A Cosmos Without Radu

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The first of my stories not to have a basis in episode-related material. Maybe I should have called it “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.”

“Okay, Harlan, three degrees starboard!” Radu called from his station. The crew was in the command post, preparing to land on a nearby moon to collect samples for examination. Landing was a fairly difficult task - the coordinates needed to be exact down to the most minute detail. The planet was heavily wooded, and scanners had detected only a handful of clearings big enough for the Christa, none of which were close enough together to allow for error.

As the ship drew closer to the ground, it suddenly occurred to Radu that the coordinates he’d been giving were slightly inaccurate. If his gut feeling was right, they were going to land a few dozen feet short of where they had planned - there wouldn’t be much distance from their landing place to the intended site, but plenty of damage could be caused to the ship if the station was off.

Wait a minute, he thought. This is a machine - it can’t be off. I must be reading it wrong. But even after checking the coordinates again, his Andromedan sense of direction was still warning him that something had been miscalculated. Taking a deep breath, Radu decided to trust his instincts. “Harlan,” he said urgently, “we need to pull up and try coming in again, or we’re going to be off on our landing!”

“What are you talking about?” Harlan said with a laugh. “Unless you screwed up, we’re going to come down right in the middle of that big clearing over there - ” Before he could finish his thought, a shock wave ripped through the Christa as something clipped the ship’s underside, throwing Harlan off-balance and almost hurling him to the floor.

Quickly recovering his balance, he turned back to the screen and instantly saw that the coordinates Radu had been giving him must have been completely off the mark. The ship was only a few hundred feet above a thick stretch of woods, and closing too fast to expect to make it to the clearing. It was too late to turn back. He’d just have to get them down as best he could.

They hit the planet with a force that knocked everyone to the deck, and continued crashing through several more feet of woods before finally slowing to a stop. For a few seconds, the command post was absolutely silent.

Those few seconds ended quickly.

“Is everyone all right?”

“What happened?”

“I knew something would go wrong. I knew today was going too well.”

“I thought we were supposed to land in a clearing, Mr. So-Called Navigator!” Harlan’s unexpected outburst caused everyone to suddenly fall speechless. “You couldn’t have told me that we weren’t going to land where we’d planned before it was too late to turn back? Or . . . did you want us to crash?” Radu stood numbly at his post, stunned and dumbfounded. He’d never had someone shouting at him like this. “Look,” Harlan continued fiercely. “I don’t want to look at you right now, okay? Just get out of here. In fact, get out of my life!”

“Mr. Band!” At that, everyone’s head turned toward the commander. He definitely did not look pleased. “This wasn’t Radu’s fault. And besides, we have more important things to worry about than placing the blame on someone.”

Looking put-out, Harlan walked angrily back to his post, but Radu heard him clearly as he continued to make comments under his breath. “I bet he did that on purpose . . . isn’t that just like an Andromedan, wanting us to crash. Now we’re going to have at least a week of repair work ahead of us - thanks a lot, Radu!” Seeing that the commander had turned back to Thelma, who was informing him of the damage, Harlan dared to throw one more angry look at Radu, who finally turned away, humiliated.

Suzee was already headed toward the door. “I’m going outside to check the environment.”

“Good, go,” Goddard said distractedly. “Okay, the rest of you . . . ”

“Come on, Radu, you know they don’t hate you,” Rosie said cheerfully. The two were sitting at the side of the campsite watching the other kids, who seemed to be having a great time - they were laughing hysterically at Suzee’s imitations of Miss Davenport when she got into one of her difficult moods. “They’re just angry. I mean, you can’t really blame them. Two weeks’ worth of repairs before we can get back out into space isn’t good news. But look on the bright side - at least nobody got hurt.”

Radu shook his head. “No, Harlan’s right. It was all my fault. I should have said something sooner - I’d noticed that the station was off long before I managed to speak up. And now everyone’s mad at me.” He sighed. “I feel like I’m right back where I started at the Starcademy, when nobody even wanted to look at me. It was as though they thought being Andromedan was something contagious and they could have caught it from me.”

“Just give the others some time to cool down.”

“Hey, Rosie!” Bova called, walking over. He glanced at Radu, then turned away, making a point of ignoring him. “Rosie, could you come give me a hand with the consoles in the command post? Some of the control panels need to be welded back into place.”

“Sure,” she said instantly. As Bova walked unhurriedly back to where the others were standing, Rosie turned to Radu and gave him an encouraging smile. “Like I said, just give everybody some time to think it over. Once things calm down, I’m sure they’ll be your friends again.” She ran off, and Radu looked after her sadly.

Yeah, right, he thought. Harlan’s gotten angry at me plenty of times, and I’ve never seen him keep at it like that, especially after Commander Goddard told him to stop. He got to his feet and stretched, looking wistfully back toward the campsite. Maybe I just need some time to think things over, too. Knowing that no one would miss him until it was time to go in for dinner, he turned and headed into the woods.

Although the view of the sunset through the trees was a fairly attractive picture, this planet was not as hospitable as the one that they had crashed on before. Judging from the area around the campsite, it seemed to be mainly dead trees, and a thick layer of some sticky substance covered much of the ground. . Adding to this was the fact that the forest itself was quite dark - the trees blocked out most of the dim light which was still streaking the sky.

Radu continued walking, deep in thought. I wonder if Rosie’s right? he contemplated. Knowing her the way he did, he doubted it. She had a tendency to try to make people feel better even if she didn’t believe that what she was saying was true. And judging from the way the others had been acting toward him, he suspected that none of them - especially not Harlan - would be especially welcoming to him when he came in that night.

His thoughts unexpectedly changed course as the ground disappeared from under his feet! Sliding down a steep incline, he tried frantically to find something to grasp - to stop himself somehow. But the smooth hillside offered nothing to grab a hold of. When he reached the bottom and landed with a crash, his head struck something hard - and everything went black.
Where am I? Radu wondered. He seemed to be lying on metal of some kind - some cold substance, anyway - in a place so dark that it was impossible to see his own hand in front of his face. Unexpectedly, he remembered. He’d lost his footing and gone tumbling down the hill, and hit his head at the bottom. But, oddly enough, it didn’t seem that his head hurt at all. What’s going on?

As if in answer to his thoughts, someone began speaking. You must make a decision, a strange voice said. Radu suddenly realized that although words had been spoken, the room had remained completely silent. He opened his mouth to ask, “Who are you?” But to his surprise, he found he couldn’t make a sound.

Who I am is not important, the voice continued. Your choice is what matters.

Choice? What choice? he wondered. Then, realizing that this strange entity must be able to hear his thoughts, he asked, What are you talking about?

You are in the midway point between the living and the dead. You may consider yourself lucky - few are permitted to make decisions about their own destiny. Your options are simple. Life. Or death. You must choose quickly.

This is nuts, Radu said to himself. Oh, well. Might as well give it a shot. This was certainly not something that you ran into every day. The choice was obvious. He was ready to answer that he chose to live, but paused suddenly. A single memory had filled his brain. He’d been only a few years old when this incident occurred, but he’d already known that he was unusual:

“Why couldn’t we go and visit the children on the other planets? I’ve seen holotapes of them - they seem friendly.” He was only partly telling the truth - the strange children frightened him to a degree. But he knew that his group would be safe if they went together, and he thought that it might be interesting to meet some children of other races. What strange names they had - Rigelians. And humans. He didn’t know much about either race - only the rumors that he’d heard from his groupmates. But they didn’t appear to be terribly dangerous . . .

“I’ve already explained this to you, 386,” his instructor said, sounding exasperated. “You are too young to be exposed to the dangerous independent thinking of those aliens. The Andromedan council does not want our children becoming acclimated to their ideas.” He paused to shoot a warning look at the other members of Group 380, who were giggling at the stupidity of their strange groupmate. No matter how different someone was, it was considered extremely rude to draw attention to it in public - of course, there was no regulation preventing Radu’s groupmates from teasing him at night, when the group was left alone in their sleeping quarters.

Turning back to his wayward student, the instructor continued. “I have found someone very interested in you, 386. Your problems have been described to him, and he has agreed to help you. You are to report to this dwelling during your study period today.” He handed the child a small diskette with a dwelling number on it. Nervously, Radu turned and stepped back into the group. Anything that he did on his own, without the company of his groupmates, made him a tad apprehensive. But perhaps this person really could help him . . .

That had been the beginning of it all, he remembered. The person that had been “interested” in his case was a psychiatrist, who had tried desperately to convince the young boy that his dangerously independent tendencies could be overcome. After endless months of treatment, Radu had finally decided to go along with what the man said. But deep inside, he knew that he liked being different. He didn’t want to be just another member of Group 380, just one of the ten young males whose identification numbers fell in the range of 380 to 389. He wanted to be distinct.

Of course, his independent notions had prevented him from ever getting close to his groupmates, and made it impossible to find his place in the larger community. He had always felt as though he were on the outside looking in, as though he didn’t quite have a place in the mix.

That was why he had been so thrilled when he found out that he was the student who had been selected to attend Starcademy. Although the thought of spending his days with the strange races that had been the subject of so many rumors among his groupmates frightened him a bit, he felt relieved that he was finally going to be among people that would accept him for who he was. It was only on the first day of classes that he discovered the other students saw him only as what he was; Andromedan.

“Students,” the assistant principal had said, “this is your new classmate, Radu. As I am sure you have all heard, he is the first Andromedan student to attend Starcademy. Since you will be acting as representatives of your planets, I am certain that you will join me in welcoming him warmly and trying to make his first day here as comfortable as possible.”

Whatever the woman’s speech was supposed to accomplish, it hadn’t worked. He remembered staring out into the rows of unfamiliar faces. Some gaped rudely in plain curiosity, a few faces wore hostile expressions - but the majority seemed only fearful. He realized that these students had most likely never met any of his race, either, and hoped fervently that he would find someone friendly among these strange new faces . . .

It had been almost a month before his path had crossed with Rosie’s. Until then, his days at Starcademy had been an endless pattern of bad test grades, cruel jokes behind his back - or, sometimes, to his face - other students slipping by him in the hallway, not wanting to make eye contact . . .

Once the crew of the Christa had found themselves on their ship, things had slowly begun to change. He had made friends of his crewmates - for the first time in his life, he was truly happy. He had found a place to belong.

But even as those thoughts entered his head, they brought more recent images with them. The others’ accusing looks, hidden or, in some cases, not hidden so well. Bova ignoring him when he came to ask for Rosie’s help. And finally, Harlan’s angry face. “Get out of my life!”

His crewmates were all angry at him now. It seemed as though he couldn’t fit in anywhere - his independent thinking made him unacceptable to his own race, but his early Andromedan training, which had taught him to abide by the group opinion to the exclusion of his own, had made him hesitate to voice his own opinion and had been the cause of the crash. He had no other place to go, and despite what Rosie had said, he knew that he had ruined his relationships with his crewmates. There was nowhere left to turn. I’ve made my decision, he thought. I’ll get out of Harlan’s life. I’ll get out of everyone’s lives. I want to die.
Immediately, he felt different. Lighter, somehow, as if a part of him was suddenly missing. But before he had time to speculate more about this, the deep voice sounded again inside his head. Now you will see the consequences of your actions. Almost before the words registered, Radu found himself in a strange room that looked somehow familiar. The layout, the view from the windows . . . he had seen this all before. But where? In a flash it came to him. This was the office of the planet heads. The place where the 5 different planets of the UPP came together to make decisions. But where were the pictures of great leaders of the past? The portraits of the war veterans? The images of present leaders, for that matter? There seemed to be little ornamentation of the room at all . . .

Radu caught his breath as the door opened, admitting four Spung noblemen. They were followed closely by another male Spung, whose commanding presence plainly declared his authority - he was clearly a warlord. Do not be frightened, said the voice. They cannot see you.

What’s going on? Radu asked silently. Where are the planet heads? Why are there Spung in the head office of the main government building?

The Spung are the planet heads.

What? He watched in horror as the Spung took seats at the table where he clearly remembered meeting the heads of the various planetary governments. His shuttle had brought him here to introduce him to these leaders before taking him to Starcademy that first day.

You see, if you had not left your previous plane -

What are you talking about?

The voice seemed to sigh in exasperation. There are infinite numbers of realities throughout the universe, each on a separate plane. Every plane holds an alternate version of reality; the way the universe would be different if one small thing had changed. One year later than the time frame you left, on the plane where you lived instead of dying, you traveled through time to the year which ended the Spung war. With your individualistic way of thinking, you were able to see a way to rescue the hatcheries which had not occurred to the adult Andromedans. And once their eggs were safe, you were able to convince them to organize a counter-offensive. This was what caused the Spung to flee. You’ve heard the stories, I presume? Radu nodded, dumbfounded. Without you, the Spung captured the UPP . . . The voice paused a moment as the door to the room opened. A young male Andromedan entered, carrying a tray. And your people remained enslaved.


What about my friends?

You may not like what you are about to see, the voice said slowly. Your friends’ lives have been greatly altered by the changes caused by your death.

I don’t care, Radu said firmly. I want to see them.

As you wish.
Almost before he had time to blink, Radu found himself in a strange room. It was obviously some sort of dorm, he realized, noting the beds lining the walls. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that none of the girls in the room looked familiar. Who am I looking for here? he asked.

You may not know this, but in the Spung culture, children - particularly female children - without parents are considered a burden on the community. Therefore, any child who does not have parents to take them in is put into a group home. This is the home of your friend Catalina.

Cat . . . He’d forgotten. Without him, his friends wouldn’t have ended up on the Christa, and Cat would never have switched dimensions with Suzee. It seemed strange to think of his Saturnian friend back home, where she was meant to be . . .

The orphans are supervised by unmated Spung females, and not given much more than basic needs - food, clothing, and a place to sleep. They are in classes all day - well, most of them.

What do you mean, most of them? Radu asked suspiciously.

Your friend does not attend classes. You see, the Spung do not enjoy having to deal with colonists who are different - if it is at all possible, they try even harder than your race to ensure that no one stands out as being unusual. Catalina is currently in for her daily psychiatric treatment. Invisible friends do not go over well with the Spung.

Radu suddenly remembered his own treatments, when he was much younger. He had complained about the tedious procedures, and his group leader had turned to him in exasperation. “Be glad you are not a Spung, 386,” he’d said. “You would not like to see what they do to alter the thoughts of their unusual young ones!” He’d heard horrible stories from the older children - shock therapy, isolation, starvation . . . they did whatever it took until the patient told them what they wanted to hear.

Can I see her?

I do not think it would be wise for you to see her during her treatments, the voice said. She should be finished shortly. Then she will return here.

As if on cue, the door opened and Catalina was shoved in. She looked as though she hadn’t slept in a month. As soon as the door closed behind her, she staggered to her bed and collapsed, asleep almost instantly. The other girls pulled away from her as though she were diseased, whispering to one another.

“Do you think she admitted it this time?”

“No. She’s not going to - she’ll let them kill her first!”

I believe you have seen enough, the voice said suddenly. With that, the scene - and the voices - faded.
Where are we now? Radu wondered. Although details of the new environment were slowly becoming visible, they did little to answer his question. They were now on a filthy road. Garbage littered the streets, and Radu had to fight off a feeling of nausea as he saw two small Uranusian children, a boy and a girl, fighting over a scrap they had pulled from a litter bin. This can’t be Bova’s home . . . can it?

All contact with Uranus has been dropped by the Spung, the voice said slowly. They now consider their empire to include only three planets in the Sol system. You see, citizens of the Spung empire must conform to the same rules the Spung themselves follow. One of those, sadly, is one meal per day. The Uranusians lived well enough for several years, until your friend Bova was six or seven years old. They had food stored up in case of emergency - but after a few years, it was gone. Now no one has enough to eat here. Most of the adults are gone. Starved to death - or worse. The majority of the young children are like those you see . . . rummaging through waste bins, looking for anything that will fill their stomachs. And as for the adolescents, like your friend . . . well, see for yourself.

The scene before Radu’s horrified eyes slowly shifted. They now saw a more recognizable place - a Uranusian home. Two young children, not even school-age, sat alone inside, watching helplessly as the last of their food was gulped down by the older boys who had broken in. One of the thieves looked familiar . . . too familiar. Radu closed his eyes, not wanting to see any more. I want to get out of here, he begged. Risking another glimpse, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the scene beginning to dissolve . . .
Even before the new scene “snapped” into his vision, Radu knew where they were. There was only one planet in his friends’ solar system that was this hot and this dry. It still puzzled him as to how Rosie’s people had managed to forge a life for themselves on this awful place.

But once the details of the scene began to come into view, he felt as though a rock lodged in the pit of his stomach. This was a Spung palace! No, he thought. Don’t tell me that she’s . . .

She is still living, the voice said suddenly. Probably the best off of your friends, if you consider only their personal happiness. However, she, too, has been greatly altered - she is perhaps the one most affected by the changes. As the scene shifted, Radu’s eyes narrowed in confusion. They were inside the palace now, but not in the slave quarters or the prison yard. What was going on?

His heart skipped a beat at what he heard next, before the picture cleared up completely. A familiar voice - familiar in the tone, that is, but certainly not the words! He hoped that his senses were deceiving him, that what he was hearing - and seeing - was a female Spung speaking to her personal servant. But he knew that the horrible scene was real.

Let me explain, the voice broke in suddenly. Nine years ago, when your friend was a very small girl, her parents found a young Andromedan girl, half-dead, collapsed outside their home. Naturally, being doctors, they took her in and tried to help her.

However, the Spung did not appreciate their runaway slaves being concealed by Imperial citizens. When the Iannis’ treason was discovered, their punishment was not the usual one. They were granted a penalty far worse than death - the Spung took their daughter away, raising her as a Spung child. She remembers no other life.

As Radu watched his closest friend giving orders to an Andromedan boy as though she’d been doing it all her life, he realized that Rosie truly had been brainwashed - she was a Spung in all ways but the one which she could not change. Get me out of here . . . he pleaded.

Very well. You still have one future left to see.
As his vision cleared, Radu realized he was in an alley, between two grimy-looking Earth buildings - apartment buildings, he’d heard Harlan call them. Are we in Harlan’s neighborhood? he asked tentatively. This didn’t seem like the kind of place that his friend would live in, but he couldn’t begin to picture the adults even visiting such an area.

Harlan is the only human that you will be seeing, the voice said slowly. When the Spung took over, their first action was to remove those in positions of authority - including the entire military arm of the alliance. And later, they converted the Starcademy into a Spung training center . . . and disposed of the staff and students who were currently there.

What? Radu couldn’t believe that the Spung had simply removed two entire sectors of the UPP without blinking an eye. Wait a minute, he realized. If all the STARDOGS were . . . removed . . . wouldn’t that include Harlan’s dad, too?

Yes, and that is partially the cause of your friend’s problems.

As if in answer to Radu’s questions, Harlan came into view - at least, Radu thought it was Harlan. He looked like an advertisement for an old Earth holotape talking about gang violence. Gone were all traces of the relatively friendly human that he had known - in his place stood a frightening stranger.

What happened to him? Radu asked in disbelief.

After his father was killed, Harlan lived alone with his mother. Especially when he was younger, he needed someone monitoring him. He was too headstrong for his own good, and without supervision, he got into trouble. His mother needed to work two jobs - she did not get compensation money from the UPP the way she did on the plane you are familiar with - and didn’t have much time to spend with her son. So, looking for someone to talk to, he starting associating with a bad crowd at about age ten, simply because they were willing to include him. He has gone consistently downhill from there.

As he watched, Radu saw another group of kids step out from the shadows. Who are they?

By normal standards, it has been very dull around here lately, and Harlan is going to try to stir things up by bringing his gang into another group’s territory - he is trying to start a fight. And it appears to be working . . .

Sure enough, the two bands were circling one another, fists raised. Not surprisingly, Harlan made the first move, striking out at the other group’s leader and knocking him to the ground. But quickly, another boy from the rival gang, bigger and stockier than Harlan, stepped up to him and sent him to the pavement with a bloody nose and a split lip.

At the sound of a voice, Radu turned his attention back to the other leader, who had risen shakily to his feet again. “This is stupid,” he muttered. “Let’s get it over with.” Radu watched in frozen horror as he pulled out a gun and took careful aim. The young Andromedan was almost grateful that the report from the gun sent him to the ground with his hands over his ears - it gave him an excuse not to look any more.

Click here for Part 2 of A Cosmos Without Radu