Chapter Eleven: THE FINAL ENTERPRISE
The Doctor gazed in the direction that Doctor Datson pointed.
Sure enough far away, he could see his friend coming closer and closer. It
looked like the First Officer was on an invisible slide walk. His feet were
still but he was traveling fast in their direction.
And coming just as rapidly from a slightly different direction, came an Angel.
And such an Angel, wild tousled blonde hair, shining blue eyes, and a
multicolored glow-in-the dark robe covered with nebula stains.
The First Officer came to a halt in front of The Doctor and Doctor Datson. He
gazed at his old friend and he gazed at the Angel. He said, "Doctors and
Fireflower, I presume!"
Playfully Fireflower said, "Yup."
The First Officer stared dubiously at the pixilated Angel. He had not expected
an Angel to use slang or to wear a dusty robe. He asked, "Do you not have better
clothing among your possessions?"
"Oh oh!" said Fireflower, "I've been eye browed!"
The First Officer decided to change the subject. "What is the next stage in our
journey?"
Fireflower smiled, "We go find the Captain. We do this by going through the
singularity of the dark hole at Cygnus. Come."
The Angel took off. Everyone followed.
They came to an empty spot in space.
The Doctor swallowed hard. They couldn't see the dark hole, of course. All light
gets sucked into dark holes. Except for Hawking radiation nothing reflects. But
somehow the little group could sense the monstrosity. They could feel it tugging
hungrily at their feet as if gravity was so heavy here even incorporeal beings
could be swallowed up.
Fireflower confirmed that. "Be careful, folks. Hold on to me as we go through
it, and do not let go, not for any reason in the Multiverse! Black holes can be
dangerous."
The Doctor asked, "Doctor Datson told me I was immortal now. So how can there be
any danger?"
Fireflower shook his head, and explained, you are in no danger of being hurt by
the dark hole, or killed. You are immortal. But if you get sucked into it, it
takes several thousand Angels hanging onto one another and fishing around in the
darn thing for decades to get anybody out of one, again. It's a tremendous
nuisance! Where do you think God keeps some of his worst fallen Angels? Also if
you go through it incorrectly you could end up in the wrong when and where.
That's not fatal but it can take a while to find your way back to any area of
the Multiverse you recognize. It takes several trips around the elliptic of time
before any glorified being knows enough about black holes to attempt to travel
them alone, so don't try this by yourself!" Fireflower gave them the firmest
look anyone had ever seen him make.
The Doctor groaned, "I never ever thought I'd wish for the use of a matter
teleporter!"
Fireflower twinkled, "Count your blessings, Doctor! I've arranged all this
shilly-shallying about so you can have a bit of fun before your big mission!"
The Doctor shuddered, "If this is fun, what do you call torture?"
Fireflower gave the Doctor a knowing smile. "Ah, Doctor! To eternal beings
suffering is momentary but joy lasts forever. You'll learn! Now listen! Join
hands. Yes I know it's hard to do. You've been in a ghostly state from your
first beginnings. But you are saved soul programs, NOT ghosts! You can change to
a solid state as easily as you might switch from one mode in a word processing
program to another. You can learn to touch things and to hang on to one another.
It just takes a little time. So everybody practice!"
It did indeed take quite a while. The First Officer made the first successful
attempt by managing to hang on to The Doctor's left hand. Then Fireflower
grabbed The Doctor's right hand, and Doctor Datson's left hand.
"Everybody hang on!" Fireflower exclaimed, "Here we go!"
The trip was like nothing they had ever experienced before. Fireflower hit the
dark hole at an angle going as fast as they had ever seen him travel. The Angel
hung on to the Doctors like a dog to a bone and the Doctor hung on frantically
to the First Officer. For a few frightening seconds it felt as if they were
going to be sucked into the monster. Then Fireflower gave an enormous tug in the
opposite direction and suddenly they were free!
"Whew!" said the Doctor, "I feel like a baby that's just had a hard delivery!"
The First Officer nodded and said, "For once I agree with you, Doctor."
Bubbling over with curiosity, they looked around at their new surroundings.
There was nothing to see at all, nothing; except the Captain!"
"Hello there!" said the Captain. "The two of you are a sight for sore eyes!"
"That is mutual, Captain," the First Officer said, "Where are we?"
"We are slightly beyond the edge of forever," the Captain stated. He pointed
behind him. "All the universes are back there in that direction. We're out too
far to see their light! In that direction, according to Fireflower, lies the
Great Unknown Everything!
The Doctor grumbled, "And what are we doing out here other than taking in the
view!"
Fireflower smiled mysteriously, "It's about time I explained your history and
your destiny."
Fireflower spread his arms wide as if to embrace the entire Multiverse. "Long
ago, folks, the Earth was alone with its own terrified imagination. It did not
look to the people of Terra as if Humankind would survive past its discovery of
nuclear power. The surrounding Universe was also imagined to be unfriendly, full
of dangerous monsters and inhuman intelligences who would as soon crush a Human
as cockroach. Even as Humankind made its first baby steps out into space, most
Humans remained blind to their own great future, and terrified of it. Earthlings
were miserable. God ached for them. He longed to comfort His children!"
Fireflower smiled, "God has always sent Earth prophets to announce the future,
and so He did again. But the people of the Twentieth Century were not as
believing as the people of Biblical days. Twentieth Century Humans would only
believe the truth if it was presented to them as a lie. So God sent to them a
prophet who did not speak to the world with papyrus or ink but with film and
videotape."
Fireflower gazed lovingly at the three. "This prophet painted a future that was
hopeful and kind, a Universe full of aliens who were fun to know instead of
being frightening. He did it in the form of a fictional Universe he put on
television. This Universe is quite a bit different from the real universe but
only in minor piddling details. In every way that counts; the way of the heart
and the kindnesses of one creature towards another, this fictional Universe is
quite accurate."
"Folks, you were part of this Universe, fictional characters that God made real
because so many of His creations felt so much love for you that you had to be
part of Heaven for Heaven to be Heaven. You are bold explorers that went with
deeply loved friends to where no one had ever gone before. We need you guys!'
Fireflower gazed at the great darkness that was before them. "Billions of life
forms love science fiction. This was true only among Humans at first, but then
as television waves and later Humans themselves started spreading out beyond
Earth, Fans spread like wildflowers all across the Multiverse. Shortly after the
Human actors that played you and your crew became too old for the parts, and
passed on, computer simulations became possible that were so accurate they
couldn't be told from real actors doing real films. More films were done.
Millions of books were written. Each generation added to the legend. Episodes
were filmed that even included the presence of real E.T.s among the bridge crew.
By the time real Humans reached out into deep space there were already several
real star alliances out there, all inspired by the show."
Fireflower smiled, "but even more time has passed since those early days. All
intelligent species have made even more great progress since starships were
invented ages ago. We've explored all the galaxies and all the known universes.
We have evolved long past the need for starships and now it is time to go beyond
the Multiverse we know in quest of other multiverses. The Being we love, respect
and worship as the Most High wants to know if He is the only 'I Am Who I Am'
there is, or if there are other multiverses and other Most Highs somewhere out
there, beyond the supervoid!"
The Captain swallowed. "How can we ever do a thing like that!!?"
Fireflower grinned. He clapped his hands together soundlessly in the airless
void. Suddenly like a submarine surfacing a brilliant starship appeared. It was
the same ship the Captain knew and yet it was much more than that, a
multicolored rainbow of shining light that shone in the darkness like a neon
Phoenix. The Captain and the Doctor gasped and the First Officer raised an
eyebrow. She was the prettiest thing they had ever seen!
Fireflower grinned wide as the Cheshire Cat. "She's not a starship anymore. She
is a multiverse ship, and she is yours! It may take all the eternities in
existence, but if any beings can find out if there are other realities out
there, beyond ours, you can!"
The Captain exclaimed, "My Crew?!!!"
Fireflower nodded, "They are all aboard, Captain, every single one of them. All
those and a billion others from every era of science fiction in the Multiverse.
The ship also contains beings from other science fiction universes that are
compatible with your universe, hundreds of them! Go boldly folks where no life
form AT ALL has ever gone, into the multivoid itself. God speed! And someday
come back to us."
On the ninth day God created Multiverse travel.
And it was good.