Wayward

Revelations Part One

Tib sat in the command room of the Core staring at the blinking and ever changing displays in front of him. He was trying to keep his mind from racing as he now knew for certain this shadowy figure in his dreams wasn't just a figment of his imagination. He knew he had to figure out what it was, at least then he would finally have some answers. Why would he be the one it kept showing itself to? There has to be a logical explanation for what exactly it was. That thought set the wheels inside Tib's head in motion. Tib was beginning to calm down as his rational demeanor took over. He knew he would have to talk to Lark. He tried to force himself to think positive while he leaned over and grabbed his padd from his satchel he always had hanging from his desk. "When is she off next?," Tib asked himself while scrolling through shift manifests. Tibs wrist comm chirped as it was getting a message. "Tib, have you gotten the briefing for our survey yet," he could hear Lark's voice say. "Right on time," Tib said quietly to himself. "No, I haven't is there something out of the ordinary with it?," Tib said beginning to worry a little. "Yeah there is," Lark said, "Maxwell is putting me down as a 'willingly unassigned company,' and it's not just for this expedition, Tib, Maxwell has us marked down for two." Tib knew what that meant. If anything were to go wrong at Lark's sphere of command then it could lead to court-martial or even worse-dismissal. But the fact that they had been scheduled for two surveys? It seemed as though Maxwell wanted something to go wrong. And maybe that's just what he wanted.  "Were just going to have to work around it," Tib said with defeat in his voice. "Fine," Lark said irritated. "Look, Lark, I've got a theory about our mysterious 'demon,' when are you off next so we can look into it together?," Tib said hoping she would give an answer corresponding with a time before they were meant to depart the planet below. "Tib I'm not schedule for Core time until after were back and you'll be done in 30 minutes or so, correct?," came Lark with her usual sarcastic tone. Tib checked the time on his display screen, and felt stupid for not being as in-tune with the workplace as he usually was. "Yeah, that's right," he said quietly. "Deck 38, Lab 24," Lark said as she ended the comm transmission. 

Tib sat back lazily in his office chair, which was unusual but with how slow things were going was quickly becoming a habit. As much as he would like the time to move quickly he would have to just sit here and let it past by. As Tib began to pan around the almost complete view of the Core from his office, he suddenly noticed the main lift reaching the end of a descent. "Wonder who it could be," Tib said to himself as not one of the other 50 Core staff were in the office at that time. The lift opened up to reveal Alex, who looked like she was looking for something. Tib could tell immediately that something was him as they locked gazes as she started heading to the office office door. As she entered Tib quickly asked her, "Is everything OK, Alex, you look like something is bothering you?" Tib was caught off guard with her response of, "It's Admiral Maxwell, Sir, there are things you need to know now." In short amount of time they had known each other, Tib had grown to trust Alex, even considering her a friend, although this was unknown to the Ensign herself. As Tib started to let that statement weigh in he noticed the look in Alex eyes that conveyed seriousness and honesty. "When are you scheduled for?," Tib asked reaching for the command center controls. "I'm supposed to be starting in five minutes, Sir," Alex said while adjusting her stance and looking at what Tib was doing with the Engineering computer. "Well, you're not anymore, we're both going to Deck 38, but you'll have to go before me, contact Lt. Com Calot and tell her to be expecting you, Alex," Tib said while he switched around the shift manifest. "Yes, Sir," Alex said while rushing out the door to the lift. Tib watched as she boarded the lift, punched in the settings, and eventually the gravity projectors pulled it up along its rails. Once the the lift was out of sight, Tib used his remaining thirty minutes to look into twentieth and twenty-first century theories on the fourth dimension. It started out as a fancy from Tib's collection of old space tales Lark mercilessly joked about, but the more Tib looked into it the more things were lining up. Tib wished more research was had done on it but unfortunately after the earth united in 2099, it was too busy with civil wars too care about anything other than this plane of existence. Tib knew he could eventually get Lark to believe him, but with Alex being there now, he knew he would look crazy. He would be a madman too obsessed with his hobbies to do nothing but spawn more space tales and night terrors. "She would have to see it for herself," Tib said somewhat sad at the thought that he might lose a new friendship. Tib knew that if this being was what he thought it was though, more things than a friendship would be on the line. Tib kept looking at and studying these theories as time went on. Any minute now he would have to get up out of this chair, and the information he carried with him just might change the universe forever. 

"Twenty-two,....Twenty-three,....Twenty-four," Tib said under his breath as his echoing footsteps came to a stop in the empty corridor of Deck 38. Tib knocked on the door and was met with a "What's the password, Tibby?" "Lark can you just let me in, this is serious, you know?," Tib quipped back unamused. "I forgot, you're no fun," Lark said as she finished opening the door to the barely used science lab. "So how long do we have this for?," Tib said while surveying the room, which was covered in old screens and computers. It was small, as far as science labs go, but it had the necessary tools for his explanation. "Until that star goes supernova, and you don't have to worry about Jamesie eavesdropping," Lark said while pointing to a mass of tangled wires in the corner, "that's all of the 'Union approved' listening devices." "That's.......going to be a nightmare to replace," Tib said while looking at the damage done to the bulkheads and ceiling as well. "Well you said it was important, so that means the room gets a important, friendly cleansing," Lark said with a laugh. "Well, anyways, Lark, there's something Alex wanted to show us, before we get to my stuff," Tib said as he walked over to Alex, who was now seated at a terminal. "What's so big that we needed to see it right away, Alex?," Lark said fully intrigued. "This," Alex said while turning the terminal monitor to the two with the same reports she had looked through on it. Lark and Tib read through every single word of it. The Endeavour, the preventable deaths, the ways the crews of the Defiance and the other Terran long range exploration ships were treated, the unequivocal fact that the Terran branch of the Union just did not care anymore, and that the leaders like Maxwell were responsible for it. "Why didn't we see this before, I mean, a lot of us felt like this before but this is poof," Lark said, not only questioning the two others in the room, but also herself and the entire Union of Planets. Tib sat silently in anger. He wasn't showing it but the seething rage inside him had reached its melting point. "I bet that fool is responsible for Kae's death as well as the deaths on that pointless survey," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there is more we don't know about the Triangulum Project or even the planet we are orbiting right now," Alex said as she turned the monitor. "That's most likely fact," Lark said with the usual care free attitude in her voice being completely replaced with seriousness and concern. "So what is it that you think is happening with this being you're seeing, Tib?," Alex asked. Tib looked at her with bewilderment. "Oh, Ms. Calot brought me up to speed while we were waiting for you, if it makes you feel less crazy, I think I believe you." Tib looked at Lark "I trust her and you, Tibby," Lark said as she looked at both of them.  That's all Tib needed to hear, well to put himself at ease at least. Tib walked past both of them and took a seat in front of the terminal which glowed a ghostly blue compared to the dark room beside them. Tib was about to explain his theory. This was a life from not just a figure. "My hunch is that it's a being from the fourth dimension," Tib said while taking the terminal controls from Alex and keying terms for studies on the issue. Tib didn't even turn to see if their faces, he was going to explain this whether they believed his theory of what it was or not. "What?," Lark said with confusion and an unsure tone, while Alex chimed in with, "That actually does make sense." "No, that's utter nonsense," Lark said looking at the two of them. "Back in the early centuries," Tib said while displaying the sources he had for his belief, "it was theorized that beings from the fourth dimension would be able to project themselves into our plane of being through shadows, which would be three dimensional objects, or beings to us." "I think I'm starting to understand where you're going with this," Lark butted in. "In my latest dream I saw where the inhabitants of this world worshiped it like a god," Tib said now having the full attention of both Alex and Lark. "Of course they would," Alex said understanding the theories that Tib was talking about, "a being from the fourth dimension wouldn't be bound to our laws, it would be able to manifest itself however it chooses, do things inconceivable within some limit to us, and wouldn't be bound to one physical form." "Exactly my point," Tib said pointing at Alex, "all of that matches up with our being." "Okay, so we know what our apparition is now," Alex said, "but what about Maxwell, who's to say he doesn't get us killed on our 'survey' mission?" "Leave that up to me," Lark said, with a smirk back on her face, "I'll get us the info we need and more, we'll know if he's hiding something after I'm done getting into the ship's computer." "That's going to cost us all our careers if were found out, Lark," Tib said with concern. "You already said you trust me, Tibby, just go with it," Lark said with a smile and a punch to Tib's shoulder. "Fine, tomorrow we meet in here after Lark is done with the computer and get a plan together to fix all this," Tib said. All three nodded their head in agreement and began to walk to the door to leave. "Make sure to cover your tracks," Tib said to both of them as he set a security lock only he could open on the door to the lab. Alex nodded while Lark shook her head with a smile. Tib knew that Lark could pull a memory heist off, she would just need a little help from him. He knew what he had to da as the three headed to the lift. The group didn't know it yet, but they had just set in motion a story for the generations to come to remember.