Tales of the Multiverse

The Holy Galactic Empire Episode 05 - Priesthood Doctor Anderson wore a full medical suit. It was little different from a space suit one would wear in the vacuum of space. The most obvious difference from the outside was the mark of Caduceus upon her left shoulder. It was a black staff entwined with two white serpents. While the room she stood in was not a hard vacuum it was kept at a roughly half that of the building. The low pressure was a safety precaution as Doctor Anderson had no desire for whatever had caused the deaths of the three people on the tables to be allowed to spread. The low pressure meant that any air flow would be into the room instead of out.  Patricia was preparing to start the second autopsy. Subject 2, the adult male. Patricia had to force herself to think of the corpses with dispassionate labels. Subject 1, the adult female. Subject 2, the adult male. Subject 3, the adolescent female. If she let herself think of them as mother, father, and daughter, ...

The Holy Galactic Empire Episode 04 - Rendezvous for  Interrogation Captain Brisbin watched as the shuttle settled down onto the landing pad. She had to work to keep her simmering fury from showing on her face. After the Osprey had been the first and only ship to even come close to an effective defence against these raiders, she had been quickly and unceremonious recalled to Fleet HQ. Alison had been given no reason for this recall order. Then a shuttle had hailed giving generic admiralty codes and requesting a rendezvous. She strongly suspected that whatever the reason behind this shuttle, it was only going to make her angrier.  The shuttle's hatch hissed open and a marine Alison didn't recognize strode out. The marine wore standard Dutchy marine uniform. The marks of rank marked her as a Captain. The unusual thing was the lack of any other badges on the uniform. There were no medals of certification or accomplishment. There was no badge of assignment.  G...

I was dreaming, in the Other. My body was sleeping in my bed back in my room but my consciousness had entered the Other. Of course, I was not aware of this at the time. I, like many before me, was not aware that my consciousness had left my body at all. At the time, I thought - as many falsely believe - that dreams were my unconscious mind expressing and working things through or some cockamamie explanation like that. My consciousness was falling, air whistling by my ears, the ground rocketing up towards me, fear rising in my throat. My’s arms were flailing, reaching, scrambling, hoping for something to grab onto. I had to find something before I reached the ground. I had to stop my fall. And then suddenly, there was something. My hand clenched around something round and cold, cylindrical. My arm felt like it was suddenly being ripped out of my shoulder as I was wrenched to a halt, but I managed to hold on. I came to rest, hanging from one arm. I stared down at the ground; it wa...

People have thought many things of dreams. They have thought them prophecies, messages from the gods, or boringly thought dreams were their unconscious mind working things out. These are all right, but only in part. Dreams are so much more than that. People have thought many things of death. They have thought it an end, a beginning, one step in a continuing journey. These are all right, but only in part. Death is so much more than that. What people don’t understand is that dreaming and dying are the same thing; the only difference is that you come back from dreaming. When you die, when you dream, you enter the Other. The Other is a place where anything is possible, yet few things happen there of true importance. This is a story of when the course of history flowed through the Other. We begin with the first known act of aggression among those of the Other. The being known as Proll was floating in his domain of endless prairies stretching out as far as he could imagine. The...

Most people would describe me as an oversleeper, a drop out, or a slacker. They would of course be perfectly correct in their description but that is only half the truth. Those who know of the other half of my life - which this tale tells of - have described me as royalty, a great warrior, and a just ruler. Most have called me Andy Smith or Andy for short. No one knows me as Mr. Smith. No one has ever thought me deserving of the title of Mr. Those few who describe me as royalty call me His Highness Sir Anthony the Great, the Bringer of Light and Death, and the First King of the Other. It’s a long title, I know. The full title is used only on formal occasions which I do my best to avoid. I am generally called either Your Highness or Sir Anthony. Those rare few whom I consider friends call me simply Anthony. But I seem to be getting ahead of myself. To tell this tale out of order would be far too confusing for even the nimblest of minds to follow. It is confusing enough told in as l...

The ships will first be noticed only a few days before they arrive. The astronomers that will discover them will think they are just an undiscovered group of comets - at least at first. When they start to change their trajectories the astronomers will begin to realize they aren’t comets. By then it will be too late to do much of anything. The next day, the ships will have arrived. Ships as large as cities. Ships nearly identical to each other as if made on the same assembly line. There will be over a hundred ships that come. The ships won’t float over our cities or our military bases or our nuclear facilities. They will form a grid over our planet, spread from pole to pole. The ships will float above oceans, mountains, deserts, and forests. Only a few of them will be over populated areas more by happenstance than planning.  The great superpowers of the world won’t know how to react. They all will hold off on any military options. Most countries will attempt to make contact, ea...