if he tries to figure out what happened himself? Having made up his mind, Arthur moved forward along a path barely visible in the fog. And then… he heard them. Strange signals, similar to the callsigns used on ships. As if in a dream, the young man walked towards them, when suddenly…
He didn’t notice how it happened. Losing his balance and clutching at the air with his hands, Arthur collapsed into the void. However, the flight ended before it even started. The skill and experience of climbing made themselves felt – grabbing the edge of the crevice, he tried to feel the bottom with his foot and, to his amazement, found a light metal ladder. There was no way back and, slowly but surely, the young man went downstairs. The light of day had faded and a slight twilight reigned all around. As his feet touched the floor, the young man looked around. It looks like he is in some kind of dungeon. Complaining about the lack of a flashlight, he groped his way forward. Metal! The walls of the room were completely made of metal! Cautiously moving along one of them, he noticed another staircase leading into darkness and began to descend again, as a bright light flooded the entire surrounding space. Discouraged, Arthur stopped, shielding his eyes with his hands. There were voices from below. The young man quickly overcame the remaining steps. Before his eyes appeared a huge hall, from which the doors of the compartments departed in different directions. But then, at one of the doors, near an incomprehensible device in the form of a type-setting panel, he saw three people. They turned around and Arthur saw Anna among them.
– Anna?
– Arthur? The girl approached the man. – How did you get here?
– Where here? Anna, where are we?
– And what do you think?
– I… – Arthur looked around in bewilderment. Then he met the gaze of a tall man in the clothes of an astronaut. As if reading his mind, he nodded. -Does it mean…
– Surprised? – Anna smiled ironically. – But you yourself wanted to find “something extraordinary,” didn’t you?
– Yes, – Arthur pursed his lip. The slightly mocking look of the girl almost pissed him off. – Thank you for the reminder. I already realized that I was visiting aliens. Aren’t you afraid we’ll be their guinea pigs?
The girl frowned.
– Looks like someone has been watching The X-Files too much. Yes, Arthur, we are indeed in an alien spacecraft. And let me introduce Art, the commander of the expedition, and Mikkel, the captain of the Aldabra.
The astronauts bowed, placing their hands on their chests.
– Very pleased to meet you, – Commander Art waved his hand around the room. – Welcome to Aldabra – the fastest ship in the Orion Constellation.
– Well, nice to meet you, – Arthur held out his hand and Commander Art smiled and shook it.
– Forgive me for interrupting you, – the young man whom Anna called the captain of the ship took a step forward. Graceful, dressed in a silvery suit, with black hair pulled back, he looked like the hero of some fantastic movie about elves. Noticing Anna’s enthusiastic gaze fixed on the alien, Arthur felt an unexpected pang of jealousy mixed with envy. The man pursed his lip, and his hands clenched into fists of their own accord. Not noticing the complete hatred of the look of the man, the Captain looked around everyone with a serious look of chocolate eyes. – We don’t have much time.
The commander nodded, turning his gaze to the girl.
– Oh sure. Anna, now I hope you understand the reason for your being here.
– Not quite… – Anna replied with a shrug. – Although… if you want to say that, once on your ship, we ended up in, so to speak, an alternate reality…
– What?! Arthur looked at Anna in shock. Anna, are you out of your mind? What is another alternate reality?
The astronaut shook his head.
– No, – Commander Art exchanged glances with Mikkel, who impatiently crossed his arms over his chest, and hastened to add. – You are in your own time and space, but we are all connected by one common mission, thanks to which you found our base and our ship.
Seeing that the young people still did not understand him, he sighed.
– Apparently, explanations are indispensable… I think you have heard about the spirits that protect your planet? So, we, of course, are not one of them, but our mission is to observe the life of earthlings.
– Like “Men in Black”, or what? – Arthur chuckled.
– Something like that, – Commander Art nodded. – Of course, this sounds fantastic, but I’m sure, Anna, you are not one of those who need to prove that your planet is not the only one inhabited in the Universe.
The girl nodded. For many years she studied astronomy, the Vedas and Ancient Texts. And Arthur’s recent discovery seemed to have prepared her for the last step of accepting what Commander Art was hinting at. But Art?
– I… of course I understand, but… If you died, then… Now you…
– What? – Arthur threw a perplexed look at the astronaut, but he impatiently waved his hand, interrupting him:
– Yes, you can say that. I don’t want to go into details, but I don’t seem to have a choice. Well, we can actually live one or more human lives in order to awaken those who are ready…” He glanced pointedly at Anna. – Midgard is not just a planet, but what earlier spiritual leaders called a kind of Purgatory. Having come here from our world, your souls, through several rebirths, can receive healing from negative energy…
– So does karma exist? I knew it…
Art continued, ignoring Arthur’s irony:
– … We have been looking for a suitable planet for this experiment for a long time, but without success. The worlds to which we sent expeditions already had developed civilizations like us and did not want to participate in this. Finally, about five hundred billion years ago, we discovered an undeveloped system called the Milky Way. There was no point in delaying. The Intergalactic Council decided to send several ships in order to establish contact between Midgard and Wyrda… Initially, it was supposed to use a device called the Star Gate for communication between the planets. It allowed, with the help of an instantaneous wormhole, to move from one world to another. But the hopes placed on the Gate were misguided. The power of Chaos in the hearts of people is too great, the catastrophes that destroyed civilizations on Mars and Phaeton…
A dreamlike vision flashed through Anna’s mind – a flash of light, a city collapsing… Art, watching her, shook his head.
– We often want to intervene… Stop everything. But we have no right. Our mission is to see that history takes its course, but does not slide into chaos. Of course, sometimes we still have to protect your world from attacks from the outside, such as meteorites, comets and the invasion of unfriendly Space Hulks… But everything that concerns life on the planet is taboo.
– But why? – Arthur looked at Anna. To his amazement, the girl looked quite calm, as if Commander Art’s words didn’t surprise her at all.
– It’s
