Anti-Mage

The exams were everything Anton hated about going to the doctor. Blood pressure, temperature, oxygenation, and blood samples were all checked or taken. Anton stored all of his equipment in his Personal Storage just before he stepped through the second airlock which caused one of the nurses to ask, “Sir, where is all the equipment you just had?”

Anton looked at the nurse and said, “I stored it in my extra-dimensional storage location.”

The nurse looked at Anton with confusion, stepped into the airlock, and looked around. With a shrug, the nurse turned and stepped back into the exam room and closed the airlock, “Neat trick.”

Another nurse in a clean suit said, “Sir, if you’d take a seat over here this shouldn’t take long.”

Anton sat. Twenty minutes later he was led through another airlock into a small room with a toilet, table, and bed. Before he stepped inside he asked, “Am I a prisoner?”

“No, Sir,” the second nurse said, “This is just a holding room until we’ve had a chance to analyze your blood to make sure you’re not carrying any sort of contagion that can be passed on to the other individuals at this station.”

“How long will that take?” Anton asked.

“A couple of hours at most. There is a monitor on the wall here and the controller is beside the bed, if you’d like to watch something on our internal network.”

“That’s fine, if everything goes as planned how long will it be before I can head to Earth,” Anton asked.

“Well, you should know that this facility, while large, has no direct access to the station with the portal generators,” Seska explained.

“Why are you, explaining that to me?” Anton asked.

“We just want to make sure that you understand that there is nowhere to escape to, if you were to try to leave. Personnel at this station are very careful about what we allow back to the planet.”

“And the station that contains the generators?” Anton asked.

“It’s within easy communication range,” Seska said.

Anton considered the statement. That meant that the station was probably within 186,000 miles, well half that probably so 90,000 miles or so. That would allow for communication with zero lag time. Without knowing which direction to head, he was stuck here. He guessed he’d have to play along, for now. Anton kept his thoughts to himself before he said, “I guess I’ll wait in here then,” Anton said as he stepped into the room before the hatch was closed behind him.

Anton walked over to his metal cot, which was bolted to the floor, and picked up the TV remote on the bed. He looked it over and noted that the buttons followed the normal configuration he was used to. He pushed the power button at the top and a monitor appeared on the ceiling above him. He leaned back in the bed and started going through the menus provided.

There was only one “news” channel. It was simply a status screen for the station which let him know that the station was fully functional, it was 13:51, or 1:51 p.m. local, and the temperature was at a nice 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The other available options were recorded movies and TV shows that dated back quite a while and included shows he’d never heard of. However, he did find “Friends” and decided to lose himself to some nonsense for a while. Anton made his choice and relaxed while he watched the monitor above him. At least that’s what he wanted those watching him to think while he went through his Notifications and status to see if there was anything he’d missed. Since the SYSTEM Update, he hadn’t received a single notification, maybe he’d missed something in one of the earlier messages.

***

Doctor Elizabeth Bashir looked at the results of the blood test. This was the third time she’d run the tests which were in a word, impossible. Elizabeth looked to her assistant Kenneth Malic as she asked, “And you watched the test from beginning to end personally this last time?”

“Doctor Bashir,” Ken said with a hint of exasperation, “I did exactly as you ordered. I sat there and watched the analyzer the whole time. From the moment I placed the sample into it, until it was removed I had eyes on the sample the whole time. The test went exactly as expected.

Elizabeth looked at the monitor where Anton relaxed on the bed, his eyes closed and moving back and forth under his eyelids, as if in REM sleep. She looked at the results again. The man in the other room shouldn’t be alive. Of course, she’d seen a lot of impossible things at this posting; animals that had no business existing, elves, dwarves, and a few other species out of mythology. All had been dead and floating in this section of space which had been discovered when a probe happened to pick up a large collection of biological signals as it was leaving the solar system. No one understood why living creatures had appeared in this one spot in the solar system until the ship that had been sent to investigate and witnessed a squirrel appearing out of nowhere, still quite alive before the vacuum killed it.

After the discovery, ships and probes searched everywhere within the solar system to make sure there wasn’t another point where creatures were just appearing out of nowhere. More importantly, the ships and probes were looking for an exit point where objects were pulled out of this universe. They’d found nothing else within the solar system

The facility she was in had been created to perform tests on the location and discover where these bodies had all come from as well as provide a stable environment for creatures to appear in. The discovery led to new research which ultimately led to dimensional portal technology. All that happened before her time but the portals made getting from Earth to this station a whole lot easier. The mandatory quarantine on the way back to the moon base sucked but at least she could talk to her family from the moon with very little lag. Eventually, that would be taken care of when stable portals were kept open for communication but they weren’t there yet. Maybe another five years.

What had her stumped her was that the sample of blood they’d taken was deteriorating. Well, it was probably not deteriorating while it was in the sealed vial but as soon as they put it on a slide to take a look at it, it just seemed to evaporate which implied that Anton was also decaying at a steady rate, yet there he was, laying on the bed. The few tests they were able to perform came back normal, but when the test was done, the blood was gone. A cotton ball with a little blood on it. 20 seconds later, the cotton ball was clean, though the fibers of the cotton looked like they’d had something on them. When the cotton ball was tested for residue there was no indication that anything had been there.

Doctor Bashir looked thoughtful for a moment before she turned to Ken, “Put that vial of his blood on the scale please.”

Ken did as requested before he looked at Doctor Bashir questionly.

“Wait for it,” Doctor Bashir said.

They both watched as the digital counter lowered from 276 grams to 275.

“It’s losing weight?” Ken asked with apparent shock in his voice.

“It would seem so,” Doctor Bashir agreed. “It seems that the vial is slowing down the effect but the blood is dissipating no matter where it is.”

“So what, is he going to disappear at some point too?”

Doctor Bashir considered the question before she answered, “I don’t know. What I do know is that I need to share these findings with Headquarters.”

“I’ll make sure our guest is fed,” Ken said before he looked thoughtful and asked, “He is to remain quarantined?”

“Yes. I’ll send off my report and we’ll wait for them to respond before we release him into the larger living area while everything else gets sorted. We can give him a little legroom while keeping him quarantined.”

“As you wish,” Ken agreed before he left the lab and went to see their guest.

Doctor Bashir turned back to her terminal and began typing up her report.

***

Two hours later Minister Allen was sitting at his seat in Moon Base One going over his daily schedule when the inbox for his electronic mail pinged.

From: Doctor Bashir

Subject: Visitor

Minister Allen read over the very short email and then opened the attached file. There was no doubt that the man who had appeared in the collection cube, as it was often referred to, was extremely important. Everything pointed to him being a normal human being except for the blood sample that was evaporating.

The test results showed no contagions, no communicable diseases, and no cancer cells, as far as they could tell with the level-one tests that were performed. For all intents and purposes, this man, Anton, appeared to be healthy and normal. Included in the report was a question Anton had voiced about magic, which seemed to be nonsensical.

Regardless, they wouldn’t learn anything with him out at the edge of the solar system. Minister Allen pushed the button on his intercom, “Becky.”

A feminine voice answered after a moment, “Yes, Minister.”

“Please have Commander Davis report to me at his earliest convenience,” Minster Allen said.

“Yes, Minster,” Becky said. Minister Allen noted that the intercom was still active as he heard Becky tap on her monitor before she continued, “He’ll be here shortly.”

***

30 minutes later Caitlyn Sheppard, one of three security personnel escorting Commander Davis, walked to the portal chamber where they were about to travel out to the edge of the solar system. As they arrived in the vacuum chamber Commander Davis turned to the three, “This is a quick escort mission. We’re heading out to Interlock Station. Once there another portal will transfer us to Cube Station. We will then escort our charge back to Interlock Station and from there to Moon Base 6. Once we have the subject secured at Moon Base Six, we get to come back here and stay in quarantine for a bit. Currently, there is no reason to worry but keep your armor on internal air throughout the mission.”

“Yes, Sir!” Caitlyn and the two other escorts with her said. She did a quick check to make sure her suit was set to internal oxygen, set her face place to mirrored, and waited.

A moment later a portal opened and the four of them stepped through into a small chamber. She’d expected the area to feel different but the gravity was identical. The portal closed behind her and a new portal opened into a different chamber where the subject was standing off to the side with a doctor who was in a clean suit. While not as sturdy as the armor Caitlyn was wearing it would protect her from most biological hazards.

The doctor nodded to the subject and stepped through a hatch that closed behind her. Caitlyn watched Commander Davis walk over to the subject, “Anton, is it?”

Anton nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Another portal will open shortly and we will step through to Interlock Station. Once there we will wait for another portal to be opened to a base on the moon, any questions?” Commander Davis asked.

“Nope, I’m all yours,” the subject said with a smile.

Commander Davis nodded and a portal opened to Interlock Station. The five of them stepped through. After the portal they’d just traveled through closed, a new portal opened and they stepped through that portal as well. For a moment she felt the gravity of the Moon before artificial gravity kicked in and everything felt normal again.

Commander Davis led Anton out of the arrival chamber and into Isolation Wing A, “This is to be your new home while those in charge decide what to do with you. It’s a little more spacious than the station you were just on and you have freedom of movement here in this wing. You have a room, lounge, and place to exercise as well as a view of Earth.”

“Where is the window to Earth?” Anton asked.

Caitlyn had a funny feeling in her gut when she heard him ask the question but Commander Davis just nodded down one of the hallways out of the entry room. Caitlyn followed Commander Davis as he led Anton to a small room that was enclosed in a bubble of transparent Aluminum. Caitlyn saw Anton smile just before he vanished.

“What the hell?” Commander Davis exclaimed as he tried to reach through the space Anton had just been in.

Caitlyn instinctively moved to block the passage into the dome room in case Anton was trying to get passed her but even as she did so she stopped. There really was nowhere for him to go. The other two escorts came running down the tunnel side by side, making it all but impossible that Anton had tried to slip passed the three of them.

As an alarm sounded Commander Davis asked, “Where did he go?”

For the next hour, the four of them were stuck in Isolation Wing A as they repeatedly searched the wing to no avail. Command even watched the oxygen usage which didn’t change. The four of them were on internal oxygen and no carbon dioxide was created while they conducted their search. When their internal oxygen was almost used up each recharged and met Commander Davis in the main room.

Commander Davis looked at the three, then cracked the seal of his helmet and took it off, “Might as well make yourselves comfortable, we’re going to be here for a little bit longer.”

“Shouldn’t we be looking for him,” Sergeant Jack asked.

“We did look for him. We couldn’t find him. Command wants us to stay here until they’re sure he isn’t in here with us,” Commander Davis explained.

“Why take your helmet off then?” Caitlyn asked.

“Because I get the feeling we’re going to be in here for a while. Also, I wanted to make sure I could feel a breeze if he’s somehow cloaked and moving by me,” Commander Davis said.

“Cloaked? Like cloaking tech? That’s not a thing is it?” Seargent Jacks asked.

“The man appeared in the middle of nowhere which implies that he either teleported or was deposited at that location. If that’s possible, cloaking tech could be possible too.”

“But he was in a hospital smock?” Caitlyn said wonderingly. “He was practically naked. Where would he have hidden the equipment?”

“Exactly, where did he hide the technology he used to escape?” Commander Davis asked. “Now, relax, grab a bit to eat from the dispenser, and make yourselves comfortable, we’ll be in here for a while. If we’re here long enough to sleep, we team up into groups of two in the bedrooms, no one sleeps alone.”

“Yes, Sir,” The three said as they unsealed their masks and went to get something to eat. Caitlyn tried to send out an email through her digital assistant but all communication channels were currently blocked. That figured. There was a security breach after all.

Caitlyn watched as Private Stevens grabbed something to eat and then grabbed the controller for the monitor and pulled up the local news. It seemed that they could receive transmissions, they just couldn’t make them. As she grabbed one of the meals from the dispenser she sat down at the table and began to eat as she wondered where the hell Anton had disappeared to. He’d been right in front of her and then he hadn’t. The better question though,where was he going? He’d seen Earth and smiled. Did he have a way to travel there from here? No portals had opened…could he have teleported? Idea after idea entered her mind, which she discounted as implausible. After a while, she put it out of her mind and let her attention be drawn to the movie that Private Stevens had turned the channel to. Some science fiction shows about robots that were going to take over the universe or something. It was now time to hurry up and wait.

***

It only took Anton 20 minutes to get close enough to Earth to alter his course toward one of the stations he could see. He’d activated Specter, swapped his clothes with his inventory and traveled in a straight line toward Earth. He’d have stopped putting up with all of the pointless questions a long time ago but flying at just over 1,400 miles an hour from the outskirts of the solar system and trying to find Earth in the vastness of space. Yeah, that would have sucked. From the moon though, he could get back to Earth in a relatively short time and he wouldn’t have to worry about not finding a place with atmosphere if he wanted to take a break, it was right there in front of him now. Sure he could use Battle Meditation to remain as a Specter for a really long time but he’d already done the stuck-in-the-void schtick, he wasn’t going to repeat that if he didn’t have to.

So he’d been polite, allowed team of soldiers to escort him back to the Moon and as soon as he’d verified that Earth was within sight, he’d left. He’d floated up through the roof of the dome and moved toward the Earth at his top speed. He noticed the red flashing lights as he moved away from the Moon but paid them no mind. He did look back at the Moon as he lifted away from the surface and noticed various domes and structures scattered here and there as well as shuttles moving between the habitats and the ships in orbit.

Anton was mildly impressed with the ships in orbit. They weren’t cobbled together but looked to be at least the size of aircraft carriers with bays and weapon emplacements as well as fighters. When one of the fighters came near him he altered his course to move beside it. Anton didn’t know what the orbital velocity of the Moon was but it was faster than his maximum speed as a Specter because the ship and all of its drones moved passed him in just a few moments. Still, he was able to get close enough to realize that there was no room for an occupant so all the small ships that he had thought were fighters must be drones.

Anton readjusted his course and began heading toward Earth. 20 minutes later he was close enough to see a couple of very large stations in orbit. There was one over the north and south pole with four other large stations placed 90 degrees apart around the equator. He also noticed that there was a space elevator from Antarctica to the station directly above the continent.

As he looked down at Earth now that he was much closer, it didn’t look all that different to the Earth he knew. Anton altered his course so that he’d enter the atmosphere over North America if he decided to make it down to the surface. A she drew closer he noticed something weird. It was obviously nighttime over North America and there were a lot fewer lights along the eastern and western seaboard. In fact, the whole world seemed to have a smaller population. Luckily one of the larger stations was in Geosynchronous orbit over North America.

Anton altered his course and flew toward the station. As he approached the station he was surprised at how large it was. This wasn’t a small station like the ISS. No, this station was at least three miles long and had domes along the outside that Anton could see buildings, parks, and people going about their business as if they were in a city on Earth. If he had to guess, one of the domes could easily house 100,000 people in the area he could see and there were sublevels below the domes.

Anton considered what to do and then decided to check out the station. If there was an underclass working in the bowels of one of these stations, it would be a lot easier to blend in and lose pursuit if someone came looking for him. He could always head to Earth if it didn’t work out. His first thought was to find out as much as he could.

Anton passed through an outer dome through the sublevels and found himself looking at a large open space in the center of the station. It looked like a reactor of some sort. He looked around the outer edge until he found an observation room, entered it, and then began mapping out the corridors, elevators, and ladders until he found the control room five levels up from the observation room. One thing he had noticed while he was looking around, was that the reaction area at the center of the station was well shielded.

He found a place in a corner and activated Battle Meditation to replenish his Psychic Energy before he started paying attention and looking for the person in charge. One thing he hadn’t tried, which he was going to do now, was to use Telepathy while Manifesting. He wasn’t sure if it would work or not but if it could, he’d be able to Manifest and listen in on someone’s thoughts.

Anton found the person who looked to be in control. A middle-aged Asian woman was in an office that overlooked the command room. Anton could see her mouth moving but couldn’t understand what she was saying because he couldn’t read her lips. Anton found a vent in the room with Line of Sight on her and activated Manifest. His body did visually manifest in physical reality but it was behind the wall, out of sight. Anton adjusted his eye level until he could see the woman and then attempted to utilize Telepathy.

Anton felt his mental energy push out and meet a very slight resistance before he broke through and found himself listening to the thoughts of the Director of this Space Station. It was quite surreal. He noticed that she had felt something as she reached up and rubbed the back of her head as he read her thoughts.

Damn, where did this headache come from?

Anton adjusted his attention through her mind until he could hear the conversation going on around her.

“There’s a food riot in Subsection 3, how do we respond?” one of the technicians asked.

Anton heard the director say, “They’ve already brought in the crops from their section. If they don’t end their nonsense in the next 30 minutes start reducing their oxygen until they get the hint. If it comes to the point where we knock them all out, some will be going to the Asteroid belt while their children are re-educated.”

“Yes, Ma’am” the technician replied swiftly as he relayed what he’d been told. Anton focused on her thoughts again and noted that she didn’t really want to be a hard ass but one of her thoughts stood out, We do not need to starve again.

Before he could pass judgment on the choices that were made he first had to understand what had happened in the past which meant he needed to find out as much as he could from as many people as he could. Anton settled in for a long night, day, or both of listening. Perhaps there was a way to data mine their minds. He’d never tried but maybe he could search through memories.

Anton activated Hyper Focus, concentrated on reaching further into his target's mind, and suddenly found his point of view falling toward the woman he was looking at. There was a momentary feeling of wrongness as his vision went black for a moment.

When Anton opened his eyes he was sitting at a desk. He raised his right feminine hand and looked at the light red nails as he, no she, moved the right hand. She? Anton quickly looked around until he found a reflection of himself staring back, he was in and controlling the director's body. He was in her body?

Anton quickly tapped his/her fingers on the desk and both heard and felt her fingers as they tapped. Next he, no she, moved both of her hands to push down her bouse like he’d seen Picard do to his shirt in Star Trek the Next Generation to see if he could feel that. More importantly, he allowed his thumbs to gently rub the underside of his/her breasts to see if he could feel that. He was a man after all, he normally didn’t have breasts so it wouldn’t be surprising if he couldn’t feel those nerves. Nope, he felt them, which was weird. He was very literally a man in a woman’s body. It was very unsettling.

Anton considered what had happened. He’d tried to read her mind and instead jumped into her body. While this ability would be very useful going forward, it wasn’t what he needed right now. Still, he had an opportunity, didn’t he? Anton looked at the terminal directly in front of the director and decided to find out what kind of world this was. Also, he needed to see how long this skill would last. Anton tried to pull up his Notifications and immediately realized that he couldn’t. Anton ignored the problem and went to his next task. He used the terminal and began to pull up as much data as he could about the history of this Earth and the stations surrounding it. Luckily there was a function in this system much like Google and YouTube. While he began to search the local internet web, Anton noticed that the nearby technicians saw that their director was busy and left her to her own devices while they monitored their terminals. It seemed that no one wanted the bosses attention, which was fine with Anton.