“Good morning, Peter!” Anna said and Peter waved, hurriedly scampering into his office.
Last night, Peter had dreamt of Satellite 156. It had been one of the most vivid dreams he had ever had. In it, the orbiting satellites had been people. People that Peter did not recognize. He couldn’t even remember if they had had facial features beyond eyes or not. Either way, he was not bothered by this in the dream. He watched as they orbited. Every person in orbit had their eyes closed like they were sleeping except for satellite 156. The person who represented satellite 156 had their eyes open while their body was spinning and flipping rapidly. They spun so fast and so tight it was as if an alligator had gotten a grip on them. It had scared Peter so badly that he had woken up out of breath.
“Hey, boss,” Bill said, entering the office, “How are you?”
“I’m feeling motivated, actually,” Peter said, “What’s up?”
“It’s satellite 156,” Bill said, “Have you looked at the reports from last night?”
Peter shook his head and Bill said, “Look over them. I’ll be back to discuss.”
Peter opened his satellite software and clicked on satellite 156. The code for the satellite opened and Peter was shocked. Every line of code that had been written prior to sending the satellite into orbit had been wiped out and replaced by repeating zeros. Peter minimized the code and checked the code of satellite 156-2. The code seemed the same. Peter scrolled down to where he had found the error yesterday and discovered that it had been written over. Or else, it had corrected itself.
“Bill!” Peter shouted from his desk and Bill entered.
“What do we do?” he asked nervously, “What does this mean?”
“Have we checked the surrounding satellites?” Peter asked.
“No,” Bill said, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Peter and Bill sat at Peter’s computer combing through the code of the surrounding satellites. Everything seemed to be in order with the coding. The two stared at each other inquisitively when the phone on Peter’s desk started ringing.
“Hello?” Peter said into the phone.
“Peter?”
“Yes.”
“We have an issue. Can you come upstairs, please? As soon as possible is best.”
“You got it,” Peter replied and hung up the phone.
“What was that about?” Bill asked.
“It was upstairs,” Peter replied, shaking his head, “I have no idea what they want but they need to see me immediately.”
“Good luck,” Bill said, and the two left the office.
Peter was the one in charge of the satellite project and subsequently anyone working on the project. Everyone knew this and was under this impression. Peter had higher-ups that he reported to but they were never on-site and rarely contacted him. This was quite the surprise. Peter climbed the steps up to the floor with the elevator that would take him to the top floor of the building into the restricted area. No one was allowed to use the elevator. Any floor above where you could take the stairs was off-limits. Only Peter had a key to the elevator.
Peter reached the elevator, pushed the button, and the doors to the elevator opened. He took out his key and put it in the keyhole that would activate the elevator and allow it to move up and down. He hit floor 13 and waited patiently as the elevator rose.
“Peter?” A man in a suit greeted him, “Follow me, please.”
Peter nodded and followed the man down a hallway and around a corner that led to another hallway. At the end of the hallway were double doors embossed in gold. It looked very out of place among the plain office doors lining the rest of the hallway. The two men reached the door and opened it.
The room on the other side of the double doors was magnificent. It had high ceilings with windows that covered the walls from floor to ceiling. There were crystal sculptures surrounding the room and in the middle was a long, curved desk made of glass with three people sitting behind it on glass chairs. They were dressed very nicely but not appropriately for a work environment. The people who sat there looked like they were meant to be at a gala, not inside a government building. There were two women, one in purple and one in green sitting on either side of a man in orange.
“Peter?” The fancy man in orange at the desk called to him.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Please take a seat,” he said but there was no chair for Peter to sit in. The woman in the purple gown waved her hand and a glass chair appeared just opposite of them at the table.
Peter rubbed his eyes, convinced he was hallucinating, and another person said, “Please, do sit.”
Peter walked over to the chair that had just appeared in the room and sat down. He had expected it to collapse or otherwise disappear. He was pleasantly surprised to find the seat of the chair to be comfortable and warm.
“I’m sure you know why we have called you here,” the man in orange robes said, “I’m also quite sure you were not expecting to see us specifically.”
“Yes,” Peter said, finding his voice, “I’ve never met with you before. Did Kelly send you?”
“Kelly has no idea we are here,” the woman in purple said, “My name is Iris.”
“Hello Iris,” Peter replied.
“Next to me are Clay and Fern,” Iris said, “We are here because of you.”
“Because of me?” Peter was confused, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“We’ve been watching you,” Fern said, “And we are very interested to hear what you have to say about your satellite project.”
“Yes,” Clay said, “In fact, would you please explain to us the objective behind satellite 156-2 specifically?”
“My objective,” Peter repeated, thinking to himself, “It was an experiment.”
“What question were you trying to answer?” Iris asked.
“I guess it was a ‘what-if’ question,” Peter replied, “Nothing specific.”
“What inspired you to do this?” Clay asked.
“Am I in trouble?” Peter asked then, and the three giggled in harmony. The sound was soft and sweet like blowing bubbles made of music.
“Do you mean trouble in the way earthlings do?” Fern asked, “Because no. We do not punish people for mistakes.”
“What do you mean by earthlings?” Peter asked, “Did I make a mistake?”
“My dear,” Clay said, “Do you not realize what you have done?”
Peter shook his head and Clay went on, “You did it and now the prophecy can be fulfilled.”
Peter stared at Clay blankly, waiting for more answers.
“It was said many years ago that the aliens on Earth would eventually open a portal to the rest of the universe,” Iris explained, “The rest being the side of the universe that holds the energy of every alien to walk planet Earth. Furthermore, every species of life that was conceived inside your universe, but not on Earth, were then hidden away in the other universe until the time came to join both halves of the universe.”
“Where do I fit into all of this?” Peter asked, still very confused.
“You are the earthling to join both halves of the universe,” Clay explained, “The half that you and the rest of your species can only fathom with the other existing half of the universe.”
“The universe is infinite,” Peter said then, “It could not be measured and then split.”
“The idea that your universe is infinite comes from your innate – yet suppressed and forgotten – knowledge that you can only experience half of it during incarnation,” Fern explained, “You call it an infinity, but the universe you experience is just simply incomplete.”
“What does satellite 156-2 have to do with any of this?” Peter asked.
“That was actually our question to you,” Iris said giggling, “How did you do it?”
“All I did was send a similar satellite up with a pre-existing one to have them communicate,” Peter shrugged, “We found that communication didn’t work so I’m not sure how my satellite has anything to do with theories of the universe being split into two parts.”
The three started muttering amongst themselves, nodding and shaking their heads when appropriate. Peter was growing uncomfortable with the quiet muttering when Fern spoke.
“So,” she started, “You did not send up satellite 156-2 with the intention of opening a portal?”
Peter shook his head vigorously, “No, not at all. I was hoping to learn something about how satellites can help heal each other while in orbit together. I have no idea about any portals.”
“Satellite 156 is now a portal to the other half of the universe,” Clay stated, “In fact, it’s why we are here in front of you now.”
“How?” Peter asked.
“That’s another question we have for you,” Fern said, “Could you tell us anything about the way they were built? Did you discover anything interesting about the mechanics of everything? We’re trying to understand.”
“I found this morning that whatever communication satellite 156-2 had with 156 changed the coding in satellite 156. It’s a continuous code of zeros. I’ve never seen anything like it. Other than that, I don’t know.”
“Zeros are interesting,” Iris lamented, “They are in a shape with no sides, no beginning, and no ending. A symbol of infinity. Like the snake eating its own tail.”
“That is very interesting, Iris,” Clay replied, “What a fascinating idea.”
“What idea?” Peter interrupted.
“Do you typically use repeating zeros in your satellite codes?”
“No,” Peter shook his head, “Repeating zeros break the code. I would never send a satellite into orbit with repeating zeros in its code let alone a satellite with zeros exclusively.”
“Ah,” Iris said nodding, “That makes sense.”
“Explain your thoughts, Iris,” Fern encouraged.
“A deterrent,” Iris explained, “The key to opening the portal needed to present itself as a deterrent to the earthlings or else this may have happened to the wrong person at the wrong time.”
“Indeed,” Clay agreed, “But this is the right time and the right person. Tell me, Peter, have you been experiencing loss lately?”
“My wife passed away a few years ago,” Peter admitted, “Things have been a little hard I guess.”
“Grief!” Fern exclaimed, “Grief bred from unconditional love!”
“Yes, I’ve been grieving,” Peter confirmed.
“She must have heard you,” Iris guessed, “Were you thinking of your wife when you sent that satellite into orbit?”
Peter thought for a moment then laughed, “Actually, yes. I was thinking about what she had said about mirrors. I had been comparing satellites to mirrors and it reminded me of her. She had said that mirrors opposite each other opened up portals. I hadn’t taken her seriously. I also definitely thought she had meant a portal to ghosts. Not the other half of the universe.”
“Well, you put mirrors opposite each other up in space,” Iris explained, “At the cosmic level.”
“You not only sent up a mirror into orbit,” Fern explained, “You sent it with your grief which is really just the evidence of love. I think your wife heard you from the other half of the universe and facilitated the portal opening. I think, without the mirror, or without the grief, this may not have happened. But with both, it was the perfect combination for a portal to open.”
“This was detailed in the prophecy,” Iris said then, “The prophecy stated that lovers divided between the two halves of the universe would open the portal with their unconditional love.”
“Your love for each other must have been pure,” Iris smiled, “It would not have worked otherwise.”
“What does this mean?” Peter said then, “What do we do?”
“Well,” Clay said, “We are unsure how many beings in the other half of the universe are aware of the portal. I suspect once the portal becomes common knowledge, you’ll have many visitors on planet Earth.”
“Visitors?” Peter was nervous. He absolutely did not have the authority to invite foreign bodies onto planet Earth. Who would oversee that anyway?
“Your government is aware of the existing life outside of Earth,” Fern said, “Life was detected by a very intuitive being in the 20th century. He presented his evidence to the U.S. government and was silenced for it. No one has been able to make contact since. Not until now.”
“I don’t understand,” Peter said, “If the portal is in orbit, how would anyone make it onto planet Earth?”
“The mirror you sent up was directly in line with the Milky Way,” Iris explained, “It created a direct line to New Zealand at the time the satellite entered orbit.”
“It was perfect timing, really,” Clay added, “This line that was created now serves as a road that wandering souls can find and follow.”
“What does the Milky Way have to do with this?” Peter asked.
“Just beyond the Milky Way is where the other half exists,” Iris explained, “Man threw up a shark into the sky and ever since then the lost souls of Earth have traveled there.”
“The Milky Way is a part of this universe,” Peter stated.
“Not the other side of it,” Clay explained, “The Milky Way is the wall between this half and the other half. You blew a hole through it with your satellite and sent a direct line to Earth.”
Peter sat in silence for a while considering this. There was another side to the universe, the other half. They were split and sealed together by the Milky Way. Which now had a hole in it leading directly to Earth.
“I’m not in trouble?” Peter asked.
“This is destiny,” Iris comforted him, “Although, I doubt your government will see it that way.”
“What do I do?” Peter said, “What do I tell them?”
“Tell them nothing,” Iris said easily, “But insist on your satellite staying in orbit. Divert the source of the hole to something else if it is ever discovered.”
“What if random visitors show up in New Zealand?” Peter asked.
“I assume they would be instructed to take the form of a human in order to fit in seamlessly as we have done,” Iris guessed, “But I’m sure they will need a facilitator of sorts to welcome them.”
“My dear, Peter,” Clay said smiling, “I believe we have a job for you. How would you feel about a relocation to New Zealand?”
“I’m not so sure,” he answered nervously, “I didn’t plan on ever going back there.”
“The first visitor will be there shortly,” Iris explained, “Who better to welcome her than her earthling husband?”
Peter’s face lit up, “Lily?”
“She won’t remember you,” Clay explained, “It’s the curse of entering Earth.”
“The curse?” Peter was confused.
“Any being to enter planet Earth loses their memories of their previous lives,” Iris explained, “The same will be true for Lily when she arrives.”
“What do I do?”
“What you’ve been wishing for, of course,” Fern said smiling, “To fall in love with her all over again.”
“What if she doesn’t fall in love with me?” Peter asked even more nervously.
“The love you have for each other was powerful enough to open a portal between the two halves of the universe,” Iris stated, “I think you’ll be okay.”
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