My 2014 NaNo Entry

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Thirty

Lamp swept the floor under the telescope in the observatory. He didn't mind being alone doing the work, but he was curious about what was going on around him. Cobalt was out for lunch, and Lamp figured that it would be easier to clean up the place with everyone gone so he wouldn't be getting in their way. He noticed the two negatives in the blink box and quickly figured out how to work the apparatus. He had decent close in eyesight without his glasses and he quickly noticed the significance of the two plates. He noticed the dates marked on the negatives and the pile of others nearby. Before long, Lamp had been swapping out the plates and making his own comparisons He noticed a pattern in the images buried deep within another.

Cobalt walked in to find Lamp's head buried in the view port of the blink box, the broom leaning against the wall, and a spotlessly swept floor, except for a large pile of dust that needed the attention of the dust bin.
“Has my janitor decided to change jobs with me?” Cobalt asked in a laughing voice.

“I'm sorry!” Lamp apologized. “I noticed what you were doing and I became curious.”

“Don't worry about it.” Cobalt replied. “Did you see anything that caught your interest?”

“Yeah, I think I did.” Lamp said. “I was moving the plates around and I saw how they changed over a long term. I then compared two plates from different days and didn't see much of anything, until I left two of them in the same side at once by accident.”

Cobalt looked at what Lamp had been just looking at. He saw the second level pattern that he had been missing.
“What the ….!” he muttered.

“Did I find something important?” Lamp asked.

“Yeah.” Cobalt said. “You just showed me how blind I am. I now need to re-run all of my testing again with this new wrinkle. I think you've just discovered the very well hidden glitch in the fabric of the universe that I was looking for.”

“Gee, I didn't ...” Lamp stuttered as he got back to work with the dust bin and left the room.

Uran entered with the twins in the stroller. Cobalt smiled when he saw the two children now sitting up and actively playing with a row of large beads strung in front of them.

“So, how goes the research?” she asked.

“The blind have started to lead the blind.” Cobalt told her.

“Explain?” she asked.

“Lamp was sweeping up and he started to mess around with my plates in the blink box while I was out to lunch,” he explained. “somehow, he managed to try a simple double exposure comparisons between three different plates. The result shows a significant shift in the background in the third dimension that wasn't visible any other way.”

“Meaning?”

“I'll have to rerun all of the tests over again.” Cobalt sighed. “But if I'm right, we may have an order of magnitude less time available to us before the universe rips itself apart. I'm now sure that Atom was right, we probably have a month or two at the most before everything comes to an end. I hope Atom returns soon.”


Atom spend most of the day harvesting enough lumber to build a raft. They had come upon a small stand of trees suitable for the construction of a water craft, and the path ahead of them had begun to narrow with no good way to proceed, except on the river itself. Rock gathered vines from the underbrush, where he was glad to be properly dressed again. Atom didn't seem to mind the undergrowth rubbing against his skin. He had become quite tan from the exposure to the sun, and Rock admired the darkened tone of his complexion.

The raft was ready as the first of the sun began to drift below the horizon. Since there wasn't any good spot to spend the night where they were, and the night sky was lit by the presence of the companion body's refraction of the sun, they decided to launch their craft and set sail to look for a suitable place to land along the river bank further down. Atom stood up and polled the bottom to push them along. The river bottom dropped off rather slowly from shore, so he could use the push pole to propel them out until the current grabbed them. He had also made two pairs of oars and had attached a rudder for steering.

They were soon far enough from shore to pick up the gentle current and now they were moving more rapidly. Atom could easily make out the shoreline on the nearest side of the river and after an hour of travel he spotted a good place to make land for the night. He instructed Rock to grab an oar and the two of them rowed from opposite sides of the raft until they hit the shallows and jumped out to push themselves aground.

After a breakfast of river trout caught by Atom, they continued their way on the water. They traveled for several hours before rounding a bend in the river where they could make out what appeared to be the remains of a large city on the horizon. A cold breeze came in causing Rock to shiver, but it didn't bother Atom in the slightest. By the end of the day, they were still a days travel from the approaching city, and once again made landfall to spend the night. They consumed the last of the smoked pig they had squirreled away and added fresh picked grapes and nuts they found growing in the wild.


Uran's twins were growing rapidly. Tetsu lifted himself up using his forearms and begged Titan to pick him up. When his daddy didn't arrive in time he let out a blood curdling scream that shook the windows and caused the roller shades to snap into the open position and fall out of place. The energetic lad managed to get to his feet and took a step and a half before loosing his balance and fall onto the soft carpet. Uran smiled at her son's performance. Argon was quite happy to just sit and chew on her pacifier.
The children's teething had made breast feeding a bit more painful, but Uran still got great enjoyment out of it. Titan would feed one using a bottle of pre-pumped breast milk while Uran served fresh to the other. She had tried two at once, but that proved too distracting to Tetsu, who was so jealous of his sister that he'd push her away from the left boob while he was attached to the right.

Uran remained in mental contact with her older brother, and reported to Cobalt and Titan almost every little detail that was happening. She left out his handling of Rock, since that was Atom's own personal space.


The raft finally reached the waterfront of the city. They approached what appeared to be a dock along the river. They tied themselves up next to the slip and walked towards the shore. They were now definitely in what had once been a ship yard area that served river traffic in the now abandoned city. The devastation wasn't as total as the legends had told, most of the buildings were still recognizable for what they were, and many were mostly intact. The streets were littered with debris, and small rodents could be seen scampering about. The rats at least had survived.

They entered what must have been a library for there were many books lying about on the floor next to shelves that had toppled over. Both of them began a search for any information that would tell them what this part of the planet had once been, or what had really happened. Rock came across what looked like an Atlas filled with maps. The topology of the planet had been mapped and Atom now saw just how different the Earth was since the time that he had known it. All of the continents had merged together in a continuous band around the equator with two large oceans, one at either pole. A long river ran spiraling through the only land mass, peeling it like an apple as it dumped the water from one ocean to the other. Atom wasn't sure how that could be, however he theorized that a double layer current could exist with the water traveling in one direction along the top and the other in a reverse current at the bottom. The two layers might swap direction on a seasonal basis. He'd let Cobalt figure it out, but the map did explain the river and where it was leading them.

They continued to explore the old city, searching for anything that might be useful to them. According to the map, there were two other large urban centers further down the river, both of them larger than this one. A legend on the map indicated something special about the second city, which was the larger of the two. A heavy line on the map surrounded a portion of this city as if to indicate that the area was earmarked for a special purpose. Atom wanted to continue on, he still needed to find the lost technology that his inner sight told him was hidden in the ruins of one of the two cities, probably in the marked off section of the second. He also felt that there he would find the answers to his questions about what he was supposed to do.

Rock located a store that had usable warm clothing, and he happily exchanged the thin material he was wearing for a warmer outfit. The weather was getting colder the further north they traveled, and the summer was fading into fall. Rock handed some warm underwear towards Atom. “You might want some of these” he told his companion. “Or haven't you noticed the cold winds yet?”

“Thank you for your concern.” Atom said, “But I'm quite OK the way I am. My body no longer requires external insulation from the cold. I don't know why, but I do know that I would quickly become sick if my skin were not able to breath with direct contact to the air.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Thirty One.

Rebeca appeared in the doorway of Uran and Titan's house dressed in the gray robes and veil of the priesthood. She spoke softly without any inflection or modulation of her voice. Her appearance and mannerism were as nonthreatening as possible.
Uran was hesitant about inviting her in, but Titan and Cobalt (who was visiting) encouraged her to accept the witch's presence.

“How can we help you?” Uran asked.

“I'm looking for your brother.” Rebeca replied. “I know that you can see him in your mind.”

“After you turned him into a monster?” she said curtly.

“He's not a monster, he is now my equal and I don't consider myself a monster.” Rebeca said. “Besides, it was ultimately his own choice. I only showed him the path that his destiny lay in. He accepted to follow it without any coercion. You know that to be true.”

“Yes, I have read that in his mind.” Uran admitted.

“So you are aware of where he is?”

“Not exactly.” Uran said. “I know that he is traveling northward along the river looking for something. He told me that he had a quest ahead of him to find the answers he needed to fulfill his destiny, something about providing the seed for the creation of the next universe. I don't understand all of it, but I think I know what is happening. Cobalt has seen it via his observations at the observatory. What I do know is that my brother is still looking for the answers to his questions, and for the technology that he says is buried in the forbidden lands. He has already revealed that they have found one large city in ruins and are going to search for the two remaining ones.”

“They will find nothing at the second site.” Rebeca told them.

“What about the third?” Cobalt asked.

“He will find our destiny at the third.” Rebeca answered.

“How do you know?” Cobalt asked.

“I have been there in a previous life,” Rebeca told them, “for I have also been resurrected once before. Atom will find the key to our destiny and I should be by his side when he does for he will need my assistance.”

“Atom said he will send for us when it is time” Uran answered.

“Then I will come along as well.” Rebeca told him.

Cobalt bit his lip before speaking.
“At my brother's instruction I have started the construction of a vessel to travel down the river to meet up with Atom when the time comes.” He said. Atlas has been at work casting the metal to lay down the keel of the ship. I've hired some of the townspeople to help with the construction of a shipyard and work has already begun on the ship. We hope to have it ready in time to join Atom when he contacts us.”


They spent the night in the abandoned store. It was already dark outside, and rather than make their way back to their raft, they made use of bedding they found to make themselves comfortable. Atom hummed softly, creating the modulating tones in his voice. He directed his mind at Rock and forced his thoughts into his companion's mind. He read in Rock complete submission. Atom was now sure that he was in complete control over Rock as the imprinting had been accomplished, and there would be no more need to satisfy Rock's sexual desires.

Atom reached out with his thoughts and inner vision, and his mind found Rebeca and he realized that she had been looking for him. Now he longed for her because he knew that part of his destiny was to create the true heir to the universe, the soul that would cross over to the next. That could only be the child of an Elder Mother and an Elder Father. Atom now knew that he had been transformed into the first Elder Father of the priesthood in many centuries.

The second city was a week's journey from the first. The river current had slowed as the body of water widened towards the north, and they had to resort to using their poles and paddles to make any progress. At first they didn't want to make land fall, for there it appeared that there would be nothing at all for them here. All of the buildings had been totally destroyed, decay and ruin were everywhere. The air smelled of an acid smoke, and at night they thought they could see fires burning in the ruins.

“I thought that this place had been destroyed millennia ago.” Rock said. “How could it still be burning?”

“There must be something fueling the fires.” Atom said. “I want to investigate.”

They found a place to dock their raft close to one of the burning areas, but a safe distance away. Rock lit the way through the smoky darkness using a torch lantern he had found at their previous stop. Atom noticed puddles of an dark liquid on the ground seeping up from below the Earth. The liquid had a strange odor that made Rock dizzy when he sniffed it.

“This is some kind of fuel oil.” Atom told him. “There must be a very sizable amount of the stuff stored deep underground that even now is making its way to the surface and continues to fuel these fires.”

“That reminds me of something I've forgotten.” Rock said.

“Yes, back in the 20th century when oil wells deep under the sea broke free from their anchors and spilled they contents into the ocean unchecked for decades.” Atom said. “That was a disaster of incredible proportions that caused much of the global warming that eventually destroyed life on earth, sending mankind into deep space to look for new worlds to conquer.”

They were back in the raft before nightfall, rowing slowly to find the current. They drifted all night, and into the morning, and then once again had to resort to the power of their muscles to make their way northward. They had no provisions with them, and the river contained no fish. Rock's stomach growled for the lack of food, Atom contained his hunger and rowed while Rock could not. It took them several days to get past the stench of the second city and find a place to make landfall where they could find something to eat.

They found a patch of wild corn growing along the river and picked as many ears of the grain as they could hold. Atom started a fire and boiled the vegetable two ears at a time in his pot. They ate their fill and satisfied their hunger, but Atom knew it was not enough. He smelled venison in the tall grass by the river and stalked his prey for hours while Rock sat at their camp. Hours later, Atom returned with a large buck he had shot with his bow and arrows. He prepared the meat as he had done before with the wild pig, and they finally had good protein to eat.

The third city was a good distance away, and with the river current going flat it would take them some time to make it there. Atom prepared a sail from cloth they had brought with them from the first city, and he made a mast from wood he cut down along the river. A good breeze picked up, and Atom tacked north against the wind. Rock worked the sail while Atom held the rudder. Their progress was now slow, but steady. Slowly the towers of the third city rose in the horizon.

Atom's inner vision told him that they would find what they were looking somewhere in the city that lay ahead of them. He felt the death knells of the universe pulling at his insides, it would not be much longer before the fabric of the cosmos began to unravel. It would soon be time to summon Uran and Cobalt. He reached out for Rebeca in his mind. Her presence would also be required.

Atom looked toward Rock who was busy working the oar of the raft. He hoped that his companion would be able to help him find what he knew was hidden somewhere in the city that loomed ahead of them.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Chapters 32 through 35 are ready to be posted. The final chapter, 36, still needs more polishing. The Novel now stands at over 55,000 words.

Thirty Two.

Cobalt was surprised when the army of monks showed up at the dry dock demanding to work on the river boat. Atlas put them to work immediately and the work output doubled overnight. The work force was divided into several shifts, and construction on the ship continued all day and all night without stop. The iron keel of the craft was quickly laid down, the ribs welded into place. The hull quickly rose upon its framework and the steam engines were lowered into place. Two massive side wheels were dropped into position and two boilers with smoke stacks welded into place.
Rebeca showed up at the dry dock to take credit for the labor force. “You sent the monks here, didn't you,” Cobalt asked her.

“Guilty as charged.” Rebeca said. “If I'm to hitch a ride with you when the time comes, I thought I might as well pay for it in some way. Besides, we are running out of time.”

Atlas thought Cobalt's design was ugly, and he wasn't afraid to tell him so. They argued about what to name the craft for several days before its launch. Atlas insisted on calling it the 'Iron something' since it was made of cast and forged iron in his blacksmith shop. Uran was impressed by the size of the steam engines that Cobalt had rebuilt from wrecks found in one of the abandoned buildings he was working in. Titan though that the ship reminded him of a penguin, because its wide hull and narrow upper body seemed fat at the bottom and skinny at the top, like the comical polar region flightless fowl waddling down the ice. All of the ideas stuck, and she was named the “Tetsuwan Penguin”.


Lamp was sweeping out the rubble in one of the factory like buildings that Cobalt had put on his “round tuit” list, meaning he'd investigate what was in there when “he got a round to it.” The idea was totally Lamp's, his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and Cobalt had told him that if he had nothing better to do, he might as well start cleaning out one of the unexplored buildings and take inventory.

He'd made his way down to the second level basement when his hair started standing on end. There was a definite electrostatic charge down there and late at night he could dimly see something glowing under the pile of rubble in the middle of the floor. Lamp spent several days digging out the place with his bare hands when he came across the object. It was about a foot in diameter and two feet long. It wasn't very heavy considering its size and shape and the fact that it was glowing with a blue light. The damn thing was magnetic, sort of. It attracted more than just iron though, all sorts of metal was attracted to it by some kind of field that it radiated, and the better the conductor of electricity a material was the more it was attracted to this thing.

Cobalt carefully examined the object and realized that it literally did not belong in this universe. He concluded that it contained a chunk of anti vacuum, something left over from the big bang that had failed to go off. Being a chunk of an unborn universe, the cylinder's contents could be tapped for energy with an almost unlimited reserve. It was the elusive zero-point vacuum power source that science fiction claimed could power the universe.

Cobalt figured out a way to use the strange thing as an electric power generator, and he installed it in the riverboat. He got rid of the coal bunkers and fire pits under the boilers in the Penguin's engine room, and installed electric arc furnaces powered by the ZPM module that Lamp had found under each of the ship's boilers. He figured that Lamp's discovery would enable him to double the speed that his craft would be able to make on the river.

Tetsu chased his sister Argon around the boat while Uran kept after them. The two toddlers were growing up quickly, at a rate that was obviously far faster than normal. Cobalt understood what was happening, as the universe's expansion rate sped up, time itself was accelerating. He watched as seedlings grew into flowing plants almost overnight, young hatchlings sprouted wings and left the nest within days of being born, and caterpillars completed their life cycles within hours. The strange images that Lamp had found on his plates were confirmed by the observations of time's movement all around him. Cobalt wished he had an atomic clock to actually measure what was happening, but the more basic measurements he could make revealed the truth. The universe didn't have very much time left. They would feel the big rip very soon now, perhaps Atom would not be in time to save them from it.

Uran woke in the middle of the night to find Tetsu tugging on her sheets. He'd walked from his room with his sister Argon following right behind him.
“Mommy, I'm scared!” he cried out. “I had a bad dream.”

“So did I,” Argon cried. “I dreamed we were all falling forever in the dark.”

Uran hugged the two children and pulled them into bed with her. Titan rolled over to make room for his offspring in the king sized bed. Atom's image appeared in the back of Uran's head.

“It's time.” he said. “I've found what I've been looking for. I need you all here as soon as possible.”

Uran got out of bed and opened the phone link to Cobalt's dormitory. Cobalt knew that the time would be soon that Uran would get the message he was waiting for from her brother. He'd installed a phone line between her estate and his campus and he'd been waiting for her call. The phone rang and he got out of bed.

“It's time to launch the Penguin.” Uran said. “Atom is ready for us.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Thirty Three

.

The Tetsuwan Penguin had been constructed at nearly twice the size that Cobalt had originally planed. The army of monks had worked 25/7 (the day on this planet was longer than on old Earth) along with the hired townspeople in building the ship. Rebeca had insisted that the vessel be made larger to accommodate a larger contingent of crew than originally intended, as the 12 priests and two dozen monks were now going to be on board. That in addition to Rebeca, Lamp, Cobalt, Atlas, Mars, Titan, Uran and her two children.

Cobalt estimated that they could make the trip in a under a weeks time. He wasn't sure of the ships top speed, but the available power was more than enough for the twenty knots he was hoping for under full steam, a much faster rate of travel than Atom had been able to make by foot, or on his raft.

The monks carried on board a good stock of food for the trip. Cobalt was bringing as much scientific instrumentation that he could carry, he wanted to be prepared for anything they might find. Rebeca had her own cabin to herself in the forward part of the ship, she locked herself in there with a handful of monk servants.
Titan, Uran and the twins had a cabin of their own, while Atlas, Mars and Lamp shared quarters near the engine room. Cobalt set up a cot in the bridge, he was the captain of his ship and he intended to remain. behind her wheel the whole time.

Atlas and Lamp started the boilers as Cobalt activated the ZPM and the ship lit up with its electric power. The carbon arc furnaces quickly came up to heat and the boilers developed full heads of steam. The escape valves cracked open and the whistles blew. Cobalt moved the throttle forward to the first notch and the two side wheel paddles began to stir the water around the vessel into a frothy foam. The Tetsuwan Penguin left the dock and started north up the river.


The third city appeared slowly as it grew in size over the horizon. They were still a long way off, yet the skyline of the buildings now covered much of their distant field of view.
“It's huge!” Rock cried out, “I don't think Tokyo, Metro City, or New York were even close to that size.”

“It surely must have been a megalopolis.” Atom agreed. “Grab an oar and row with me, we must make the shore as quickly as possible.”

The river lead them towards an inland waterway that led into the city. The channel entered a dark tunnel that took them underground. Atom could tell that the width of the passageway was quite wide, by the echo he heard with each stroke of their oars. Rock turned on his torch and they could see the approaching dock ahead of them. Finally the raft came to a stop and they climbed out onto a grated metal platform. There was a dim light ahead of them, and they started to walk in that direction. Their footsteps echoed within the enclosed area, but soon the reverberations ceased as the walls closed in closer on them. They were closer to the light ahead of them, and Atom noticed that the path they were walking on ramped upward slowly towards the surface. After walking for nearly a half hour they broke out of the dark tunnel and into a well lighted area. It was a glass walled enclosed room with a transparent ceiling. All around them were glass walled rooms with doors, it looked like some kind of an office complex. Rock pressed his face against one of the glass panels to look inside. Atom tried the lock on a door, but found it would not open. Inside the enclosed booth like room Rock could see some kind of advanced equipment that looked like a computer screen with a keyboard. None of the equipment appeared to be operating.

“This seems to be some sort of control complex.” Atom noted.

“But for what?” Rock asked.

They continued along the corridor that they had entered the large space from and reached the far end where there was a large open doorway leading outside into the street. Atom looked up and saw skyscrapers towering upwards perhaps hundreds of stories high. They were walking along a wide boulevard devoid of vehicles, though the road was clearly intended for such traffic. The traffic signals were dark as were all of the lights they had seen in the city. There was no power to operate them.

“It would take us years to fully explore this place.” Rock said. “It's vast.”

“I feel the answer lies here somewhere.” Atom said. “It's time Cobalt joined me. He will know what to look for.”

Atom reached out with his mind and felt Uran. His thoughts were a homing beacon which his sister would have no problem following.


The Tetsuwan Penguin chewed up the distance at a rapid pace. Titan stood at the stern of the ship and watched as the river receded behind them He buttoned his jacket to protect him from the wind laced with the spray of the river. He watched as Tetsu and Argon chased each other around the wheelhouse, he yelled out for them to be careful, the deck was becoming slippery due to the water spray kicked up by the side paddle wheels.

Cobalt wanted more speed and he engaged the twin drive screws under the stern of the craft. He'd added the additional drives at the last minute to the plans, he figured that since they wouldn't be carrying the weight of the coal originally intended as fuel for the boilers he could use the available space to install two additional turbine engines in the place of the coal bins. The high pressure steam from the boilers was now diverted through the turbines before being fed to the pistons of the engines driving the side wheels. Each of these engines had two sets of pistons, a high pressure one that ate the steam first, and a low pressure one that swallowed the exhaust of the first. The two pistons drove connecting rods that turned crank wheels which rotated the large paddle wheels on the ships sides.

The side wheels slowed slightly as the screw drives engaged, but the ship plowed ahead with greater vigor. It's bow lifted up out of the water as Cobalt lowered the sea wings that acted just like their aerodynamic counterparts did to lift an airplane into the sky. With the bow out of the water, the boat became a hydrofoil and skimmed along the top of the river with reduced drag, her speed quickly reached 30 knots.

Uran's mind acted as a location beacon for Atom and he knew how far away Cobalt and company were. They would be there soon enough at the rate of speed they were obtaining. Atom wondered just what kind of craft his brother had invented, knowing him it would be a marvel to behold.


Rock had disappeared from Atoms sight for a brief time, he soon returned holding a large plaque that he had removed from the wall of a nearby building.
“I think this is a map of the area.” Rock said, “But I can't understand the writing,”

Atom scanned the map and took in all of the symbols and lettering. He was somewhat familiar with the script, it resembled the writing he'd seen in the bible that Rebeca had read from in the sanctuary of the priesthood within the castle. He was able to decipher the writing, but he didn't get the terminology.

There seemed to be large areas contained within several buildings not far ahead. The map seemed to indicate that they might be some kind of power stations, but the writing translated as 'drive generators'. The legend at the bottom of the map read “Dillon-Wagoner”, each of the locations was marked as GPG with a number. There were a dozen of these installations, GPG1 through GPG12. There were dotted lines connecting each of the 12 installations to a common area, which appeared to be the glass office area with all of the isolated computer control booths that they had walked from just a few blocks behind their current position.

“I have no idea what these things are.” Atom said. “But my inner vision tells me they are the key to what we are looking for. I hope this is the technology that my inner vision told me I would find. Cobalt will know.”

“I say we take a look at one of these installations.” Rock suggested.

“I agree.” Atom answered.

They followed the map to the closest of the GPG sites, which was GPG7. A small plaque mounted on the wall of a building indicated that they had found the installation they were looking for, but they couldn't locate the entrance. Rock kicked at the ground around the area where the plaque was located and Atom could hear a hollow sound reverberating below the side walk. He bent down on his knees and started wrapping on the ground with his knuckles and he mentally mapped out the area below the concrete. There was a small hole in a metal plate screwed into the slab. Atom dug deep into his backpack and found his swiss army knife he'd taken from the blacksmith shop. He opened the knife and extracted the Phillips screwdriver blade, which was the longest one. He inserted that into the opening in the ground and pushed down. He was rewarded with a small metallic click and the plate snapped up into a raised position. Resting below the now open access was a handle which Atom grabbed and pulled up on. The slab of concrete was hinged and it slowly lifted up to reveal a staircase descending below street level.

“Ah ha!” Atom said. “Gotcha!”

Rock flicked on his torch lamp and illuminated their way down stairs. The descent wasn't very far, just one story level below the street. Sitting inside of a large recessed area in front of the stairwell was what looked like a huge turbine generator. There was a metal plaque on its side that read “Dillon-Wagner Graviton Polarity Generator #7”
Below that written in smaller italic letters was the phrase “Spindizzy 7”

“What the hell does that mean?” Rock asked.

“The hell if I know” Atom said. “That is geek talk that will require Cobalt to understand.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Thirty Four.

The Tetsuwan Penguin followed the river as it turned sharply to the left. Ahead was the first city that Uran's mind had seen though her brother's eyes. The results of a conflict were clearly evident as many of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. Yet, most of the city did remain intact, the streets were mostly passable and signs of repairs were evident. It was almost as if the city had tried to keep repairing itself why the bombardment was going on.

“This doesn't look like the result of a nuclear attack.” Cobalt said.

“No, it looks more like the results of conventional warfare.” Atlas agreed.

“This isn't the city mentioned in the bible.” Rebeca said as she came up on deck. “We haven't come to the second city yet. Then you will see the damage.”

Cobalt slowed the Penguin's engines while he lowered a water scoop below the ship. Several tons of the river water were forced up to refill the tanks for the boilers. He watched as the gauges rose to the full mark and then closed the scoop to complete the refilling operation. Once again he advanced the throttles as the steam pressure gauges rose into the top of the green arc. Cobalt advanced the power lever to the electric arc furnaces and allowed the boiler pressure to rise into the orange area of the pressure gauge as he increased the twin throttles to full. The sea wings bit into the water and the hydrodynamic wings raised the bow out of the water as the screws started to sing out at their top speed. The side wheels spun like crazy. Now on the straight away the Penguin clawed at the river as she reached a speed of 33 knots.

Cobalt watched the CRT screen in the bridge as his radar set painted the return of an echo. The outline of city #2 was being painted on the radar screen, although it was not yet visible on the horizon.
Rebeca looked into the wheelhouse and saw the electronics. “What is this work of the devil?” she asked Cobalt.

“It's not a thinking machine.” Cobalt told her. “The principle of its operation is strictly analog, It's operation is similar to a telescope, but it uses a frequency of light much lower than the optical spectrum.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You could say it sees with sound, like a bat.” Cobalt said

“Very well, I'll accept that.” Rebeca replied. “I can accept spy glasses, if this device is similar to those then maybe the devil has nothing to do with it.”

Cobalt lowered the binoculars from his eyes.
“Tell the kids to get below deck.” he told Uran. “The second city is fast approaching. The sky in front of us is dark with clouds that may contain toxic elements.”

Everyone got below deck except for Cobalt who remained in the wheelhouse. He closed the windows and activated the air recirculation fans. The Penguin had an air conditioning system that scrubbed and cleaned the air below deck and removed excess humidity. The same system was tied in to the wheelhouse. As they approached the city Cobalt retarded the throttle. He kept an eye on the radar and sonar screens to look out for debris floating in the water that could pose a hazard to the ship. He shut down the screws and lowered the bow down to the water level. They slowly past the derelict metropolis at a mere 15 knots, which Cobalt considered to be a safe speed.

The view out of the port holes was frightening. The sky filled with inky black clouds. Smoke rose from the bombed out buildings. Giant creators filled the spaces between the buildings. Rubble, broken glass, and despair were rampant.
“This is the site of the atomic destruction,” Cobalt thought to himself. He wondered if the radiation count had yet dropped and he couldn't wait to be able to advance the throttles of the ship and leave the death and destruction behind him.

Finally, the radar and sonar screens looked clean, there was nothing in the water ahead of them that would have to be circumnavigated. Cobalt pushed the throttles back to the full position and the Penguin resumed her 33 knot race towards the third city where Atom was waiting for them.

Uran returned to the deck with her twins in tow. She knocked on the glass door to the wheelhouse and Cobalt opened it. “We're less than a hundred miles from Atom's position now.” Uran said. “I can feel him strongly in my mind.”

“What have they discovered?” Cobalt asked.

“You'll have to see if for yourself.” She said. “I can't make out the details but it looks like the city was a complex power station of some kind, although all of the energy is dead. Atom seems to have discovered a central control complex connected to an array of strange generators scatter through the city. He has no idea what their purpose is.”

“Well, we are now only about three hours away.” Cobalt said. I guess the mystery can wait that long.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Thirty Five.

Atom and Rock located the remaining eleven generator sites. Like the first one that they had found, most were located either in an underground chamber accessible via a stairway behind a hidden panel in the street, or were in the basement of one of the buildings. In each case the markings on the devices were the same, “Dillon-Wagoner Graviton Polarity Generator”. Atoms limited knowledge of physics led he to assume that the equipment must somehow draw power from gravity waves, though he couldn't see how that would be useful in a metropolitan setting. Surely there were better ways to generate electrical power, and in any case, the city's power grid was stone cold dead.

“I think the answer to all this must be found in that control complex that we first entered after we landed the raft.” Rock said. “I think we need to take a closer look at it.”

“I agree.” Atom said.

They walked back to the control complex to take a closer look at it. The site was centrally located in the middle of the matrix of the GPG sites, which now made sense to Atom. There were 12 of the glass walled control rooms, one per GPG obviously. They then noticed that there was a centrally located control area that was not walled in but was strangely out in the open. A large horseshoe shaped desk containing many control levers, meters, dials and switches, along with several CRT panels and keyboards lie dark and quiet. Several large view screen monitors hung from the ceiling in clear view of the operator's position at this main control point, all of them were dark.

Behind the desk, standing on the floor, was a large square box with a hinged lid. Atom tried to lift the lid, and discovered that it was unlatched and would open with some effort as it was quite heavy. There was a cylindrical shaped space inside of the box that seemed to accept some kind of plug in module about a foot in diameter and two feet tall. A heavy connection at the bottom with a twist lock mount would connect to some unknown module that was missing from the box.

“Whatever it is that was the key to operating this system went in there.” Rock told Atom.

“I think you're right.” Atom agreed.


The radar screen was now returning solid blips and the outline of the third city was quite prominently visible on the horizon. Cobalt magnified the image on the screen and noticed a passage way off to the side that seemed to lead into an underground harbor.

“They went that way.” Uran said, pointing at the image on the radar. “I can see it in my mind through my brother's eyes.”

“Right.” Cobalt replied as he slowed the RPMs of the Penguins four steam engines. He took the turn to the right and steered the ship into the channel leading into the city. The Penguin's bow dropped to the water level as the sea wings were retracted. He shut down the screws and slowed the side paddle wheels to one quarter throttle. The ship glided along the waterway and entered a tunnel slanting downwards under the city. Cobalt switched on the flood lamps at the bow of the ship to illuminate their passage through the underground tunnel. The sound of the ships paddle wheels splashing through the water reverberated in an echo between the walls of the tunnel.

“It's spooky down here” Tetsu cried in fear.

“I'm scared!” Argon cried, and the twins hugged their mother's legs.

Cobalt switched on the deck lights and the walls of the tunnel became brightly illuminated. “There's no reason to fear the dark,” he told the children, “Especially when I have the power to make it go away.”

The radar began to beep loudly once a second. Cobalt slowed the engines more and stared ahead into the darkness. The beeping was now faster, twice a second , indicating that they were closing in on the end of the tunnel. Now the search lights showed the edge of a dock approaching. Cobalt suddenly threw the paddle wheels into full reverse, but it was too late. There was a loud crunching noise as the bow of the ship smashed into the raft that was floating in their path. The ship came to a full stop and Atlas jumped from the bow to the metal grating of the dock with a rope in his hand. He tied the ship to a railing and then returned for a second line to insure that they would not swing round and hit the dock.

“Well I guess we destroyed Atom's handiwork.” Cobalt said. “I don't think we caused any damage to the Penguin though.”

Cobalt aimed the ships searchlights down the length of the tunnel and left them on full intensity. He handed each of the crew a portable flashlight as they departed the ship and stepped upon the metal grating of the dock. “Are you coming with us?” Cobalt asked Rebeca.

“Yes, I am.” she said. “Should I leave any of the monks on board to guard the ship?”

“Might not be a bad idea,” Cobalt thought, “Though I doubt that there is anybody alive in this place.”

“I agree.” Uran said. “I am picking up nothing except for Atom and Rock with my ESP.”

“She's right.” Rebeca said.

The small army marched along the dark corridor, and headed towards the light up ahead. They marched along the long tunnel leading upward at a mild incline. The entered the light and the glass walled control room to find Atom and Rock waiting for them. Uran ran towards her brother and gave him a hug.

“Welcome back brother.” Atom told Cobalt. He pointed around him at the glass walled control room they were in.

“This is the first thing we discovered after we landed in this city.” Atom said. “It appeared to be some kind of control room for a power station, but now I'm no longer sure that it's that simple. Over here is what looks like the main console, and there are 12 walled off areas that I'm guessing control subsystems.”

Cobalt looked around and quickly took in what he saw around him. He walked up to the U shaped console and scratched his chin.
“This thing almost looks like the bridge of starship.” Cobalt laughed. “But if that is the case, then where are the warp engines?”

“That's what was in the back of my mind as well,” Atom said, “But only vaguely. As for your warp engines, well maybe we've found them as well. I need you to examine what may hold the answer to this city.”

“Take me to your mystery.” Cobalt said.

“Let's hurry, I have this vision that we need to complete this with urgent haste.” Atom said. They left the control room and headed out into the city outside.

Cobalt followed his brother down the steps and found himself in front of GPG #7. He scratched his head as he walked around the turbine like device, carefully examining every nut and bolt holding it together. He seemed to be talking to himself as he held up the fingers of his right hand at three mutual right angles to each other, forming the X,Y, and Z axis of the Cartesian coordinate system.

“It can't be that simple, can it?” he asked.

“What can't be that simple?” Atom asked.

“It appears that my old classmate Photar might have been right all along.” Cobalt laughed. “An electrical generator uses a rotating a metallic mass within a magnetic field to produce an electrical current. Physics tells us that it is also possible to generate a magnetic field by rotating a mass though a gravitational field. Now this device seems to take things along a third plane, it rotates atomic mass through a magnetic field, like a generator, but it does not involve any conduction current. I think it makes use of both Newton's gravitational constant and Coulomb's constant to invoke its vector of operation. Photar had postulated this device when he wrote his thesis about using the Blackett-Dirac hypothesis to solve the proof of Einstein's unified field theory.”

“Can you say that in English?” Atom asked.

“Sure. This thing is an Anti Gravity engine, a Spindizzy.” he said. “Just how many of them are there in this installation?”

“We counted 12 of them.” Rock said.

Cobalt quickly estimated the mass of the rotator in the turbine and the possible magnetic field available in the field coils. He guessed at the operational RPM of the thing and crunched the numbers quickly in his head.
“Yes, I think it's possible.” he said.

“What!” Atom, Rock, and Titan yelled at him.

“The 12 of these damn things should have enough power to rip this city off of its foundation and hurl it into space. I bet there are tunnels underground lined with explosives to blast the bedrock free under this city and allow these anti-gravity engines to lift it off the planet.”

“Lift an entire city?” Titan asked.

“Sure.” Cobalt answered. “In fact the greater the mass acted upon the more efficient these generators would be. They can easily lift this entire city into space and propel it at greater than relativistic speed.”

“Why the hell would anyone want to do that?” Titan demanded.

“To enter the singularity.” Atom answered. “To get to the ground zero point of the big rip.”

“Huh?” Titan said.

“He's right.” Cobalt face palmed.

“That is what I'm supposed to do, isn't it?” Atom said. “We are to offer our souls as a burnt offering to the cosmos and re-spark creation anew after the universe self destructs.”

“We're still missing something.” Cobalt broke in. “Like how do we power this array of anti-gravity engines?”

“The answer must be in that control center we just left.” Atom said.

They quickly returned to the glass walled conclave.
“I think there is some gizmo missing from this place that is the key to start up the system.” Atom said as he opened the lid to the large box next to the main console. “There is some key module missing that seems to plug right here. Perhaps it's the power source for all of those Spindizzy things.”

Cobalt looked inside and saw the familiarly shaped hollow. Lamp walked up to the box and peered inside.

“Hey that looks like where my ZPM thingy should plug in!” Lamp said.

“You're right!” Cobalt said face palming again. “I think we've brought the power source that runs this place with us.”

“What!” Atom yelled.

“It's plugged into my ship's engine room at the moment.” Cobalt laughed. “Lamp found it buried under the rubble in one of the abandoned buildings that I hadn't explored yet. Near as I can tell, it's a zero-point vacuum energy module with a frozen big bang power source.”


The next chapter will end this story. I still have some more editing to do on it, I'm not yet happy with the way I've got it quite yet...... Stay tuned!

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Here is the final chapter of my story. It all ends now with all of the loose ends (hopefully) tied together.

Thirty Six.

While Lamp and Atlas ran back to the ship to retrieve the ZPM from the Tetsuwan Penguin's engine room, Cobalt shared his knowledge with his brother.
“Lamp has been crucial to everything that has happened, though he accomplished it all by accident.” Cobalt laughed. “He showed me how to analyze the the images on the photographic plates, and discovered that ZPM power source. The universe is rapidly running out of time, in fact time itself has been speeding up, the closer we get to the big rip the more quickly time moves. Uran's twins are maturing at a rapid pace, they are already nearly four years old physically, although they were born less than a year ago. The effects of dark energy and dark matter on the expansion of the universe is accelerating at an increasing pace and we are now in the final stages of the event. Within a few days at the most, the big rip will begin and all mater will tear itself apart. The universe will deteriorate into a very thin cloud of sub subatomic particles and will come to an end.”

“That sounds rather awful” Rock said.

“I did notice one other thing from my observations.” Cobalt said. “This system is very close to the epicenter where the big rip will emanate from. In other words we are very close to ground zero for the big un-bang.”

Atom's mind rapidly ran though a sequences of images that his inner sight was now receiving. He was suddenly absorbed in a revelation that calmed his soul.
“That all makes sense to me.” Atom said. “I guess I've known all along why we have been resurrected on this world and what our purpose is. The universe was created around a sentient seed, a bit of energy that was self aware and alive. It was certainly left over from a previous universe, it was aware of its purpose and it drove the formation of everything, creating order out of chaos. I believe now that this sentient energy is what humans have thought of as God. This sentient energy has kept inventory of all sentient energies that ever came into being in the universe and every soul that ever existed, and it has looked though them all to pick out the ones that will form the matrix of the next universe as the current one nears death. That's what all religions have thought of as the judgment day, though the real meaning of it was never clear to them. It brought us here because this planet is the closest one to the epicenter of the end of one universe and the creation of the next. If we are situated exactly at ground zero at the end, we can influence the event. We can supply the seed for the next creation. The people who built this city knew this, they realized how close to ground zero this planet was, and they built this complex for the purpose of moving the city to the exact spot.”

Atom thought for a moment, then continued. “I'm the key to this, but I can't do it alone. It will require the mental concentration of all the members of the priesthood, the Elder Mother and the Elder Father. The last one is me by the way. We can implant ourselves as the driving force for the next creation.”

“No.” Rebeca said. There is still something missing.”

“What is that?” Atom asked.

“The seed.” she said. “The universe needs a soul to wrap itself around. We can become the matrix of the next universe, but there must be a central seed to wrap our collective souls around. You are correct Atom, God didn't create the universe, he IS the universe. The universe was created with a consciousness which governed it's very existence. At the moment when the old universe dies, a new one can be born, if there is a consciousness to bring it into being. That was the purpose of our order. It was the reason that you came along to ascend to the role of Elder Father, and for me to become the Elder Mother. Now we must create a child, his soul will be that seed.”

“But there isn't time!” Atom sobbed, “The universe will end in only a few days!”

“But time is speeding up rapidly.” Cobalt said. “A child conceived today would be born a few days before the event.”

Rebeca removed her robe and let it drop to the floor. Atom slipped off his G-string and stood naked before Rebeca. They looked into each other's eyes and saw only each other as if the world had dissolved from their view. Atom pressed himself against Rebeca and they copulated. Rebeca saw Atom's sperm fertilize her eggs with her inner vision. Atom also witnessed the event with his. Their lips met in an embrace which they held for several moments. With the act completed, they separated.

Everyone was standing there in awe and Uran was crying. Atlas and Lamp chose that moment to walk in carrying the glowing ZPM module, and Lamp asked “What happened? Did I miss anything important?”

Atom grabbed the ZPM from Lamp and lowered it into place in side the large box. He closed the lid.

Suddenly the lights on the main console came to life. CRT screens all over the room powered on and each of the 12 locked doors to the control rooms snapped open. As if on clue, each of the priests entered one of the 12 rooms and sat in front of the keyboards, acting as if they knew exactly what was expected of them. Rebeca sat down in front of the main console and smiled.
“Our order must have a race memory that seems to have just been activated.” She explained. “This is what we were intended to do, it is our function. I will pilot this starship city to the center of the ground zero point. My priests will monitor the operation of the engines of this ship.”

Cobalt watched as Rebeca activated the main switch. A map appeared on a large screen above her head showing the outline of the city. A red boarder line was displayed within part of the city, and at regular intervals along it flashes of light appeared. Atom realized that the outline on the display corresponded exactly to the large outline surrounding part of the city that he and Rock had seen on the old map. The ground shook as seismic waves reached the complex. Explosions were going off under ground at key locations in the bedrock, tearing the foundation of the city apart. A loud whirling sound filled the air as each of the 12 Graviton Polarity Generators spun up to power. As the spindizzies reached full max spin the ground shook and everyone's ears began to ring with pain.

Through the large glass windows they saw a shimmering silver wall surround the city as the spindizzy field came up to full power. The ground below them began to quiver as a feeling of vertical acceleration became evident. The bedrock below them ripped free of the Earth, and entire city slowly rose upward, leaving the planet behind. Gradually the sky became dark as they rose above the atmosphere of the planet, but the spindizzy field trapped enough of it to enable them to breathe. The city headed out into space, its path was now indicated on a large computer screen above the main control console.
Rebeca was at the controls. She seemed to know exactly where to move the city as they left the dwarf star behind them and moved out into the void of interstellar space. Cobalt looked at the readout on the main console. He could read the coordinate system being used and he saw the target location. He dug into his memory and tried to recall the data from his own observations and realized that they were heading for the exact point in space where he predicted that ground zero for the big rip would be.

Rebeca already was showing, her uterus was distended from the fetus she was carrying. She'd only been pregnant for a few hours, but she now appeared to be at least several months along.

Uran's twins were now as tall as Atom had been when he had been created. They appeared to be nine year olds, and were more than half their mother's height. Cobalt was right, it seemed that the closer to the epicenter of the big rip they got, the faster time moved along. Cobalt watched the screen as the dot indicating their current position approached the 'x' of the indicated target. With the city traveling at 2 or 3 'C', They were now minutes away from station keeping.

“Now what?” He thought.

The city was now sitting at ground zero. Rebeca locked the controls onto autopilot and walked away from the console. She was now in labor pain as her pregnancy had already reached full term. Atom attended her, wiping her forehead with a damp cloth as the first wave of contractions rolled over her body. He looked into her womb with his inner vision and saw that the baby was in the proper head first position, ready for delivery. Rebeca pushed, and Atom could see the crown of the baby's head. She pushed again and Atom held his child in his arms. He cut the umbilical cord with his teeth, and tied off the end. It was a healthy baby boy, who cried out with his first inhale of air into his new lungs.

Cobalt watched as the infant boy that had just been born rapidly grew before his eyes. Time was now moving past them at warp speed. Rebeca and Atom's child now appeared to be about nine years old. Cobalt's jaw dropped as he saw who the boy had become, for Tobio Tenma had been reborn before his eyes. His auburn hair sported the two cowlicks that Umataro had made part of Atom's features.

“Quickly!” Tobio yelled out. “We must join together!”

Rebeca took the lad's left hand in her right, and Atom held his son's right hand with his left. Uran, and Titan pulled the now teenaged Tetsu and Argon close to them and grabbed hold of Atom. Cobalt joined them, with Mars and Atlas holding on to him.
Everything began to grow dark as very fabric of the universe began to grow weak.
Atom reached out one last time with his mind. He called upon the last of his mental energy as the Teska elixir flowing though his bloodstream released the last of its powers into his brain. He saw all of creation swirling about him. He saw God as an image of an old man standing next to that of a young boy. The child had Tobio's face, his hair with two star like cowlicks. The old man removed a crown made of wood from his head and placed it upon Tobio's. The kingdom of creation had been handed over to its next sovereign.

Starting from the very spot where they all now stood, the universe began to unravel. The very fabric of existence was melting away as every particle of matter that ever existed was being torn apart into a thin cold soupy film on the very membranes of the hyperverse.

Atom, Uran, Cobalt, Titan, Tetsu, Argon, Rebeca, Mars, Atlas, and Tobio ceased to physically exist as their corporal bodies exploded into subatomic particles. Their Kokoro merged into a single cloud of concentrated consciousness, a hive mind under the control of the seedling named Tobio, that Atom and Rebeca had created.

Time now stood still, for the invisible forces of eternity operate outside of time itself. Two parallel branes of the hyperverse came together somewhere in the infinite hyperspace and a small bubble of space-time was created. The Kokoro of the multi souled seed entered the bubble which they had been waiting to form, and a new universe exploded into existence around them. Somewhere within the bubble the sentient force began to shape the infant universe. The combined kokoro of their seed watched their creation unfold under Tobio's control. What remained of their minds melded together with his, he learned quickly and began to exert his powers. Already the energy of the new universe was cooling and matter was beginning to condense out of the hot bubble of creation. Their minds guided Tobio's who was now shaping the foundation of creation as stars and planets formed over billions of years. Their combined wisdom and kindness would rule over all of creation for another trillion years.

After that? Well I hope the story will continue again and again.

The End

With the new year rapidly approaching the ending of this story probably has some soulful meaning, though I did not consciously intend this.
The idea of Atom and Rebeca giving rebirth birth to Tobio did give me the idea of who Rebeca might have been in reincarnated form. That however would have been rather incestuous, so I dropped the idea!

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I've been Posting this story up on FF.net.
The version up there is the "T" rated version with the 'MA' content removed.

Here is a link to the story:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11163859/1/All-There-Ever-is-or-Ever-was-or-Ever-will-be

Four chapters are posted so far and there will be one more coming.

The story still does have the relationship between Uran and Titan in it, but in my head cannon they are NOT blood related siblings anyway. In their reincarnated human form in this story they are actually 'cousins' so we are NOT talking about incest here.

BTW Photar is mentioned in the story.

[Earthshine]

Will you post this on AO3 (Archive of Our Own)? That way you don't have to edit out the mature content and the site gets more Astro Boy fiction as it is super sparse.

Congratulations on finishing this! I'll definitely re-read and get caught up where I left off (I've been really busy these last 6 months, I apologize for that).

I'm still not into Uran and Titan being "together" but it's your story and your rules and that's how things are.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Will you post this on AO3 (Archive of Our Own)? That way you don't have to edit out the mature content and the site gets more Astro Boy fiction as it is super sparse.

Gee I hope I still remember my user name and password for that site

Managed to reset it. (phew!)