River to the Multiverse

By David Gittlin

 Join ebullient mystery writer, Jacob Cassel, his astronomer wife, Amy, a highly evolved and sometimes cantankerous AI named Arcon, and Silenna, a courageous Aneleyan scientist, in an outer space adventure that will keep you turning pages and guessing what happens next.

Silenna is a visitor from a planet that

• Language: English
• Publisher: Entelligent Entertainment
• Release date: Jun 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798985860535

David Gittlin

David Gittlin has published nine novels, including the popular Silver Sphere Series. Before quitting his day job, he spent more than thirty years as a marketing director. He lives peacefully, but sometimes loudly, in Florida with his family.For more information about Gittlin's novels, please visit www.davidgittlin.net

Book preview

1

HELLO

Our Time in the limelight is here. I often wondered if it would ever come, although, in retrospect, its arrival was inevitable, assuming we survived. Which we did. Miraculously.

My brand-new wife, Amy-Goodwin-Casell, sits to my right. She is clad in a pink paisley dress looking as fresh and striking as ever. To my left, Arcon is ensconced in his golden sphere. I sit between them in a ridiculously priced Brioni suit complemented by a pale blue shirt and navy-blue tie. I am wearing the ensemble only because Amy insisted that I dress appropriately for the occasion.

 You look great in your new suit, Arcon tells me telepathically.

Are you just saying that to make me feel better? I whisper back.

I feel awkward attempting any type of detectable conversation in a setting like this. I am here in a support capacity, not a blabbing one.

Arcon answers with a question of his own. How many compliments have I ever given you?

Precious few. I guess that means you are sincere. By the way, I wouldn’t be making a loudmouth out of myself if you found the time to teach me how to speak telepathically. It isn’t like we have a catastrophe pending that requires our immediate attention as the case has been since I’ve known you. It can’t be terribly time-consuming to teach me.

Arcon makes no reply. He is most likely off somewhere pondering the mysteries of the universe. My thoughts return to the mundane considerations of proper attire.

I shouldn’t be complaining about the price of my outfit. I can easily afford it. Ever since my new bride and I made the tour of popular morning shows, my mystery novels have been flying off the shelves. The royalties are pouring in. I’ll have to get over the habit of living on a mid-list writer’s budget. It won’t be easy to change a habit that has become second nature. Maybe it won’t be as hard as I think. Amy and I have made a lot of life changes in a very short time. I mean—A LOT.

At least my wife gave me the right to pick the colors of my expensive outfit. I chose the navy-blue suit in honor of the official hue of the Aneleyan Space Administration, which no longer exists. The Aneleyan we once referred to as The Visitor is one of the few survivors of her race. Her name is Silenna. The name is a facsimile of her Aneleyan name, which is unpronounceable in English or any other terrestrial language. She is the focal point of this auspicious occasion.

Silenna is beautiful in an other-worldly sort of way. Her skin is pale blue. She is six and three-quarter feet tall. Her hair is a mixture of black and golden strands pushed straight back from her broad forehead. When we first met after she landed her spacecraft on a lonely stretch of Daytona Beach one foggy night, I expected her hair to be cut boyishly short for space travel. Instead, it is long and often worn in a tight bun with a long braid trailing down her back. Her head tends to drift back and forth when she observes something. It’s as if her eyes are lenses recording the object she is viewing. At first, I thought she might be an android, but I’ve learned that is hardly the case. Silenna is a woman possessing great passion and emotion as well as real flesh and blood.

Her deep blue eyes staring out through purple irises and orange pupils tend to mesmerize me. Her features are regular and humanoid, as is the rest of her body, including the purple fingernails. Once you get past her height and coloring, I find Silenna to be quite alluring. I carefully avoid sharing this view with Amy.

Thanks to our recent notoriety, Amy has received numerous job offers from prestigious research observatories. Several of them are in California like the Palomar Observatory. I’m sure I’ll find writing on a mountaintop as invigorating as writing on a beach. Still, I miss the house I lived in on Daytona Beach with my ex-friend Jack Markham. Times change no matter how much we resist them. The government has impounded the beach house purchased with Jack’s ill-gotten gains. The government also impounded Jack Markham. He is languishing in federal prison for committing massive financial fraud with his Wharton School buddies.

Life goes on.

After a brief introduction by the Secretary-General, Silenna stands at the podium to give a speech to UN delegates and most of the leaders of the free world. Her image appears on a twenty-foot television screen behind her. She is wearing a custom-made purple business suit. When Silenna first arrived, Amy went to a Big and Tall shop to buy clothing to fit her. All she found was a supersized outfit that made Silenna look like a team member of the Washington Generals, perennial losers to the Harlem Globetrotters. We have come a long way since then.

Myriad countries from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe are represented in the audience. Before this event, Silenna had only allowed a handful of people to see her in the flesh. I am one of those people. At this moment, I am struck by the prodigious amount of courage it must require to address this diverse group. Through the lens of their differing cultures, beliefs, and world views, how will they see Silenna? What are the chances these people will accept an alien from another planet? How will they interpret what she has to say to them?

Silenna wears a gold, star-shaped necklace that masquerades as a voice box to make her sound more human. She designed the device. Arcon manufactured it from a precious metal aboard Silenna’s starship using his 3-D printing capability. Silenna’s vocal cords have evolved to accommodate the speech patterns of Aneleyans, which makes speaking English in a human cadence difficult. To her benefit, she now has an excellent command of the English language. Arcon taught himself English by absorbing my entire repertoire of the language and supplementing it with an up-to-date version of Webster’s Dictionary which I always keep handy. Arcon then downloaded the information to Silenna telepathically in an overnight English crash course. Silenna subsequently downloaded the language telepathically to her ship’s computers. Now, we are all on the same page literally and figuratively.

Silenna opens her speech with a phrase in her native Aneleyan tongue. I recognize the language from having overheard conversations between Silenna and Arcon. It reminds me of when my parents spoke Yiddish at the dinner table to protect me and my young sisters from the harsh realities of adult life. The same principle applies here. Only this time, I believe Silenna is not trying to protect delicate ears.

I used a sentence from my native language to introduce myself. It means: I am pleased to be here.

I hear a murmur from the audience. I scan the room and wonder how, in a world of strife, this magnificent oval amphitheater with its soaring seventy-five-foot ceiling ringed with booths full of interpreters ever came to be.

I have traveled to Earth from the other side of this galaxy. I am here with only one purpose in mind: To help you.

I hear a ripple of light applause.

I am not one for long-winded speeches. Please forgive me if you find my brevity insulting. I mean no disrespect. My mission has been delayed long enough by intervening threats to your planet and solar system. I am grateful for the two extraordinary human beings and my faithful assistant who are with me on this stage today. Without their help, I would not be standing here, and you would not be sitting where you are.

A rumble of laughter echoes throughout the amphitheater.

"I am deeply grateful to have this opportunity to finally begin my work. I bring you cures for terminal illnesses and serious injuries. I offer solutions for your energy and environmental predicaments. I can impart a perspective to your leaders to help them live in peace. With your permission and cooperation, I will take parties aboard my starship to observe first-hand the wonders of the universe. These are but a few of the benefits I am here to share with you.

"As part of my message, I will tell you what happened to my beautiful homeworld, Aneleya. We thought we had every right to destroy a race of beings for their long history of crimes against sentient life in our galaxy. The few survivors of my people have learned a hard lesson. I do not want the people of Earth to learn the same lesson. We had no right to levy a death sentence on the Krondorian people. Violence begat violence. Cause triggered effect. After our race lived in peace and prosperity for thousands of years, the Krondorians destroyed my people and my planet in a matter of seconds.

"I am not the first to say this, but it bears repeating. War and violence are never the answer. Peace is always the answer. I intend to do more than speak these words. I intend to walk them with every step I take on this planet. I intend to help you live the way we did on Aneleya before our arrogance got the better of us. Thank you for your attention. I bid you all a good day."

The audience members stand in thunderous applause. Amy and I join in. I am deeply moved by Silenna’s speech. I know her well. She will follow through with every word of it or die trying.

I watch Silenna with feelings of profound admiration. She accepts the applause humbly with hands clasped in front of her chest and moves them out in tandem to every section of the audience.

Suddenly, she touches her ear. It seems to me this victorious moment is stuck in a freeze frame. Then, Silenna turns to us with an expression I’ve never seen on her face before.

2

A  Dilemma

We ride in a Cadillac limousine on our return trip to the hotel. Amy stares out of her back seat window. I assume she is absorbed by the ponderous and ultra-modern skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan. I have my eye on one of the two motorcycle police officers escorting us on both sides of the car. A black SUV holds two Secret Service agents clearing the way for us up ahead.

Silenna has the resources to travel first class. She insists on footing the bill for this trip with precious metals stored aboard her ship which she exchanges for currency. I’m not going to stand on ceremony with a six-and-three-quarter-foot woman who keeps herself in Olympic shape.

There’s nothing like the combined forces of New York’s finest and the Secret Service to protect us, I say to Silenna to make conversation.

Holding the golden sphere with Arcon in it in her lap, Silenna remains steadfastly silent. I have a sneaking suspicion she has been in deep telepathic conversation with Arcon for most of the trip. Amy and I have not been looped into the discussion. Silenna can select whomever she wants to include in any telepathic forum. So far, she has only mumbled something in Aneleyan. I’m almost certain what she said was not meant for public consumption. It may have been a comment about the lack of headroom in the back seat.

The limo pulls up to the Millennium Hilton at the UN plaza. It is an impressive glass building accented with gold lettering. A crowd of press reporters and television cameras waits for us at the hotel entrance. Our Secret Service detail dismounts their vehicle to escort us through the media stacked several rows deep. Silenna walks purposefully through the news circus without acknowledging a single request for a sound bite. As we follow her along the path cleared by security, fond memories of the downtown area return to me. It’s funny how memories can warm the heart while the events themselves were terrifying. Our destination is not far from One World Trade Center where Arcon and I saved the world from a doomsday pulsar fired at us intentionally by an alien race bent on our destruction. I have to say the credit goes mostly to Arcon. He jumped off the top of OWTC and pulled the Earth into another dimension to avoid the pulsar. We lived to fight another day, which came only three weeks later.

It’s been three months since Silenna, Amy, Arcon, and I saved the Earth for the third time from the vile Oranians.