It wasn't an ordinary rain. All over the world, water literally poured from the sky. Oceans, seas, lakes and rivers seemed to boil. The innumerable fires that had flared were almost instantly extinguished. Clouds of steam enveloped cities and towns, covering everything and everyone with a hot mist that was thick enough to cut with a knife.
And in this mist, this fog that made it impossible to see an outstretched hand, mysterious translucent cubes began to appear. They were as tall as a grown man, they glowed with a soft, mysterious light, and they appeared everywhere.
They appeared in every town and city on the planet. They appeared in the fields and in the surviving forests, on sea shores and in the mountains. They appeared on the sands of the vastly expanded deserts, and on the ice that still covered most of the Antarctic.
They even appeared inside buildings.
One of the softly shining cubes appeared on the stage of the General Assembly chamber in the United Nations building, right in the center of New York. The delegates inside the pitch-dark room were swarming towards the exits. Only Olaf Troll, Sonia Patel, and Nelson Odongo stood still on the stage near the lectern.
The glowing cube appeared next to the lectern. It was only an arm's reach from Olaf Troll. He looked at it, then looked at Sonia Patel and made a gesture that said: ladies first. Sonia smiled at him, and shook her head.
Olaf Troll looked again at the glowing cube. He put a finger to his lips and frowned. Then very slowly, he began to reach out to the cube, finger pointing.
Before he could touch it, Nelson Odongo quickly walked past him and put his hand on the cube. It instantly changed color, from snow-white to ivory. Big dark brown letters appeared on its every side. They all said the same thing, in many different languages and alphabets:
GREETINGS, REVERED ANCESTORS. PLEASE TOUCH AGAIN FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Nelson Odongo turned to look at Olaf Troll and Sonia Patel, raising his eyebrows. The huge, dark chamber was perfectly quiet. All the delegates that had been trying to get out of the assembly chamber were frozen still, and watching the cube. It was the only source of light in the entire room.
Olaf Troll nodded, and the secretary general of the United Nations put his hand on the cube. The letters dissolved and reappeared again. This time, they said:
PLEASE SELECT LANGUAGE
A list of all the languages represented by the delegates appeared, each in its own alphabet. They were ordered by dominance: Chinese characters stood next to the Latin script used by English. Nelson Odongo didn't hesitate.
He couldn't read Chinese, so he chose English.
New text appeared on the sides of the cube. The delegates in the chamber began moving closer; some were even brave enough to climb on the stage. Interestingly, the brave ones were almost all civilians: the marshals, generals, and admirals kept back, maybe because they knew better what explosives can do to the human body.
But nothing exploded. Instead, there was a widespread intake of breath among the delegates close enough to read the text on the cube. It said:
'According to the outdated time-counting method you are using, we are writing you this on the first of January, 32035. Tomorrow, you will experience a global catastrophe that will throw Humanity back into the Stone Age for the next ten thousand years. You will experience nothing but death, pain, and misery for hundreds of centuries.
'We know that, because this is what happened to our ancestors: to you.
'We are your children, removed from you by hundreds of generations. We have confirmed what your scientists are suspecting: there is an infinite number of dimensions. There is an infinite number of universes. It is possible to exist simultaneously in different dimensions, and to travel between them. It is possible to travel in time. IT IS POSSIBLE TO CREATE A NEW UNIVERSE.
'We are offering you a chance to follow an alternate timeline.
'We are sending you the tools you need to settle a new world.
'It is a planet that is a better, richer Earth. It is located in a universe, a galaxy, a star system just like the one you live in now: the Solar System.
'It is geographically, geologically, and biologically identical, except for three major new archipelagos: North Pacific, South Pacific, and the Atlantis. These archipelagos have islands as big as Greenland. But be warned: because they are new, they have retained the life forms of the Mesozoic era.
'The tools we send you will let you REPLICATE in the New World all forms of life on Earth: microbes, plants, insects, animals, yourselves. They will also let you TRANSPORT anything that is not alive from the New World to Earth, where you will continue to live. You will stay in telepathic contact with your second selves in the New World at all times.
'The resources and goods you send back to Earth will let you avoid the terrible hardships you shall suffer otherwise.
'Remember: we know. We are your children. We love and revere you as our ancestors. We want to help you.
'We have only one thing to ask of you.
'Do not call us Gods.'
TO RECEIVE MORE INSTRUCTIONS, TOUCH AGAIN
This time, it was Sonia Patel who took a step forward and touched the cube. New text appeared on its sides. It said:
TO RECEIVE TIMON IMPLANT KIT, INSERT HAND PALM UP
TO RECEIVE HIBER BED, INSERT HAND PALM DOWN
TO RECEIVE DOCUMENTATION, INSERT HAND PALM SIDEWAYS
TO REVERT TO THE LIST OF LANGUAGES, TOUCH AGAIN
"Please," said Olaf Troll. This was the first time anyone had ever heard Olaf Troll utter the word 'please'. It was so unusual that both Sonia Patel and Nelson Odongo turned to stare at him, eyes wide with amazement.
"Can I be the one who does it?" asked Olaf Troll. In spite of the tension hanging in the air, Sonia grinned. The secretary general cleared his throat, and said:
"Of course. Please do go ahead, my dear fellow."
Nelson Odongo had studied political science at a college that was part of the famous University of Oxford in England. He habitually assumed the style of speech he'd learned while studying there to hide confusion and uncertainty: it worked very well, most times. Touching the cube was one thing; inserting a hand into it was another. He was perfectly happy to let Olaf Troll try it first.
Olaf Troll stepped up to the cube. He noticed that everyone was looking at him as if he was a hero. This was new to him, and he basked in the adoration. He noticed that most delegates took a couple of steps back from the stage; a few faces had turned pale with fear.
He pushed his hand into the cube, holding his palm sideways.
It felt as if he had put it into a bowl of warm water. Then he distinctly felt something being pressed into his hand. He grasped it, and pulled his hand out.
He was holding a scroll, a rolled-up sheet of thin material resembling paper or plastic. But it was neither; for one thing, it was practically weightless. It felt as if he was holding air, if holding air was at all possible.
He saw everyone was watching him with eyes full of fear and admiration, and stopped himself from smiling at the last moment. He forbade himself to smile, ever. It did not fit the image he wished to project.
He unrolled the scroll with a pointedly careless flip of his wrist and peered at it. The material glowed softly, just like the cube. The glow made it easy to read the text, and see the numerous diagrams on the scroll in spite of the darkness in the room.
He said:
"English. Why isn't this in Norwegian? I am Norwegian."
"I'm awfully sorry," said Nelson Odongo. "I selected English."
"Hmph," said Olaf Troll. He peered at the text and diagrams on the scroll and added:
"This appears to be a set of instructions for travel, excuse me, for replicating one's own self on the Earth-like planet called the New World. Hmmm... It seems to be very simple. All that's needed is something called a Timon Implant. I -"
"Stop," said Nelson Odongo. Everyone looked at him. He said:
"As secretary general of the United Nations, I request that we first agree on a procedure. To begin with, every delegate present should acquaint themselves with this document. Then we can vote on the next step that should be taken."
There was a murmur of agreement from everyone in the chamber.
"Shouldn't we have lunch first?" said an overweight general, who ruled a small island nation in the Caribbean. A few titters were heard.
Nelson Odongo frowned.
"This isn't the right time to be flippant," he said gravely. "Order, please! Will everyone kindly line up to my right, and I will distribute copies to everyone in turn. Please state your preferred language as you step up to receive your copy."
All over the world, people were dying by the million. But in spite of the darkness, in spite of everything it was business as usual inside the United Nations building.
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