The Lost Jupiter (Maura's Gate Book 3) Read online

  We’re being watched. I suspect some of our people have been bribed by the Lorpherinese. They don’t like you.

  Lorpherinese? Who were they? Why would they hate him? Devin inquired Lionel with his eyes but knew better than voicing it out.

  “Your body remains in your ship, if that’s what you mean.” Lionel acted as if no digression had occurred.

  “I’m talking about the mind.”

  “Then I can’t answer the question. I’m not sure if we can define a location for a mind.”

  “It used to be carried by my physical body. My brain.” Devin protested.

  “Is it no longer now?” Lionel smiled. “You think your mind resided in your body, because you were using the body to perceive and interact with the physical world. Now you are seeing the world through equipment inside this capsule. It might even give you some storage like the memory in your brain. Does that mean your mind has to be here? What if I connect your brain to two different locations?”

  Devin was speechless.

  “Put it the other way, Mr. Lee. When you are exploring the world with your body, is it possible that your mind has always stayed somewhere else?”

  “As long as the connection is maintained …” The logic gave Devin a headache, or a “mindache”.

  “Well, I was just speculating. Believe it or not, our knowledge about the mind, or the soul, is very little.”

  “You said you were able to mind-transfer your people.”

  “We sorted of cheated.”

  “Cheated?”

  “Initially, all we could think of was making brain copies, but the original mind, or soul, however you call it, would still … die. You know what I mean?”

  Devin nodded. Wasn’t that what happened to Rose’s husband?

  “Then somebody came up with a great idea. Say, for some reason, you need to replace your arms and legs with artificial limbs. Then later, your heart, your tissue, and eventually, you no longer have the body you were born with. What we did was the same. First, we connect to the brain and make a copy of a tiny area. Then we inactivate the original brain region, and let the simulated area take over. The brain is still functioning as normal, and the person wouldn’t feel any difference. Now we move on to the next area. In the end, the subject will be thinking inside our simulation. But still, we can’t prove that the mind is here. All we have is his sensation, memory, and brain activity.”

  “No matter what, being able to free oneself from the physical body was a great achievement.”

  “The physical body …” Lionel looked into the dark distance. “I don’t know how to think of it. It provides us with certain freedom, but we also get trapped inside. When it suffers, we suffer. When it perishes, we lose all the connections to the world. Still, we love it. Some of our people would give up everything for that type of reality.”

  As he said the last sentence, his gaze fell on the paper held in Devin’s hands. Though Devin still had no idea who the Lorpherinese were, he knew they must have promised the betrayers some kind of bodies.

  Lionel withdrew his hand from the globe, and they were instantly back to the casino.

  “Okay, where were we …” He rubbed his forehead. “Mind-transferring. Anyway, the majority died, but as always, the rich and powerful are immune to disasters. They moved to a planet called Lorpherina located in another system, carrying enough food and resources to get things started.”

  So the Lorpherinese and Lionel’s people had the same ancestors, Devin reflected. What did they want from the Kernel?

  “Well, we need to get going.” Lionel left his chair and gestured Devin to follow him. “I’m sure you’d like to use the restroom.”

  * * *

  Devin rarely visited casinos, but at the moment, he appreciated the music and clamor, the alluring smell of fortune, the chaos as dealers and customers filed in, chatting about things unrelated to the extinguishment of any species.

  Once upstairs, Lionel headed to the men’s room. Devin stopped at the door and waited. He didn’t need to use the restroom. But the host seemed determined to have the guest join him.

  All right! Devin thought. He might as well wash his hands. So he followed in, only to find Lionel gesturing at him inside a toilet room.

  No way! Devin shook his head. He was not going to enter a toilet room with another man, physically or virtually.

  “You have kids?” Lionel asked.

  “Two girls.”

  As Devin said the words, the images of Sarah, Mariana, and Tracy sitting at a dinner table appeared in his head. Then his colleagues, his favorite cafeteria crowded with customers, as well as the impending catastrophe that had already devoured two civilizations …

  Sighing, he plunged into the toilet room and squeezed beside Lionel, who swiftly locked the door behind Devin and reached for the toilet handle. With a swooshing sound from the water, the room began moving downward.

  “Does this happen to everyone who uses this toilet?” Devin mocked.

  “Only those who know the spell.”

  After a few minutes, the elevator slowed down and switched its motion from vertical to horizontal.

  “I’m sorry. This is going to take a while.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The ocean. We’ll go there through one of the tubes. An empty one, of course.”

  The ocean? Great! Devin tried to distract himself from thinking about that place. “You didn’t build the world like this in the beginning, right? I mean, everything is just like Earth.”

  “No. We initially made it a paradise: everyone was given perfect health, unlimited resources. There was not a single day of harsh weather. But the test run came out disastrous.” Lionel gazed at Devin. “I know how it feels when your whole race is endangered, but on the other hand, why do we ever need hope, if life always conforms to our will? Courage, patience, persistence, self-discipline … When virtues become irrelevant in a world, for what are we proud of ourselves?”

  Hope … Devin looked away from Lionel. He was usually an optimistic person, but this time things were different.

  “So we ended up making an identical copy of our world.”

  Devin forced himself to focus on the topic. “How do you create new lives?”

  “We don’t. At the end of each lifetime, one can choose whether or not to come back. Then we’ll either erase the memory, or the whole thing. ”

  “You are lucky,” Devin said. Now the elevator was running downward at a fast speed. “Humans don’t get multiple chances.”

  “Are you sure?” Lionel beamed at him.

  Devin wasn’t. Maybe humans too lived multiple lives, but they just didn’t know it.

  “I’m an exception.” Lionel’s smile waned. “We needed someone with accumulated memories, to oversee the functioning of the Kernel.”

  “So, you …” Words chocked in Devin’s throat. Was he talking to a soul that had existed for twenty-two thousand years?

  “You’re not jealous, right? Believe me, it’s not a desirable job.” Lionel leaned back against the wall. “For a long time, I was the one who made decisions on major issues. Then people started asking for democracy. Around 2500 BC, they formed a government.”

  A government. Devin knew what must have followed. Politics, elections, bureaucracy …

  “Later, they said it was time for acculturation to our neighbor next door. Life forms, culture, languages …”

  “And you didn’t want to do that?” Devin was puzzled. He met Lionel only two hours ago, but he could tell this Jupiter Lord had genuine affection for humans.

  “Because I was afraid of the temptation.”

  “Of what?” Devin stared at the toilet water. Was this a typical astronaut’s career? When he landed a position at NASA, he thought he’d spend the rest of his life floating near a space station and fixing broken cables. Not riding in a restroom elevator with an alien who had witnessed the evolution of modern humans.

  “Once they saw themselves as humans, they would cov
et human bodies. And there happened to be a large supply nearby, equipped with stones and arrows. Indeed, a few years after the transformation, a small group of young people, with the acquiescence of our government, I believe, took a few trips and brought back eighty-five humans. Before I found out anything, the captives’ minds got transferred here, and eight-five of my citizens left with the stolen bodies and some high-tech stuff we brought over from our home planet.”

  The story reminded Devin of the image containing the pyramid. “So they landed in ancient Egypt?”

  Lionel nodded. “Some years later, a couple of them couldn’t stand the guilt and came back. Anyway, it was my negligence. To prevent similar things from reoccurring, I destroyed all the mind-transferring devices we had.”

  While talking to Lionel, Devin had been subconsciously dwelling on the possibility that the Jupiter people might let humans join them, in the worst case. There may not be enough time to transfer everyone, but just like what had happened in the Tau Ceti system, the majority would probably decline the opportunity anyway. For example, Devin’s parents most likely wouldn’t bother. Then there is always a large population worldwide who could not understand the concept of virtual reality, regardless of the advancement of technology. And—his heart stung with the thought—and people who don’t care when it ends.

  Nevertheless, it would’ve been nice to keep that option. “Your people must have been mad at you.” Even Devin was a little.

  “They still are—some of them. That’s why they are collaborating with the Lorpherinese.”

  Collaborating on what? Devin wanted to ask the question, but it seemed Lionel was no longer in the mood of talking. The elevator was slowing down. What was awaiting them when the door opened? What must be stashed inside an ocean ten times hotter than Earth’s lava?

  * * *

  Knowing his body wasn’t here, Devin still held his breath when Lionel unlocked the door of the toilet room. They stepped into a dimly-lit hall that looked like an exhibit room in a history museum. Walking behind Lionel, Devin was dazed by the variety of collections. Who made that piece of tiger skin full of gems? In which ocean did they uncover the stone chest embedded with barnacles? And the symbol on that golden plate—didn’t people believe it represented the sunken Atlantis?

  “You didn’t bring anything from your home planet?” Devin asked.

  “They are up in the Kernel. Open to the public.”

  They walked through the room into a hallway and eventually arrived at a hatch.

  “Why do you hide the Earth stuff here?”

  Lionel pressed a button next to the hatch and the heavy-metal door was lifted. “Because their values are obvious to humans. I don’t want to turn my citizens into black-market dealers.”

  Spending a whole day in a history museum was one of Devin’s hobbits. As he went through the hatch, he made a mental note that he was leaving behind the most precious exhibition in his entire life.

  * * *

  The narrow passage outside the hatch trembled under their feet. When they hit the end, Devin saw a smaller hatch in a metal wall, which seemed detachable from the passage. Were they boarding a ship? Devin wondered upon seeing the room that reminded him of the bridge of Epianna, although this one was much taller. There were windows and electronic equipment along the circular walls. Chairs and tables with no sharp corners or edges were mounted to the floor. Rails can be found everywhere, presumably for the crew to regain balance during turbulence. At the center stood a long diamond-shaped silver object, sort of like a monument, about twenty feet high and three feet wide in the middle, rooted in a circular platform that had buttons and touch screens.

  The two stopped in front of the monument. “Is this also from Earth?” Devin asked. Hearing no response, he glanced at Lionel, who was staring at the object with glittering eyes.

  “When we knew it was inevitable, we began storing information inside this diamond. Our history, culture, scientific knowledge, including the mind-transferring technique, and … and how we ended.”

  Hearing the description, various sounds appeared inside Devin’s head: storybooks being read in kindergartens, bus drivers greeting boarding passengers, Democrats debating Republicans … Now all the prosperity and clamor had precipitated into a crystal disc, being preserved by a deadly ocean until the end of eternity.

  Then an idea occurred to him. Didn’t Lionel say they had figured out something about Maura’s Gate? If he could bring that piece of knowledge home, at least people would know where to start, although they had to decode the language first.

  Lionel seemed to know what he was thinking. “The part that’s related to the disaster has been translated into English. Melissa did most of it, with the help of a few scientists.”

  “Thank you and Melissa for doing this, Mr. Parrish.” Devin turned to look at Lionel. “I know how much this diamond means to you.”

  “We don’t want your race to extinguish. We are probably the closest neighbors in the universe that have co-existed for such a long time. I hope your people find a solution. If not, you are welcome to join us.”

  Lionel stepped forward and pushed a few buttons on the panels. “Please get seated. We are taking off soon.”

  Devin sat down beside a window and peered outside. The ocean looked like a monster’s flesh, oozy and swarthy, with miniature lightning forming its capillaries. But once his eyes had adapted, he noticed a few tadpole-like things with translucent bodies and glowing heads swimming in the liquid.

  “Don’t tell me there’s life here!” Devin could believe they were in a well-constructed ship, but for living beings to survive a pressure of twenty gigapascal? Impossible!

  “Life’s everywhere,” Lionel said. “All over the universe, if you are willing to open your eyes.”

  If this were said by another human, Devin would call it an exaggeration. But from someone who had existed for two hundred centuries inside a planet made of gas, he was not going to argue back.

  Chapter 5 The Gift

  Before Devin had a chance to study the transition of hydrogen from liquid to gas, the ship had already entered the cloud top and arrived at the Kernel. Epianna was parked alongside the surface and connected to a jet bridge. As Lionel’s ship pulled over, Devin could make out blurred figures shuffling inside Epianna’s bridge. Who were there? Had Mina and Thurman returned, or were those the so-called Pinocchios?

  While their ship was skirting to the back of Epianna, Lionel did more operations on the circular platform. Watching the sheathed diamond sinking into the platform, Devin remembered the Egyptian pyramids. Was that a coincidence? The top half of the diamond looked like a prolonged pyramid. Were those runaways trying to send a signal to the universe that they had once inhabited Earth?

  A few minutes later, he saw the diamond outside being held by a robotic arm and wrapped with a chain before it was attached to the stern of Epianna.

  “Thank you, Mr. Parrish.” Devin couldn’t help expressing his gratitude one more time.

  “You need to go back soon.” Lionel led the way to the exit. “Drink and eat as soon as you wake up. I’ve been suppressing your body signals.”

  Devin followed him out of the ship and into a jet bridge. Melissa was standing at the other end, awaiting them with a static smile.

  “I also have a gift for you,” she said when they arrived at her side.

  “What gift?” Devin asked. Meanwhile, Lionel waved at him and disappeared into an inner hallway.

  Melissa raised a hand and fumbled in the air.

  As Devin grabbed her wrist, he realized that the Jupiter Lord could have easily “cured” his daughter’s blindness. But if he had done so, how could he decline requests from others? How could he not make everybody healthy and happy and immortal, and let their world regress to the initial “paradise”?

  She leaned over to him and whispered.

  “Is that a poem?”

  She nodded. “Once you are home, say it aloud, if you remember.”

 
“I will. Thank you, Melissa.”

  He released her arm and headed to the other bridge connected to Epianna.

  “Devin!”

  He paused walking and turned around.

  “Hope I’ll never see you again!”

  That was a weird farewell, one Devin had never heard before. Well, if we truly care about someone, shouldn’t we wish the best of the person? Even if that means letting go.

  * * *

  “You think he’s all right?” Devin heard Mina’s voice.

  He opened his eyes and saw himself half-lying in a chair. Nothing seemed to have changed inside Epianna. The last thing he remembered was walking inside the jet bridge toward a closed hatch. Then halfway through the world simply vanished, and he was back to the ship.

  Seeing nothing wrong with him, Mina quickly walked over to the navigation panels and said to Thurman, “Get him some food.”

  “Did something happen to you guys?” Devin asked, suddenly feeling extremely hungry and dehydrated. If Thurman weren’t already heading downstairs, he would have run to the kitchen himself.

  Mina was busy with the navigation, but managed to answer his question. “When we woke up twenty minutes ago, we thought we had a dream, a shared dream, in which we met a bunch of soldiers.” The way she pronounced the word soldiers was funny. “At the end of the dream they told us they would bring over a gift.”

  She turned around and pointed to the back window where a portion of the diamond was visible.

  “Indeed, their ship came and delivered this thing.”

  Devin wanted to ask if she had seen anything inside the other ship. He had been standing at the window all the time—well, not he, but whatever had provided him with the vision.

  Thurman reappeared at the stairway with a tray of sandwiches and water. Devin took over the tray and wasted no time gulping the food. He would have passed out had he waited a minute longer, so he let that question slip. Besides, the other two were busy setting up their trip. They must go back soon, or Admiral Crawford would think he had lost them.