Chapter 7 - Transit

Mari, Jerro, Greg and Phlip entered slowly into their new quarters. From the outside, it looked no more than a small apartment nestled amongst others, but when they opened the door, they were greeted by an overwhelming aroma of roasted veggies and freshly dug earth that filled a space much larger than physically possible.

The walls were lined in dirt and bioluminescent fungi and roots, reminiscent of the architecture and ambience of The Burrow. A small waterfall ran from the back corner forming a pond and small  dam along the backside of the large space.

The dwelling was loosely divided into an entryway and common room. Directly in the center of the common room was a large table, heaped with perfectly roasted honey glazed carrots, butter potatoes, crisp sliced beets and an assortment of mixed nuts. A kitchen lined one of the near corners and some cozy seating made up the other corner space.

On each side wall of the room was a circular doorway, one larger and one smaller and just to the left inside the entry area was a straw bed and stall, sized for a riding rabbit, fully stocked with hay, carrots and water. To the right was what appeared to be equipment lockers and a small ready space.

“Was this made for us?” Greg turned to ask aloud to the group. 

“Yes” a gentle voice said, seemingly with no origin.

The group looked at each other, “Did you hear that?” Mari whispered and they all nodded except Phlip who was already making himself at home in his new bed and snacking on some hay.

“I’m your home, the moment you opened the door I scanned your neural networks and cross referenced against the shared knowledge of the timeline to create the ideal living space based on your needs and desires. Please make yourselves comfortable and if there’s anything else you need you don’t have to say anything because I already will know” the voice said in the same gentle monotone fashion.

“I’m not sure how to feel about this,” Jerro stated bluntly.

“This is like, your jam man, beavers are all about mental manipulation and stuff right?” Greg said, responding to Jerro’s concern.

“Sure we dabble… but nothing to this level” Jerro said as Mari pushed through to one of the corner chairs and dropped her bag to the ground.

“Listen you guys, I’ve been meaning to tell you about some strange things that have been happening since last lune” Mari said as she adjusted a small pillow and plopped down in the seat.

Jerro and Greg both approached the seating area indicating they were listening.

“I… I woke up in this strange cave towards the north end of Long Valley with absolutely no memory of how I got there” she said and added “There were these inscriptions or carvings of this bipedal creature I’d never seen before and burrowing rodents fighting off fish and birds. I’m not sure what any of it was, but I took a rubbing of this symbol.” She pulled out the parchment and showed them the three diamonds circumscribed in a circle. “I’ve also been seeing this old marmot’s face all over the place and had a weird dream last night… then all of this happened. Doesn’t it all have to be connected somehow?

“What was the dream?” Jerro asked and Greg nodded in agreement with the question and added, “Yeah, what happened in the dream?”

Mari told them about the dream, about floating in the liquid, the strange apparatus over her mouth letting her breath and the hairless paw with long fingers.

Jerro and Greg looked at eachother, “This has to be connected with Rufus and this place, this is all too strange to not be connected” Jerro said and again as Greg nodded in agreement.

“We should get some rest and see what we can figure out tomorrow.” Jerro suggested and Greg added, “I don’t even know what we’re supposed to be doing tomorrow? Like what’s the plan here. What is even happening?”

“You’re right, I have no idea what’s going on… but I’m exhausted” Mari got up and said “I’m gonna go to sleep, I’m assuming this is my room?” She pointed to the smaller door. 

“Yes” said the disembodied ephemeral voice of the residence.

“Perfect, see you guys later!” Mari said as she had already begun walking towards the door, snagging a glazed carrot off the table on her way.

“Guess I’ll hit the hay as well” Greg said and Jerro agreed as they performed their practiced high five routine. “Night buddy!” Jerro said afterwards and scurried off to his dam.

Their rooms were perfectly appointed for their needs. Not too large, nor too small, a bed that matched their sleeping preference perfectly. Soft for Mari, firm for Greg and slightly damp for Jerro.

Greg’s room had a sparring dummy in the corner. Mari’s a desk with art supplies and gear for exploring. Jerro’s a workbench with tools and various equipment for tinkering and engineering.

The three friends all settled in for a well earned rest while Phlip had already started snoring and was splooted out over the straw bed with ears flopping over his face. The room was quiet now with only the light sound of water falling and Phlip’s gentle snoring.

Mari drifted to sleep and the same dream sequence picked up from last time, staring at the mural in the cave. Still, its language made no sense to her as it glowed gently in the stonework.

Suddenly, the letters and shapes began rearranging in a surreal pattern and forming words she could understand.

THE BURROWING RODENT EMPIRE EXISTS WITHIN - THIS VESSEL CARRIES ON - AN ETERNAL DIG - A BURROW WITH NO END.

“It is time to awaken” the gentle monotone voice of the house permeated their minds.

“Hadn’t they just fallen asleep?” Mari thought as she awoke.

They all stumbled out of their rooms, greeted by the smell of a hearty breakfast of fruits and nutty pancakes. They gathered around the table and Phlip nuzzled up next to Mari’s chair.

“Guys, I had more of the dream” she shared while absolutely demolishing a stack of pancakes.

“What happened?” Jerro asked curiously.

Mari continued explaining, “Well I was back in the cave and the words on the stone mural became all distorted and I could read them. They said ‘THE BURROWING RODENT EMPIRE EXISTS WITHIN - THIS VESSEL CARRIES ON - AN ETERNAL DIG - A BURROW WITH NO END.’”

“The Burrowing Rodent… Empire?” Greg inquired.

“Yeah that’s what it said” Mari replied.

“I remember reading something about that in one of Rufus’s books long ago. I thought it was just a story about some adventures and stuff. It wasn’t written like a true story” Greg said while finishing his pancakes and fruit.

“Sometimes the truest stories are those we do not expect” Rufus said from the front door, now standing and leaning gently on the entry column.

“Rufus!” They all said in unison.

“You’ve got to tell us more, what is happening, why is Mari having these dreams?” Jerro asked, starting to get a bit flustered.

“All things in time, all things in time” Rufus repeated in a reassuring tone.

“Can you at least tell me why I don’t remember going to that cave?” Mari added quickly.

“Cave?” Rufus returned the question.

“Yeah, before last lune, I woke up in this cave and was going to come to you to see if you knew what was going on, but then all the stuff with those hyrix happened and you brought us here.” Mari explained.

“Hyrax” Rufus corrected her, but seemed concerned in a way they had not seen since he visited them outside of the dam as he stared off beyond the group finishing their breakfast and added, “Come along, we have much to do before you set off on your first mission.”

They all looked at eachother with the now too common look of confusion and Jerro mouthed the question they were all thinking, mission? Following Rufus from their quarters they passed by The Hub which was busy now with all sorts of rodents. A swarm of rats ran by chatting in some language they didn’t understand and a few moles sat at a smaller table eating breakfast. At another table a group of wombats wearing the same armor as Master Larude sat with their helmets off sipping a warm beverage that smelled of mint and earth. A long snouted creature placed its snout into a bowel which they caught sight of being full of ants which was quite alarming to Mari.

“First things first, we need to get you to the outfitter, set up your account and get you any necessary gear then we will head over to the chief navigator and see what ships we have in stock for you all to use.” Rufus said now resuming his hovering movement pattern forcing their movement at a high speed.

They approached a larger building with a rather grand entrance. Steps led down about halfway into the first floor which was sunk below the ground slightly. This entrance was emblazoned with a large sign reading ‘Marmatech’.

The store was staffed by all marmots wearing a green and white striped uniform. When Rufus entered a marmot quickly ran up and saluted. Rufus returned the salute and said to the young marmot “Get these three setup with an account and any gear they may require.”

“Yes sir!” said the young marmot.

“I’ve got some things to attend to and will return shortly to take you all over to the Chief” he told the group and vanished without sound or any trace.

“Alright, follow me, my name is Ferdi and I’m going to help you new Fragments get all set so you don’t die on your first time out of the chromasphere” Ferdi said matter of factly.

“Excuse me, did you just say die?” Greg asked concernedly.

“Yeah, eight out of every ten fragments die on their first solo transit…” he saw the concern in Greg’s face growing and added “buuuuuut I’m sure you guys will do great out there! I can see it in your, uh… fur, see the way the void filaments refract psionic energy? You guys have some real latent power to tap into!”

Greg seemed slightly reassured but looked at Mari and Jerro with unease.

“Okay, first things first” Ferdi pulled up a series of much more high tech holo displays than what Jerro was used to seeing and continued “I’ll need to get you all registered in the system, hold your wrist bands up to the scanner here” he said as he pointed to part of the display.

In sequence they each held their bracelet up and it beeped as 4 sensors ran up and down their body taking a scan. On Jerro’s turn however the scanner let off an error alert.

“Hmm let me see that” Ferdi said as he reached for Jerro’s bracelet and pulled it off, making it straight with a gentle click then quickly slapped it back on Jerros wrist where it wrapped around automatically reforming to his arm.

“Alright try again, sometimes they get a little buggy and you just have to reslap em” Ferdi explained and Jerro tried the bracelet again with success. “Perfect, let's get you all setup with basic individual and team loadouts” Ferdi added.

He walked them over to a section of the store and grabbed a backpack for each.

“I’ve already got a bag” Mari said plainly and sort of turned to show her pack.

“You sure do” Ferdi replied and asked “Is it alright if I look at it real quick?”

Ferdi inspected Mari’s bag, quickly reaching in and making a few quick movements which produced a weird whirring sound from inside the bag, and said, “Okay, check this out, dimensional pocket storage!” 

He grabbed a large stick from the aisle and slid it into the bag, which obviously was too small to fit the stick, however it completely disappeared into the space.
Jerro looked absolutely stunned and said “You most definitely are going to have to show me how this works”

“Anytime! Our beaver engineers are the best in the multiverse and would love to have a fresh mind to mold” Ferdi responded. 

“Alright, let's get you some basic rations, water, and first aid kits along with some vector realignment and the latest XB series field portable hyperbaric chamber.” Ferdi said as he ushered them onward down the aisle.

“Pizza rations are a staple but we’ve also got these biscuits which are quite beloved by Fragments. Hold your bags open and I’ll load you up!” He started chucking boxes of pizza and biscuits into their bags. “Of course you’ll need water, we know you can store up to fifty times your bodyweight in water by compressing it in your interstitial void space” Ferdi said while looking at Greg and Mari and added “but you sir beaver, do not have that ability, thus I present, a micro portal to the dimension of aquarius! This pitcher will continuously pour water, I’ve even seen a small lake formed once when one got knocked over and forgotten, so make sure that doesn’t happen!” he said with a chuckle.

“Alright, one vectorization rake for each of you, this is part of your first aid kit and can help you to calibrate your middle lines after combat or any exhausting scenario. I’m also going to throw in our new automated degaussers, these are great when you need to degauss without vectorizing.” He said while adding long blue sticks with a curved end and a small sphere with three smaller spheres attached to one side to each of their bags.

“I’ll run this all against your account, we don’t actually charge anything for Fragments but we just like to keep a record of your gear so we can build out custom kits for you in the future assuming you surivi… survey the entire multiverse and need more gear!” he chuckled as he hurriedly finished talking and entered their information into his holo displays.

“We can get you more basic gear and upgrades in the future but this should get you started.” Ferdi said as Rufus reappeared silently behind him. Ferdi only realized he was there by the reactions on the faces of Mari, Greg and Jerro. Ferdi tried to look over his shoulder without moving his head and only using his eyes. 

“Master Rufus is back isn’t he?” Ferdi asked and the three of them nodded.

He turned and saluted Rufus “All finished here sir!”

“Thank you Ferdi” Rufus said and hovered around the young marmot.

“Let’s go, one more quick stop before you all are on your way.” Rufus said as he bypassed the group and headed for the entrance.

Mari gave a quick whistle to Phlip as they left, who had fallen asleep waiting outside of Marmatech.

They approached the docks and noticed a small tower that they must have walked past when arriving, overwhelmed by the newness of Station. A different armored wombat guarded the Astral Landing where Master Larude had stood previously.

“Lets see what ships the Chief has available for you all” Rufus said as he opened the solid metallic door that led into the base of the rectangular tower.

They entered the tower, which was an empty void of space up to the top where they could see the glow of some sort of lighting. Their feet lifted slowly off the ground, then they suddenly shot upwards, accelerating quickly then stopping in an octagonal room lined with holo displays and windows. A half shelf lined two of the walls furthest from the Astral Landing and a capybara wearing a captain's hat and tropical shirt puffed gently on a pipe while relaxing in a hammock strewn across the front of the room.

“Aloha new friends and old” the Chief said rolling out of the hammock, “looking for a ship for these Fragments I assume?” as he walked over and embraced Rufus in a friendly hug.

“That is correct, it’s good to see you are doing well Chief” Rufus said as they walked over to the half shelves together. The shelves were lined with crystal balls, like the one they saw from the Astral Landing dock earlier.

“Those are ships right?!” Jerro said excitedly.

“Yep, and Rufus says to give you the best one I’ve got, something about your mission being important? Like they all aren't right?” Chief said

“This one is truly different” Rufus said with demure.

“What are we doing anyways?” Mari asked Rufus.

“You’re going to retrieve a key, but you will have to travel far and deep, you must burrow through time itself to retrieve this key” Rufus said and added “In the early days of the Burrowing Rodent Empire, a key was forged that is said to unlock the weapon which will defeat the hyrax threat for good.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say the Burrowing Rodent Empire, like what I saw in my dream?” Mari asked quickly.

“Yes, the Empire is real, but it existed before your time, long before.” Rufus explained while hovering around the room slowly.

“This is the one you want” Chief pulled a crystal ball off the shelf and tossed it to Jerro. “You’ll be the best to use it, your natural engineering talent will guide you.”

“Excellent, let us be on our way, thank you old friend” Rufus said while gesturing them all to return to the central point of the room which was a translucent floor.

They descended in the reverse of their ascension up the tower and made their way down the dock.

“Jerro and Greg, prepare the ship while I show Mari how to navigate the chronoarch” Rufus commanded them as if they knew what to do.

Jerro looked at Greg and pulled the crystal ball out into his paw. He rotated it around and could see a miniature version of their ship inside. It was purple and blue, streamlined with an open deck and cockpit looking structure in the rear.

He felt the same gentle pull, like he did with the map before, somehow this was attuning to him. In a quick motion he threw it out into the void and it happened as if he had done it a thousand times. The ship became full size and filled the empty space, bouncing gently before coming to a halt.

“That’s awesome” Greg said while high fiving Jerro. Greg, Jerro and Phlip jumped aboard the ship and began checking things out, getting situated.

“Mari, tapping into the chronoarch is an art more than a skill, it is something that flows through you. You were chosen for this team because this ability lies within you, innate and asleep, but we are about to awaken it. Are you prepared?” Rufus said as they walked down the dock towards the partitioned platform they arrived on, Mari nodded, somewhat nervously.

“You need not know where you are going, your heart will guide you, all that will happen has happened and will happen again, you must trust this and trust yourself.” Rufus directed her as they walked out into the middle of the platform.

“Let it flow through you, just like your psionics, let it permeate your being, your fragmented self will align with the filaments of time” Rufus explained as Mari closed her eyes and attempted to follow his commands.

“Good, you are getting it” He said as she began to glow and her feet lifted. “Alright that is it, sever the connection, we will get you on your ship for the full run through. Don’t be nervous, you’re going to be exactly what you need to be.” Rufus added.

Mari felt a sense of calm, the first time she had truly ever felt this that she could recall.

“Quickly, we haven’t time to waste, you and your friends must make your first autonomous transit” Rufus said as he hovered quickly down the dock and Mari followed.

“Rufus, what if we need help, what if we don’t know what to do, what if we get lost?” Mari asked as they hurried to their ship.

“No one is ever lost and no one knows what to do! That is the glory of this experience we call life. All you can do is trust yourself and your friends, they need you Mari, you are the leader of this group, and you will guide them through whatever is waiting for you on the other side of this transit.” Rufus reassured her.

“Okay Rufus, I will remember that, thank you” she said as she hopped aboard the ship.

“I think we're all ready,” Jerro said to Mari and added, “the controls are over there, I’m assuming you're driving this thing?”

“Lets do this” Mari said as she hopped into the driver's seat and grabbed the controls.

They took off a bit wobbly but she steadied the ship quickly.

“You know we’re gonna have to come up with a name for this ship” Greg said as they approached the chronoarch platform.

Mari focused on what Rufus had just walked her through and Jerro responding to Greg said “How about -”

The space distorted and sound modulated as if it were dropping away, Station dissolved and they hurtled through the chromatic waterfall.