Mars and Roads

There is something about  a road. For  one thing, they are one  of the oldest creations of Mankind. In the beginning of things  it was little more  than a line imaginary for the most part in  the minds of those who walked  upon it. It was preceded by paths and similar  concepts of routes from one point to  another that people could use. By the time a "road" was  introduced the paths were well worn but the idea of the road caught on fast and has remained  in our  collective minds since.
Mars knew that this was such a line, although he did  not know what traveled  on it yet. He instinctively knew that the road was his future and that wherever he had originated from- he had gotten here (wherever that was) by a version of this non-natural thing that  lay  before him. Back there (wherever  there was-if it still was) he had walked those routes. Walked was  synonymous with Walker in his mind. He knew he had not "walked" like he was now but he did know  he had moved upon lines like this  one back where  he had come  from. He  stared down at the first thing he had recognized  since finding himself here. If only the Trace would come back and speak to him. (was it speaking that the Trace did?).
He stared at the black asphalt for a time as the  other two came to stand on either side of them. Together the two others stared down at it. Mars had crouched down awkwardly longing for something he could quite place or find  on his body  to give him the balance he needed. After a moment, he  reached out one appendage and touched the asphalt. The feeling  made his muscles jump as the sensation sent  its signals  to his brain  and  he processed the warmth of it and softness of  the matter under his  appendages. The result was something foreign to him and he found that he liked touching  the matter so he did not move for a long time.
No he did not know what this liking was but he could deal  with it better than he had expected.
The lights appeared down  the road floating out of the night. Fijbold made to step  forward onto  the road. Something he could  not explain made him stand up and use the other appendage to stop Fijbold's  movement. Fijbold sputtered but came to a stop. He glared over at Mars as the lights became clearer.
So, other things travel on the road, Mars thought.

On death and other impossiblilites

Mars walked through the alien landscape, his mind (whatever that was) trying to call out for the trace and not getting much. His mind raced through the possibilities of where he was, how would he survive it once he grasped what this was. Everything was different save that he was on a planet and that it sustained existences and a myriad of other things that his mind was quickly assimilating and absorbing.
The other two following him at a distance Fijbold kept crouching down expecting to find what- legs (mandibles) to run on. He would constantly stumble into Kymat.

"Walker." Kymat said suddenly.

Mars stopped and turned back to face Kymat.

"Walker, you must end me." Kymat said.

"I cannot."  Mars said and knew it to be true.

"Walker." Kymat said, pleading. "Kill me."

Kill? Now there was a word that Mars recognized. He was the walker, the one whose designation had been to end many.

"I cannot." he repeated and turned away.

Kymat screamed in frustration and flung himself towards Mars, as he was about to collide with Mars, his own body rebelled against him and he missed more by the sudden spasmic shudder that sent him sprawling in the grasses.

"The exile won't allow me to end any of you." Mars said then continued walking towards the road.

Meanwhile

"So  what you are saying is that the Alien Signal intersected with the Earth someplace  in the middle of Tennessee for 3 minutes, 20  seconds and  then ceased transmission?'

"Yes."

"What happened to it?"

"Let me explain  it like this General." She said, blowing air up her face moving a lock of hair slightly. "What happens when you turn off your cell  phone?"

"I dunno, I guess it stops sending a signal." The voice responded out of  the handset.

She rolled her eyes. "The scientific explanation is much the same.'

"I don't like it." The General growled.

You never do, she thought reflecting back to the last phone call about 4 years ago. God, that  was awful- it went on and on with her saying- No General I don't know what the Fuck just happened and would  you please mind your language?

Instead she said: "Where ever that signal came from, we have with Dr. Williams' help, determined that it was a pretty much straight shot to us from somewhere outside  the Galaxy."

"Pretty Much?"

"Well there was a curve however very slight."

"Do you know where it came from?"

"No, General we still don't."

"Well  keep looking.  In the meantime I have dispatched a helo to go check out the landing site."

Landing site? Was he for real?

"Ok, thanks."

"Oh don't  worry your pretty little head Susan- we'll be  in touch." The General hung  up.

You write one lousy paper about extraterrestrial signals and the next  thing  you  know you  have a cushy government job where there are people intent on you not finding anything  and  not acknowledging it when  you do.

Things to do Outside Crossville with three Naked Men in the Dark.

It occurred to Floyd that he might be in danger when he remembered that he was at least 20  miles from home in the middle of a  field with 3 nekid men. What would  the guys down at the plant say? That Floyd had gone gay. He glanced at the two remaining men for a sec then ran for the remains of his truck. He spotted his shotgun sticking out from behind the seat.  He grabbed it and swung it around in time to bring it to bear on the long haired one.
"Jesus Christ Gawd Alrighty!" He said and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened except that his gun made a clacking noise.
He didn't leave it loaded. Aw shit. He thought. The long haired man grabbed the barrel and ripped it from his grasp.
"Give that back." he yelled  making a grab for it. The  long haired  man swung it wide and straight across Floyd's brow. Sharp  pain followed that as Floyd went straight back into the cab of his truck in a  heap of blood and bashed in nose cartilage.
Kymat considered the thing the human had pointed at him. His mind whispered danger to him. It was long and harder than his own body. It appeared to be made of several materials. He would have been shocked but his mind was assimilating the change faster than the others. At that he glanced back at Fijbold who was still crawling around making garbling noises. Kymat wondered how long it would take Fijbold to acclimate to the lack of appendages and the fact that he only had a limited number of senses to translate the environment to his brain.
The weapon? That must be what it was, since it seemed that even here on the other side of the... universe- that would be the word now some things never changed. What would war be like here? Would he be a victim or participant. Weapons were for the weak, Kymat's (People?) did not use weapons that were not a part of the (body). Kymat knew without looking that this feature of his (people) would be no more a tactic for him. He would miss the (Plasmoids); what's more he doubted that he could do anything about it. He looked down at the weapon in his hand- it was heavy and awkward. he discarded it by dropping it where he stood.

Oh yeah, I was coming to that

What to ask?

"Will I know what to do to survive?"

The sphere was silent for a time.

"Your new form- this body which is locally called a human will have needs that will present itself to you. Much of what you require will become immediately apparent as will the procedures to achieve the desired actions. First, you will need to ingest energy in the form of "eating" this will require you to find edible substances that you can put into the orfice from which you are communicating - that sound you hear is the words that you are making with the orifice which is called the mouth. It is a multi-functional unit that will take in liquid and semi solid nourishments that will require compaction and pulverization by the mouth before forcing the matter into your body where other organs will convert it into the required energy."

"I Gr-" No there wasn't a word yet for what he wanted to say.

"The mouth can also permit speech which will require a substance that surrounds you- a gas that makes your body unit function- this is called breath or air. you must suck it in through your mouth or the two orifices above it on the pointed unit. That is called the nose- it serves as a back up unit for breathing. To speak, suck in the gas then force it back out. When you speak it will come naturally since it has been biologically programmed into you.."

"Yes."

"The nourishment will only partially convert to energy, there will be leftover matter that your body will reject like excess fuel. This will exit your lower orifices. The waste energy/nourishment will be unpleasant and there should be a physical constriction of the units before expulsion occurs."

"I see (what an odd word)."

"At certain times your body will require rest- either by stopping movement or by shutting down primary functions and entering a recharging state of low consciousness that is commonly referred to as sleep."

"Sleep."

"A state that is quite vulnerable."

"What else?"

"There are other functions and units some units will perform many functions while others will perform one. As long as you breath, take in nourishment, dump excess matter and sleep- you will survive in your exile. The rest you will need to learn if you wish to do better than just survive."

"That's all that is required?"

"Yes, Exile Tyrins. Remember to breath more than the others and you will do fine."

"Fine?"

"you have no time left- please remove your bodies to a safe distance of 15 feet now."

The sphere began to pulse like a strobe light.

Mars turned and moved his limbs awkwardly then stumbled forward into a run leaving the others. Kymat staggered as awkwardly behind him trying to get the limbs he was now on too move, Fijbold crawled after them on all fours. Mars stopped to look back at what he was suddenly sure was the required distance. The sphere was pulsing so bright that is was shinning in the darkness like a star and then it flashed and was no more. Actually most of the area that surrounded the sphere was no more. All that remained was a smooth spherical crater about 3 meters deep and half of something that looked quite out of place with everything else.

"My truck!" Floyd yelled looking at where the explosion had vaporized most of the truck bed and part of the cab. All that remained was the steering wheel, windshield and crumpled front end snug against the oak.
Floyd had no memory of how he had gotten to the other side of the field from his truck. He knew three or four things though.
1. For some reason everything seemed pretty flat like the world had gotten squashed somehow. There as a fuzziness to all the edges of everything. He could see his truck but for the life of him- it was hard to separate it from the tree and the field.
2. He was standing next to three very nekid guys who looked a bit like his brothers. He was still pretty sure he had driven up here by hisself anyway. Oh crap, were these guys those gay people that his buddies were always talking about?
3. He glanced down and noted that while he had clothes still on there didn't seem to be any color to them anymore. they looked kind of white in the darkness.
4. He needed another beer, he really needed a beer.

Kymat looked at this human and didn't like him. Fijbold sucked in this human's scent and vomited up some strange looking substance all over Floyd's work boots. The other one, the ball thing called it Mars looked at him then turned and walked away into the night towards the road.

Floyd wanted that beer as bad as he had ever wanted one.

Technicalities

"Where is the Trace?"
The Sphere did not answer

Mars cast about turning his  head this way and that. Taking  in the sky as the Sphere  had called it, the smally soft stuff  they all knelt in. Kymat Geyrson and Fijbold Terakyshad been exiled here- whereever here was. There would be no going back- no way  to even  know where "there" was since they would have no  idea where "here" was. They  may not even be in the same Galaxy  - an odd word almost enough to make  him stop and  consider the limitations that his mind put to the term. This language (whatever that was) indicated that  whereever "here" was-  it was far less advanced/aware/understanding/comprehending- there was no word that felt right then from where he and the others  had come from. He would have to remember what the Trace  had told  him to do, accept whatever happened as  the new being- the new reality that surrounded him.
Fijbold was  not having the same amount of luck.  He was making a strange  noise and his face was wet with a  liquid substance coming from- Mars peered at the man- yes coming out of the strange twin orifices on his- face (that was  the word). Fijbold did not look (happy) - would this being different get better/improve/right/evolve/adapt?

"There is no Trace here,  Exile Mars." the Sphere finally answered. "Soon even this unit will cease  to function.  If you have questions- you must  ask in the  next five Parsecs/minutes or it will be to late and you  will need  to leave or suffer injury."

Rebirth

For Floyd the world was no more since it had no more meaning then there was only blindness and pain. He floated in the new found darkness waiting for death while all around him the opposite was happening. In each of the light clusters 3 beings took forms similar to that of the bipedal human that lay in the burnt grass. As each being formed they grew to look like Floyd but then some things changed, variations due to some inexpiable phenomena that changed each form during the transformation and the beings developed marked differences from the crying man a midst them.
The one to the north of Floyd grew the same black hair out of the newly formed head but instead of coming up lank and straight and black like Floyds'- this one's hair turned an off shade of brown and continued to grow until it fell past its shoulders and down the newly formed back.
The being to the south of Floyd grew broad shoulders like its apparent model then shrunk back into those of a smaller thinner man. whose hair was blond almost platinum. The skin went from white to a dark shade of beige before settling into a deep tan almost olive in complexion.
The last being that crouch low almost fetal in position became broader than Floyd as the skin flowed over the newly formed musculature.  The skin was whiter than his other 2 companions but still not as pale as that of the struggling human in their midst.
Time passed and each of the beings now all crouching in a circle around the semi-conscious Floyd like pagans at a sacrifice. Each of the new men were completely naked. They did not move or even breath as if they did not know how. One of them sprang to his feet and promptly fell over backwards as his chest expanded and collapsed in spasms. He continued to jerk around spasmodically until he suddenly stopped and began to breath through his nose.His eyes were wide and colorless as they examined his surroundings until finally settling on the ceramic sphere that floated in the air about 4 feet above the now inert form of the human.
The thin man made garbling noises and waved around his arms at it then stopped suddenly to examine his arms. A moment passed and then the thin man was grabbing at his chest as if trying to locate something he just realized he no longer possessed. After a moment he spotted his penis and sat up so he could peer down at it.
He remained in this strange position of study- all the while taking short fast breaths.

Mars Tiryns looked up from where he crouched in his new form to consider his fellow exiles. His mind raced so fast he was sure that whatever a mind was would burn out like a.... No there was no word for it nor would any image come to this thing called a mind. He knew that the Trace would explain it all to him in a moment. This was why he continued to wait, surely the Trace would come back and explain it to him- it had always been there with him. He considered why he kept referring to himself as "He-him," but nothing formed in his mind to make him understand what was happening. The trace had warned him that the exile would change everything, he (that reference again) had no idea how far from all that he known that would mean. The logic stopped his wondering as he knew that without the Trace, he might go insane like- Mars looked at the thin man who looked down at himself and wondered which one he was.
Mars turned- his head? Yes that seemed to be the right word (word? what is word?). Stop it, he thought and before the distraction rose up he repeated the last communication he had with the Trace. "Accept whatever happens, whatever you perceive or understand or however you process the new inputs to your- (again there seemed to be no word to describe it) This was so foreign to him. With the Trace, he had always known how to understand, what to perceive, what action to take. Now it seemed he was all alone on this foreign world.
Well not completely alone, there were Kymat Geyrson and Fijbold Terakys here with him. Mars felt his head move- no this was something more local- his face- his "face"- moved into something he felt comfortable with.
Kymat probably was the "thin" man (another word that seemed correct). Kymat had 4 appendages back home.
At the thought of home, Mars sat back and looked up into the- the- the?
"Sky, Exile Tiryns. On this world in this perception it is called the sky."

Mars looked over at the Sphere.
He looked at it a long time before he realized his mouth was moving and a rumble and cacophony of "noise" was coming out from it.
"One second, Exile Tiryns. Making corrections for language and speech." The sphere communicated.

"Where are the rest of my arms!" Kymat screamed in horror and revulsion.

Scientific Interludes are not romantic outtakes

I know that there may be a few scientists who were surfing out there for some astronomical soft core porn and saw slipgate and thought- finally a nerd who knows how to misrepresent!
But
it's not.
And I know there are going to be some Hard Science Fiction readers who are going to scoff at what they will describe as not scientifically correct usages and so on.
Let me say this.
I am trying.
For those uninitiated readers who are wondering what I am babbling about. It's Arthur C. Clarke vs. the State of George Lucas. Hard vs. Soft/fantasy Sci-Fi.
I think of myself in the middle. I know enough and keep up with enough science to be dangerous or as Douglas Adams would reference me, "Mostly Harmless except on Sundays."
I like scientific speculation and thus what this story is going to propose is complete scientific speculation.

So like that guy from Dragnet would say to me at this point here are the facts so far in the Slipgate Exiles Storyline (as we humans know them).

• Approxiamately 4 weeks ago, a listening station at the University of Berkley (CA) picked up a radio report like the ones that are picked up from Pulsars and similar phenomena out there in the Universe.
• The reason they found a radio frequency is because that is what they were looking with. The Ripple is my own description of a sub-space (string theory- Catherine Asaro hypothesis) that I am using here to describe as a long range form of transportation from another place in the Universe. All that you need to know right now is that it is alien and by alien I am aiming for utterly alien.
• Utterly alien will be clearer shortly as I open the real story unto you who have decided I am sad quack and gone back to reading "Scientific American, Harper's Weakly, and The New Science Times (which is really just old Science newly reprinted).
• Again, like Clarke in Rama was doing I am approaching this as what we humans would see when faced with alien technology and capabilities that we don't currently have the science or knowledge or language to accurately describe.
• So if you haven't passed out from boredom then Read ON MacDuff!