I shifted uncomfortably from one edge of my seat to the next. Samson has been staring at me none stop for the past twenty minutes while he still continued to mutter unintelligible words to no one but himself.
Occasionally he would raise his copper colored head and bring the full brunt of his four eyed gaze on me; who was still very much trying to digest the fact that my son might never wake up again. I was really freaked out about the whole scenario, and worried that there was nothing to be done. To be honest magic sounds like a joke to me, but I was not ready to throw any option away. If the crazy robot says magic exist, and it can save my son, then goddammit I'll believe in magic too.
I was sitting down in what I would consider a lounge, or a waiting area. Behind me was a long hallway that led straight to the lab/infirmary I had just left. Straight across from me and right behind Samson was another hallway that led to what I could only call really sophisticated looking bathrooms.
Then to my left and right were two extra hallways, but I had no idea where they led to. Samson had placed a plate of what I was very sure could not be anything more than the flying nocturnal snakes that were about to make dinner out of me and my kid yesterday.
The entire meal was burnt and extremely repulsive, it was quite obvious cooking was not one of Samson's many talents. But left without a choice, I had to close my eyes as I scarfed down the tough, chewy and very burnt meat.
It was an agonizing ten minutes, but I got through it, somehow. But now I had nothing to do but stare at the strange robot and his internal/external musings.
"You're not a mage, are you?" Samson suddenly asked me.
I was a little taken aback by the sudden question, as such I was not sure how to answer. I was aware that Samson has helped all this while due to the fact that he thought I was a mage, but I dreaded what my future or that of my son holds if the copper colored robot should ever find out I was not a mage. But before I could give a rather cryptic answer, that was neither a yes or a no, Samson suddenly jumped into his own conclusions, frighteningly accurate conclusions.
"I knew it! of course you're not a mage. I would have felt the fluctuations of the elements if you were. But you're not a practitioner of any other magical classes either, or even a physical class. Your body is completely devoid of any energy but for the bare minimum you need to live. Hey mister, where are you from?"
I felt like someone just dropped a stone in my gut, Samson was so eccentric and wrapped up in himself it almost seems like he never listens to anyone but himself. It was a rather stupid characteristic to have, but somehow it had enabled him to make the right judgment about me.
The bottom line of the matter is, I was odd, both within and outside. There would have been a thirty percent chance that my peculiarity would have been discovered by anyone if I was in a more populated place and a zero percent chance if I was in the desert or a secluded place.
However my luck was not that good enough, I ended up in a desert with thousands upon thousands of nocturnal killer flying snakes. I ended up finding a peculiar building and was saved by an equally peculiar robot. But the price for all that was my son's life, and now my identity as a stranger in this world.
Or course Samson had not really discovered that I was not from this world, so far all the robot had was guess work, incredibly accurate guess work, built on the little pieces of evidence he has been able to collect from me, I should have been a little more careful.
Right now I was deliberating how I could escape from this dilemma. I really did not trust this scary looking robot, especially with those jaws and fangs of his. Not to mention; orders from the U.N was that we should keep away from the locals, but then again Samson can not be considered a local too right?
I felt really tired at the moment. The sudden barrage of questions from Samson and the roller coaster of events I've had to experience was really weighing me down. But I had to address the elephant in the room, no matter how I looked at it, my situation was not entirely favorable and this insane robot was the only connection I had to making sense of where I was and what I had to do to save my son's life.
"You're right about me, I'm not from around here." I spoke up suddenly and succeeded in shutting Samson up.
"Well duh, of course I know you're not from around here. I don't need you to confirm it, my analysis was extremely thorough and on point. With your weird biology any body with a brain can see that. But the question still remains where are you from." Samson asked still unyielding in his inquiries.
I knew I had to give Samson some sort of bone. It had to be the truth though, or a small variation of it. Because without it, it might be difficult for Samson to render any help to me. But it was still better to keep in mind that the robot can not be fully trusted if at all.
"I can't tell you where I'm from, but what I can tell you is that I'm not from this world."
The lounge descended into a rather awkward silence. Samson's eyeballs that have been dancing all over his face in excitement quickly aligned themselves in a straight line. I felt it gave Samson a look of seriousness and deep thought.
"Hmmm, so it seems you're from an outer layer of the universe, your obvious play with words is really pathetic. There are thousands of other worlds within this universe and you're definitely not from any one of them." Samson muttered to himself with his hands caressing his chin.
"Huh, what?" I asked confused and shocked. He just clearly mentioned that I was from another universe, how the hell did Samson figure that out! As if my inner monologue could be heard out loud Samson chastised me and gave me an explanation.
"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch I clearly understood what you just said. But i already told you there's absolutely no form of energy being released from your body, none even the slightest. Your biology is completely different from normal humans, weaker. The place you're from seems to be rather primitive, for you to think that you were just transported to another world, I dread to think of the kind of technology such a place had used to send you here.
The truth of the matter my dear dimension hopping friend, is that this is a different universe, well a universe within 'The universe. Let me explain it this way, there's only one universe, but this universe is layered like an onion. This layers are called the Seven, with each layer after the next having many similarities but still having equally many unique features that sets them out from the rest. So you're not from another world kiddo, just another dimension or layer, or to be technical, another universe."
Samson seemed incredibly smug with himself, as if he had just answered or solved a formula that has stumped experts for generations. Of course it could be that smug look came from just schooling a rather ignorant child.
The only problem was, that child did not show any reaction whatsoever to the great lesson he just received. I really could not be blamed for my rather ignorant reaction to Samson's explanations, who would believe such a ridiculous amount of bullshit. I might believe that magic exists, but another universe? Come on this was not a movie. But Samson's next question threw me for a loop as I was hit with intense shock.
"You're from earth aren't you."
I couldn't answer. The question; how did he know? was running through my mind right now. For one thing this place seemed to be totally isolated from the rest of Gonin Gora, and I was sure I never did give out any sort of sensitive information to Samson about earth from the answers and replies I already gave.
"No worries, no need to be so surprised. The reason why I know this is because the universe works with certain rules that can't be broken. One of them is that anybody who crosses dimensions can not go above their layer, but can only go to the layer beneath them. Not to mention you can only ever cross or jump from one dimension to another once in all of you existence. Either as a fleshy body, or as a soul.
Mages and many other strange and miscellaneous professions have been trying to travel to the Layer above us for millions of years, and before you ask the answer is no. There is no layer beneath us, this is the end of the universe, the core Universe, number 7.
However this still doesn't explain how I know that you're from earth, which in my opinion is a stupid sounding name to call a planet.
Earth is an element damn it! Anyway, you're not the first person to come here, there is that vampire king from Shearath, and he got here quite recently too, hasn't even been up to five years, but of course in this place time's a little loopy. Then there's that psionic general from Pangea, the crazy space pirate queens bitches, oh yes there's also that vampire fire queen. And then finally there's you, small, scrappy and weak with no hint of power whatsoever. My final evaluation about you is that you're pathetic, even with that gene modifier grafted to your skin."
If I was not surprised when he was given the explanation about the universe, well I was surprised now. The knowledge about not being the only person from earth was not that surprising, after all I was here with ninety eight other pioneers. But the fact that all this other names mentioned have already been here and entrenched in this universe for countless number of years before earth's government sent people over was so strange and bizarre I could not help but be immensely shocked.
Such knowledge raised numerous other questions, how did they get here, how did they survive, and from the way they all seem to be well known, especially their origin about being from a different layer of the universe, it means this guy and every other person knew they were from earth.
It was confusing, because before the space gate on 12-1 no one had any idea or information about people crossing over. Heck we didn't even know that the space gate's destination was to another universe or dimension, much less that people already arrived here. We had all thought that it led to a planet far into space, to a place that we've not been able to reach or explore...…how very wrong we were.
"Don't be too surprised, but like I said there are certain rules given by the universe itself that can't be broken, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's something wrong with the gene modifier on your wrist."
I did not need to say anything else, my eyes and the look within them was enough confirmation for Samson.
"One peculiar rule about jumping layers or dimensions is that the belongings of the person making the jump will always be tempered with. Especially when it clashes with the universal laws of the dimension you're in. I think the reason why that happened is because your human body was not built to connect to the Way, or as most people say, the system.
The system is a supernatural entity that supervises the growth and abilities of an individual and since your soul did no get reincarnated or transmigrated into a body that's specifically tailored for this world, you've become an anomaly that the universe would try to correct, and with the tools available. You're lucky it did not decided to just out right kill you and your son.
Though from what I have been able to glean, it seems that earth was able to find a different way. The regulator is actually a gene modifier that would keep track of your vitals and communicate with your peers back on earth. A nifty piece of tech way ahead of its time if not for the fact that they kept a huge secret from you guys about it."
I was not really surprised that there was a secret to it. It was probably why it was grafted to my skin during the course of the transfer through the spatial gate. That's what the government did, they kept secrets, and all for a variety of reasons. I have served as a pilot for a while, so I'm well aware of how they operate. But what secret?
"The regulator does not have it's name for nothing. But it's also missing something too. It's also a monitor and gene therapy device, capable of rewriting your human genome at the behest of the people who gave it to you. It's really fascinating! They would be capable of remotely evolving and rewriting your personality from another freaking! Universe. You guys are not tourists or pioneers, you're a fucking invasion force!"
I felt weak in the knees, the amount of shocks I've received in the short period of time I've been in this place, has left me greatly shaken. All this could not be accepted at just the word of a strange robot alone, but I knew somehow that this was the truth. It was like realizing it on an instinctual level, not to mention the whole slew of evidence that have just been dropped in front of me.
It was a lot to take in, but I was mostly frazzled because I had no idea how to properly react to this knowledge or how much of a help it was to me or my son. But the fact that there were already established people from earth, meant that if I could get in touch with them they could offer me support and answer a lot of my questions. After all we were all from the same dimension and planet. But that was just me shooting at the dark, I felt betrayed, and coupled with my depression over Max's situation, I felt like dying.
Finding the others would be the best course of action, after all; humans are pack creatures, we thrived well in a group. Of course I did not expect finding them to be easy, especially when you consider the size of the universe. But they should be out there somewhere, and it seems they might actually be the only people that could answer some of the questions hidden deep within my heart.
"The others that came before me, do you know where I can find them. Are they close, can we contact them. And is there a way to save my son." I asked my questions in a rapid manner not given Samson enough time to answer me.
"Whoa, Whoa slow down, to find them as you are now is practically impossible. These guys are right at the top of the pyramid of this layer. To get to them you need to go through practically whole civilizations, some of which have vowed to end their very existence. Not to mention once word gets out that you are from earth just like them, you would have some really unsavory people after your head, some of them gods.
Half of them would want to kill you or experiment on you, the other half would want to control you. Time has proven that every time someone from earth traveled through the layer, regardless of which ever part of the core universe they land in, they always end up extremely powerful, influential, and capable of deeds that will leave every corner of the vast cosmos trembling in fright.
You guys are a valuable commodity in the hands of anyone who is able to utilize your potential to the fullest capacity. You guys are the freaks of the universe, which is not surprising considering earth is the origin planet of the seven layer Universes. "
I was struck speechless again, gods? I was extremely disadvantaged here, and now it seems that everything outside of these walls would shoot first and ask questions later apart from a select few, and even then those guys would want to use me for their own gains.
Regardless of how I looked at it, I could not see a way out of my current predicament. It seems like I had no choice but to hang around this place until something changes with my situation.
I let out a frustrated sigh, as the very weight of the burden on me, seemed to sink me deeper in a mire of uncertainty.
"I've got it!!!!" Samson's sudden scream was so jarring that l fell off the couch I was sitting on with an astonished look on my face.
"What have you gotten?" I asked with a voice that had part hope, part trepidation, and part fear hoping Samson had a method to at least save Max's life.
"Since all the other people from your layer that got here before you are supreme and powerful entities, with vast resources and capabilities capable of destroying worlds, you are completely unqualified to even smell a sniff of the shit that comes out of their ass."
I could not help but frown at the analogy Samson was using. What the hell was with all the insults anyway.
"But with my help, yes of course, yes! Yes!. With my help you can be as powerful if not more than all of them. Then they would have no choice but to come look for you and bow before my awesome brilliance….. Err I mean your awesome brilliance. I was right, yes indeed I was right!, you are an extremely good specimen. So tell me you pathetic waste of space do you want to be a mage, and mind you, that's the only path available to you if you want to gather the resources capable of saving your son."
I was going to give my answer immediately, and my answer was going to be a huge YES!!!, I wanted nothing to do with Samson, nothing at all! The robot was crazy, but I had no choice.
"Good!, excellent! You have really sharp eyes and good intuition. In the whole of the boundless space of the core universe; there is no one else that can make you into an existence that would make the very gods shit their pants but me, so then let's get started, your training starts now.... Oh by the way, do you happen to have a name."
"Fuck."
"Well nice to meet you Fuck."