The MetSche Meridian

By Stephen A. Theberge

The MetSche saga concludes....

Young Dawn, a descendant of the MetSche rogues who fled to the planet Luggahro 50,000 years before the story opens, soon learns of her role in the time travel that this book features. But all too soon, her initial excitement and feelings of pride will turn to very different emotions.

One by one, most of the characters from the previous two novels are introduced: the evil Padma, the attractive alien Jared, various human doctors, and visually impaired Andre, the central human character. He is deeply affected by the aliens’ actions, both helpful and harmful. A cruel alien ironically named Glee brings him quite the opposite of that emotion.

The story tosses us into a maelstrom of planetary history, time travel, mind games, instances of kindness, and looking back at the past, sometimes with alien assistance. Only the section concerning Andre’s 12–week stay at the vision rehabilitation center roots us firmly in our earthly here and now. That sojourn brings Andre needed grounding and emotional growth.

The story ends, much as it began, with hope and determination to take on whatever the future may bring.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen A. Theberge
• Release date: Oct 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005303563

Stephen A. Theberge

I was born in Lewiston, Maine in 1963. Shortly thereafter, I moved to Attleboro, Massachusetts with my parents and my siblings, Denyse and Remy. In 1968, I began attending Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts as a residential student, graduating in 1982. I enrolled at Rhode Island College in 1982. I graduated from there in 1987 with a BA in computer science and a second BA in English literature, with a focus on creative, technical, and analytical writing. In the late 1980s through the early 2000s, I tried my hand at my own business, which focused on software for the blind and visually impaired. I have done various types of work in Web testing, computer programming, and usability studies. I am currently living in Attleboro, Massachusetts. I work for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority as an ADA Compliance Tester. I also work for companies as a Usability Tester for the blind and visually impaired.

Book preview

The MetSche Meridian

Stephen A. Theberge

Books by Stephen A. Theberge

The MetSche Message

The MetSche Maelstrom

The MetSche Meridian

Editing, print layout, e–book conversion,

and cover design by DLD Books

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Editing and Self–Publishing Services

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Copyright 2022 by Stephen A. Theberge

All rights reserved

Dedication

To my niece Stephany,

who came up with the Meridian title for this book

Chapter 1

Dawn’s Daydreaming

i

I see such a lovely yellow planet in the sky this afternoon. It is the neighbor to my home planet, which has been named Luggahro. The turquoise sky of my world is such a treat, and we call the planet Turquoise. I once visited the yellow world for a class field trip. I had such a good time visiting and learning of how we came to this dual planetary system 500 centuries ago.

Our people were pursued relentlessly by the inhabitants of another solar system, where we co–evolved with two races. Coincidentally, there were two worlds that were neighbors there as well. At one time, they got along in a great historic alliance and explored the universe together. The worlds were called Metamo and Shegna. The hybridizing of the beings of these two planets was what brought our race into existence.

At a significant point, those many long millennia ago, a great rift formed in the alliance. The hybrids, known as MetSche, who were created through a social experiment, wanted to be self–governing, but the inhabitants of Metamo and Schegna weren’t very interested in letting them be autonomous. Furthermore, many of the MetSche had violent intentions toward the government of the two worlds. That is, the hybridization had not gone as planned. Subsequently, the MetSche rebels fled and were pursued.

The legend continues and says that 4,000 of what were called rogues, my ancestors, fled to a world called Terra—or maybe it was called Earth. I don’t think the legends are entirely clear, as I’ve seen both names. A very bad woman, Padma, in her delusions and with the use of a powerful drug known as drosp, felt that she was superior to the inhabitants of Terra (or Earth). My ancestors only followed her to escape the tyranny of their worlds, and they reasoned that she could be stopped later. We are ashamed to count Padma among our hybrid ancestors.

In the book The Legends of Luggahro, Jared wooed Padma, and they fled to the yellow planet, where they could have peace from pursuers. The remaining 3,998 of the rebels soon followed. They, my ancestors, landed on this turquoise planet, and some of them went on to Luggahro, the nearby yellow planet. But soon there would be a great tragedy.

A fledgling humanoid race was developing on this yellow planet, but in less than a decade, that small population of 500 perished. Jared, Padma, and the other settlers on the planet never directly contacted these beings, who made sure they were not seen. The new humanoids took up only a very small area of space on this large planet, so avoiding being detected by the newcomers was simple.

Our best MetSche scientists realized, sadly too late, that the arrival of the rebels had introduced a deadly bacterium into the atmosphere of the planet, one to which the creatures had no immunity. They saw signs of serious illness about six years after their arrival on Luggahro. Our legendary hero, Jared, could not bring about any change. He alone went to these beings, trying to comfort them and give them medical treatment. Upon the demise of the new Luggahrolites, his guilt and horror regarding settling in this world haunted him for centuries.

I know that soon my mother will realize I snuck out of my room and find me here in the back yard, lying under the sky, daydreaming, as I so often do. Neglecting my studies is actually not common for me. I am a very good student, and my grades are excellent. It’s just that on this perfect spring day, all the smells of the blossoms and sounds of the stream are irresistible. I feel ready to take a nap under this shady tree.

ii

This feels so pleasant! I know that a dream is coming into my mind. Our race has a great history of controlling their nocturnal reveries. Mom will probably wake me up soon, as she often does, and have me do some chores or go back to my studies. She often says, Dawn! What will I ever do with you? She is a very loving mother, stern but fair. I should be doing the laundry or helping her out. I usually do, but this is a day to dream of my ancestors arriving on this world.

Again, I see many spaceships landing. My ancestors of 50,000 years ago have arrived. This time, it feels so real. It is much more vivid than ever before. Mother tells me that my control over my dreams will improve as I mature. I am only ten, and she says that my abilities are quite advanced for my age.

Many of my ancestors surround me. They are shocked and look horrified. They speak in panicked tones, all asking me, in a din, How did you get here without a ship? You must be a MetSche, as there are no inhabitants on this world!

I feel great fear. I don’t want to have a nightmare, but I can’t seem to stop the anxiety. Our ancestors could read one another’s minds, but coming to this world and its magnetic fields made it impossible for others to track their minds. They sacrificed reading each other’s psyches by coming to this world in order to be safe from their pursuers. I want to tell them that it’s just a silly dream that I like to revisit from time to time.

iii

Wake up, Dawn! I hear my mother. She has awakened me from a nightmare. Where have you been? she persists.

I just fell asleep, Mom. You see me here. Don’t be silly.

Dawn, I saw you sleeping there. But before I woke you up, you literally disappeared for ten seconds or so!

How could that be, Mom? You know I don’t believe children’s stories.

I would find out that what she was saying was indeed true. Other children in my neighborhood were seen to disappear for short times when they were sleeping. Nobody could explain the phenomenon. There were about six children that this happened to. They all reported having this happen when they engaged in lucid dreaming of the ancestors.

The mother of one child who disappeared in this way was so distraught that she jumped into the child’s bed in despair. A moment later, the child reappeared. The autopsy of the mother could not explain how her child’s body was imbedded in hers, but naturally, the ghastly event killed both of them.

Many experts were consulted. After many of them studied the problem, I think that a physicist, whatever that is, was called in to try to understand what had happened. He is called Dr. Temps Chose. I don’t know how a doctor can make things any better. Nobody is sick.

My mother and father tell me that I will go away from home for a short time. I will be with the other children who disappeared for short periods in their sleep. I should listen to the doctor, and it might even be fun, like a game.

iv

The doctor has been working with us for a long time. I think I have been here for almost a month. Dr. Chose says that we are very good at following directions, and we will go home in a couple of days. He had us play many games. Everybody here tells me that the doctor has played the same games with all of them, one at a time.

The first night, the doctor told me to think about the ancestors, but to think of being on the planet a day before the ships came. I would stay for just a second, according to the doctor, and then come back and wake up. I did this for several nights.

The second game was a treat. He said to put this plastic bag in my pocket. I was to go back a day before my ancestors arrived and dig up some sand, or bring a rock back in the plastic bag. He said to remember to take the bag out of my pocket, put something from the planet into the bag, and return. When I awoke, I was shocked to find that there really was sand that I had taken from the planet in the bag. I thought this was a clever trick played on me by the doctor.

I had fun playing on the planet with the yellow sky, but I was always glad to wake up here at home, with a turquoise sky, where my ancestors first landed.

There is another game tonight. The doctor is speaking to me now.

Remember, you will go back to a day before the ancestors arrived, here at home. You will put this timepiece in your pocket. Remember to look at it and set the alarm for one hour. When the alarm sounds, come back from the dream. Remember not to leave the watch behind. Put it back in your pocket.

The last game we played was a great deal of fun. The doctor told us we would play this game for three nights and then go home. He said we would lie in bed together side by side. He reminded me many times to not let go of his hand. In my dream, I would go back a day before the ancestors arrived, stay for a second or so, and come back. He sounded very nervous when he reminded me countless times not to let go of his hand or to move at all when I got to a day before our ancestors landed.

The day to go home came at last. I was missing my parents so very much! My father came to pick me up, and all the other children had various people come to fetch them.

As we were all leaving, the doctor said, I am very happy that you’re so good at playing this game with me. It was good to see that you were willing to work with such an old man. All of you have been very helpful to us. We, the people of the planet’s scientific community, are very grateful to you all. There is no way we can ever repay you. You have set the evolution of our race and science ahead a great deal.

Chapter 2

The Report of Dr. Temps Chose to the

Planetary Council on Physics

I have outlined in an earlier report how I worked with the children with proven methods of lucid dreaming experiments. I will summarize the main conclusions of the investigations here. I would not have believed that my outlandish theory about the disappearance of these children would be proven true.

The first phase of the experiment was to secure a safe area for the children to follow my directions for the lucid dreaming study. Naturally, I worked on them one at a time, as I didn’t want to risk them coming back and having their bodies materialize together in one place, which would have caused their deaths—as was the case with the mother who was upset and lay down in despair on the child’s bed when she discovered him missing. When the child returned from the past, he reappeared where his mother was lying, and their bodies were imbedded in each other, as they were occupying the same physical space. As a result, they both died.

The first phase of the experiment was to witness the children go into the dreamscape and to verify their disappearance for a very short time. All the children consistently performed this step satisfactorily.

The second phase was to have each child place a plastic bag in a pocket and go to the planet a day before our ancestors arrived. I carefully instructed each one to take sand, or maybe a rock, from the planet and place it in the bag, put the bag into a pocket, and return from the lucid dream. I was amazed to have proof of my theory when they all successfully returned from the dreamscape with actual physical objects.

I repeated the experiment, but instead of having them be on our home world, I instructed them to go to Luggahro, our neighboring planet, and bring something back, as they had done before. As I had predicted, none of the children could bring back physical objects from these dreams. As Luggahro was in a different physical location from the children, they could only move through time. They could not change their physical location to go to a point off this planet without a spaceship.

The next phase was to have them bring a timepiece into the dream and set an alarm. They were to wait an hour before waking from the dream. They all disappeared for exactly an hour and maybe a few seconds to set the timer in the dream, and then they returned.

The last phase of the tests was the most enjoyable for me. Frankly, I had been fearful of trying to prove my theory, as I dreaded a terrible outcome. When I held each child’s hand as he or she went into lucid dreaming, I witnessed a dematerialization. I actually saw the room I was in disappear and witnessed the vast wilderness and a lovely turquoise sky. It was the home world of our ancestors of 50,000 years ago. The sky seemed more brilliant than the present day. I was with each child as he or she dreamt. I was also frightened and glad that I had instructed them to stay for only a very short time.

I have now concluded that when these children have what we used to call lucid dreaming episodes, they are actually traveling back in time. This fact was verified when I dated the materials the children were able to bring back from their experiences. I was even more fortunate