Free The Many Worlds of Dean: Book 1 - Mars by Eric Hodgkinson Page B

added a
sideways motion to their ascent.
    Nearing the apex, the platform slowed and
then came to a stop next to a small balcony set in the wall just
three meters from the top. Stepping onto the balcony, they
proceeded to move to a large door. Walking through the door, Dean
was struck speechless as they came onto a massive, viewing deck
that wrapped around the top of the pyramid shaped building. They
were at least thirty stories up and Dean could see many kilometers
in all directions.
    He could see he was in the heart of a large
city. Immense buildings seemed to radiate out from the building he
was in. None were taller than ten stories, but each took up as much
surface area as ten or twelve normal sized buildings; at least
normal in Dean’s experience. As he continued to gaze further out,
the city appeared to end abruptly and in a perfectly straight line.
Beyond the city were rolling hills of mostly green with some bright
colors sprinkled in. What struck him the most was that every
building was perfectly white. No color existed anywhere within the
boundaries of the city. It looked like what one would expect of a
desert city back on Earth.
    Peering closer, he noted that there was very
little space in between the buildings and nothing moved within that
space. Instead, he could see beings moving across open air walkways
that linked each building to those beside it. Nowhere could he see
any sign of cars or anything similar.
    Looking up, Dean saw a cloudless sky colored
a very light blue fading to a pale green in some areas. Low, near
the horizon, he could see two crescent moons hanging in the sky.
One appeared close to the size of Earth’s moon, but the other was
much smaller. They both appeared to be much darker in color than
Earth’s moon and gave off less light.
    Turning to Quillitonoxic, Dean said, “This
is amazing. Your world is quite beautiful. What do you call
it?”
    “This is the planet Garrosh. It is the
homeworld of my people,” Quillitonoxic answered.
    Dean asked, “Do your people inhabit other
worlds?”
    “Yes, many,” he answered. Then, with a
slight scowl, he said, “When you are ready, we will return to your
room. I will answer any further questions you have and then we can
begin to determine what your future shall be.”

Chapter 21
     
    Back in the room Dean had awoken in, he sat
on the edge of the bed facing Quillitonoxic. Eager to understand
what had brought him to his current circumstances, he asked, “What
exactly is the arch…uh, I mean The Path?”
    Dean had figured out that none of
Quillitonoxic’s race ever sat. Watching from his spot on the bed,
Quillitonoxic began to pace back and forth in the small space as he
answered, “I will tell you what is revealed when you decipher the
data transmitted by the path. First, I assume your species has at
least developed radio communications since you said you received
the message sent by The Path, correct?”
    “Yes,” Dean replied.
    “Very well. Throughout the universe many
trillions of intelligent species are represented on an almost
infinite number of planets. Each of these planets is connected by a
device simply known as, The Path. Invented eons ago by a race known
as the Kretch, The Path is a doorway between worlds. Frustrated by
their failure to achieve faster than light travel among the stars,
the Kretch created The Path to be able to travel to distant worlds
via a pathway through the space that isn’t space.
    “Nothing in the universe travels faster than
light. Countless races, including the Kretch, have struggled
endlessly to disprove this law. Once the Kretch determined they
were unlikely to find a way around this immutable fact, they turned
their vast intellects to dimensional theory. Once they began
looking, it wasn’t long before they found The Path. The problem is
you can only find The Path from within the magnetic field of a
planet.
    “The Kretch set about to seed the universe
with The Path. They sent twelve hundred robotic