The Continuum Dealer: Beginnings

By Robert Colling

An angel's greeting marks the beginning of the Ethan's journey as The Continuum Dealer, the one who can tell people what their true name really is. Ethan, his staff, and his leethur (a creature who both protects Ethan and indicates Ethan's emotions) set off on the interplanetary journey to bring truth and comfort to people. Along the way, Ethan must deal with his struggle of which woman to be with, as well as the mystery of the bombing that killed the previous Continuum Dealer.

The Continuum Dealer: Beginnings is a fast-paced, science fiction thriller that deals with the biblical themes of failure, redemption, faith and romance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664125766

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Anna

Anna had been standing in line for roughly two days. She and about a thousand other people had been waiting to meet with the Continuum Dealer. The Continuum Dealer came to a planetary system only once or possibly twice in a lifetime. Although the line was long, everyone was given a number and an approximate time to be in line on a certain day. Anna could hardly contain herself and wait to be touched by the one. The Continuum Dealer would touch her and tell her the true name of her twins.

Anna considered herself normally a slim-figured blonde of average height. She was gaining weight more rapidly now, and she blamed all of it on the babies. When she found out she was pregnant, her family and friends offered advice on abortion and adoption, but without much discussion, she had decided almost immediately that she was keeping the babies. She stood in a long, flowing, all-white dress with her head covered, as did all of the other women around her.

Her birth mother named her Veronica. The Continuum Dealer, known by the name of Grinden, had dealt her true name many years before. She became Anna that day and forever more. She instantly took to the name and grew into it.

She was here now with all the other hopefuls to find out the true names of her twins, the ones the spirit of the universe had named them long before even the conception. She, and most of the other people, believed in one all-knowing and governing spirit of the universe. She was here to claim the true names, and she believed they would give a certainty and clarity of purpose to her babies.

She could see the Grinden off a short distance away on stage standing behind a podium. A feeling of joy started to overwhelm her as she heard many of the hopefuls spontaneously start to sing their national anthem.

It was then the bomb went off.

The blast knocked her off her feet, and it felt almost like someone had hit her hard with a big pillow across her chest. She made it to her knees and started to gather her thoughts. She tried to reconstruct the last couple of days by reviewing the events that had brought her to that planet and how she came to be there on the ground.

She had arrived on Lantor by the usual method. A starship carrying some 1,500 passengers had made one pass over the planet and landed in the capital city. Lantor was a planet mostly made up of oceans, with many thousands of islands of different sizes scattered along its equator. She had disembarked in the capital city on one of the largest islands. The city was, in most part, tall skyscrapers all bunched together in the center. She was to meet the Continuum Dealer next to the city in one of the large parks. Once she had checked in, she had found shelter on the outskirts of the park until the time came to stand in line. Those thoughts filled her mind all at the same time, and she was jolted back into the present by the screams in front of her.

She stood up slowly and tried to shake the small ringing in her ears. She looked back at the bomb crater and noticed a small plume of smoke rising from where the stage had once been. She became quickly aware that the rest of the people around her were starting to run away from the explosion. She stopped briefly to rip the bottom of her dress on both sides. She cradled both hands in front of her under her stomach as she ran. She was quickly swept up in the mob. Once they all had made it back into the outskirts of the city, most of the mob dispersed behind the edges of the different buildings.

What happened? she asked the man next to her. Did you see if the Continuum Dealer made it to safety?

His eyes glazed over, and he said, No one made it out of that blast. All I know for sure is that the bomb took out everything around the center of the stage. Let’s catch our breath. He wheezed. We should be safe here for the moment.

That was when the next bomb went off.

CHAPTER TWO

Hughes

Lt. Hughes stood high above the bomb craters on scaffolding attached to a city building. He observed the bomb blast radius with twisted metal scraps along the edges. He watched as the hundreds of drone bots hovered over the ground gathering DNA from the wreckage. This DNA was instantly up- loaded to his portable half visor. What everyone feared quickly came true as the face of the Continuum Dealer appeared with the words deceased next to it.

He was there at the site in his capacity as a psychic detective. He had joined that particular squad a year before when it was discovered his placement tests showed physic abilities. His results were off the charts. Other detectives would gather the DNA evidence and try to discern matches and links. Other detectives would interview witnesses and take statements. Other detectives would apply technologies to interpret the recent motives of religious and other antigovernment groups. He was there to interpret the feeling of the scene.

Lt. Hughes raised both his arms and put both his hands together to form a small, square window. He closed his eyes and reached out, as it were, with his senses and his mind. His very first intuition was to rule out hate or vengeance. It just didn’t feel like that at all. He closed his eyes once more and took a deep breath. The word came to him all at once, just as a big wave crests and crashes on the shore. The word was cleansing. This felt like a cleansing to him. He sensed it was someone’s need to wipe the area clean of every living presence. There was no hate to