that means we will pass by a bunch of other chains. Are they alternate galaxies, or are they other copies of ours?”

“Not copies of ours,” Oliver said, “because they each have their own distinctive shapes and sizes. Each chain has a different number of stars per galaxy.”

“So maybe we will someday pass the beginning or end of another galactic chain,” Mara said.

Oliver perked up. “That would be cool!”

They emerged into the clearing where the Black Fire was parked. Once they boarded it and Oliver turned on the artificial gravity, he pushed a set of buttons, and the world rotated so that it was behind them instead of beneath them. Well actually it was the ship that rotated, but with the artificial gravity and inertial dampening fields in place, it felt like it was the planet rotating.

As Oliver was about to blast off, the tops of the trees around the clearing suddenly lit up with poles of light pointing into the sky. It felt like a solute, a warm goodbye from the trees. Oliver hit the ignition, and they rocketed once again into the sky.

“All right,” Oliver said. “Time to set course for Mithra!” He pushed some buttons, and then paused when a communications light blinked on the console. He looked up with a worried expression on his face. “It’s an unidentified ship.”

“Is it the same one from Proserpine?” Conner asked.

“It might be,” Olier replied. “Should I answer them?”

Conner shrugged, making an expression of bewilderment. Oliver hovered his finger over the button, and then decisively pressed it.

The windshield screen flickered into an image of a yuman boy, his face darker than Conner had thought it possible for faces to be. He wore a metal helmet with a microphone attached along the jaw line. “Greetings,” he said with an intriguing accent, “I am Lieutenant Jairus Durgna of the Tarran Empire. I presume I am speaking to Conner and Oliver of the Arguen Islands on Moebius, and Mara Kraine of Proserpine?”

“Uh . . .” Oliver exchanged a bewildered glance with Conner and Mara, before turning back to the screen. “Why do you ask?”

“I shall get to the point,” Durgna said. “We have heard that you are looking for the seven elemental medallions, and we would like to offer you our assistance.”