A strange fighter and a blue-haired girl appeared in a bizarre light show near one of Earth Dome's military bases. The girl did a quick look around and noticed the fighter. "This isn't where I'm supposed to be," she muttered, and got into the fighter. "Something went wrong." The fighter left the ground and several Starfuries were sent after it. The girl heard a beeping on the radio and she flipped it open. "Unidentified fighter, land at once for questioning." "Yeah right and get dissected," the girl snapped and saw a blinking light near the radio. She tapped the button and a familiar voice came through. "Nataruma are you okay?" "Yes, Colonel. What happened? I was supposed to wind up with the Emaan and not next to a military base." "I am unsure. I have a suspicion, but I need you here to check it out." "Um. Colonel aren't you supposed to be in another dimension?" "You and I along with this space elevator were supposed to be dispersed among three separate dimensions. My best theory is that something in this dimension stopped us from completing our journeys." Dodging through laser fire, Nataruma sent the Orguss 02 into a sharp dive and pulled out just before hitting the surface of the ocean below. The Colonel's voice came through the radio again. "I have broken into the satellites hovering above this Earth and have concluded that this world is similar to Chiram, but there are major differences in the geology." Nataruma glanced at the control panel and blinked. She rubbed her eyes and the data remained the same. "Colonel, the Orguss 02 has a full payload of ten missiles," Nataruma reported. "We used up all the missiles fighting Lebo." "That lends credence to my theory that there is some sort of time manipulation on this Earth. The missiles regenerated. Head back here, before the Space Elevator regenerates itself." "You're joking." "I do not know how to make a joke." The Orguss 02 shot ahead of its pursuing Starfuries on a straight run for the Space Elevator. Suddenly, a screen on the Orguss 02 lit up and one of the Starfuries was marked. "Nataruma, that fighter is carrying a differentiated idoblast." "A what?" "You're one as well. A person who has temporal or dimension energies surrounding him or her," the Colonel reported. "Uh huh. Oh look. I have a paint bomb deployment. I can use this to tag him." "That is used for larger mecha to home in on a target," the Colonel replied. "Still, it will show that I'm not trying to kill them." The Orguss 02 was the product of three separate technologies. Each in their own way was more advanced than Earth Dome. It was simple for the mecha to fly up above the Starfuries and drop a paint bomb on Jeffery Sinclair's Starfury and make its way to the Space Elevator without risking itself. "Home sweet home," Nataruma muttered, as she flew down the currently open shaft. Shortly after the Orguss 02 flew into the Space Elevator, the ruined technological wonder glowed with the same light that brought Nataruma to this world and was fully restored. Around the base of the elevator, Decimators from another world started appearing. Near Earth Dome, a large red mecha called Lebo appeared and shut down. Its nuclear missiles were deactivated and restored to its weapon bays. As to the reason for two beings and a lot of weapons from the world of Orguss 02 arriving, the Vorlon circle was shattered beyond any hope of repair by blocking them on their journey through the dimensional barriers. Jeffery Sinclair headed to the presidential office; he was still a bit miffed at being paint-bombed and seriously worried about the huge structure that had appeared in front of him. The guards at the door nodded to him and let him pass without incident. "Greeting Lieutenant Sinclair," President Levy said and gestured to a television screen. "Impressive, isn't it?" Sinclair looked to where she was pointing and saw a split screen showing the massive building. One side was ground level and the other side showed from an orbiting satellite. "What the Hell is that thing?" Sinclair muttered. "Everything points to a fully functional space elevator. This is despite the fact that all our research shows that such a structure defies all the known laws of physics," President Levy replied. "As to who built the thing. We have the name of the race that probably built it: The Chiram. I have never heard of this race, but I have suspicions. Now, as to the reason you are here. There was a conversation between that strange fighter and the space elevator. It was not encrypted, thus we were able to record it and decode it." President Levy pushed a button on her desk and the radio conversation between the Colonel and Nataruma was played. Levy stopped the recording after the Orguss 02 vanished into the space elevator. "This Colonel person was able to hack into satellites without a problem. That fighter outperformed our Starfuries and of course the space elevator itself. This technology is far in advance of what we are able to do. I have the feeling that they don't have an agenda." "Could the conversation had been staged?" Sinclair asked. "To what purpose?" Levy countered. "If they do have this Space/Time Oscillation Bomb, they could use it to hold the Earth hostage. There have been no demands. I have the feeling that you are part of the reason why they are here. Do you recall the bit about the differentiated idoblast?" "Yes," Sinclair ground out. "That was right before that Nataruma girl paint bombed my Starfury." "Something in your past or future caused that thing and the strange robots to stop on their journey to where they were supposed to go. Even now, we are dismantling a lot of the robots. There is a huge red one that looks like it is mind controlled in some way." "Madame President?" A call came over the intercom. "I think you should hear this. It is a message from the space elevator." "Put it through." "Greetings, whoever the leader of this Earth is. I am the Colonel. I come from a country called Mu. Judging by your technology, you are aware of the Space Elevator." "This Earth?" President Levy muttered and continued on a louder voice. "I am President Levy. You and Nataruma have caused quite an upset around Earth Dome. What are your demands?" "If I demanded anything, it would be to destroy Lebo. The giant red robot that your people have dubbed Red Goliath. It drives its pilot insane. Beyond that, I have no real demands but I have some requests. I would like to meet with you, a John Sheridan and a Jeffery Sinclair along with some others in talks about the time loop that our arrival disrupted and the future wars that you will have with the Minbari, Vorlons, and Shadows." "Wars we will have?" Levy asked. "Yes. The Vorlons set up a time loop and your race is forced to fight wars that really should not happen. Next year, you are supposed to get into a war with the Minbari due to a misunderstanding about how they approach others," the Colonel replied. "I'm sending you the list of people that I wish to talk with you along with a list of people that I will kill if they set foot inside the Space Elevator. When you hear everything, you will also want to kill these people." "Send your two lists," Levy said. "And, we'll see." Levy picked up the list with the names that the Colonel did not want to see and would kill and chuckled. "Senator Morgan Clark and Psi Cop Alfred Bester are at the top of this list. I can't say that I blame him on those two and these others are ones that I really have no objection at letting stay here." Levy picked up the other list and saw the names on it and shook here head. "If Santiago is supposed to become president after I step down, I can see why he would want to meet with him, but these others... Doctor Richard Franklin, Susan Ivanova, Michael Gerabaldi? These others on the list are people assigned to the Agamemnon. At any rate, the demands are reasonable so far. No, not demands. These are requests." Levy paged General Hardcastle from Earth Dome's military and handed him the list. "Get these people together. I'm going to accompany them to the space elevator and talk with the Colonel." "Madame President, that is a very big risk for you to take and...," Hardcastle began. President Levy cut him off. "I note your objections. However, no matter where on Earth I am, I am in danger of whatever that space elevator has for ordinance." Hardcastle deflated. "A couple hundred nuclear missiles, thousands of mass drivers and lasers also pepper the hull of that structure. It has more firepower than all of our ships combined." "Add to the fact there is also some strange weapon called a Space/Time Oscillation Bomb, the safest place for me to be is in the space elevator," Levy said with a smile. Hardcastle sighed heavily and nodded. "General, I have the feeling that the Colonel is not here to threaten us and maybe he is here to help us," Levy said. "Judging by what we picked up in the radio chatter between Nataruma and him, I believe that this mess wasn't supposed to happen at all. Gather the people general, and take this other list as well and keep them far away from the space elevator. The Colonel said he would kill them if they showed up. He's not being threatening, he just does not want to deal with certain people." Hardcastle looked over the second list and gave a disgusted snort. "He threatened to kill the people on this list? I would love to kill a lot of them myself. As to the list of the ones he wants to meet, it is so scattered and strange. I have no idea why he wants to talk to them." "Sinclair is for obvious reasons," Levy said. "How long will it take?" "A few hours." "Get to it." A few hours later, President Levy was sitting in the cabin of Earth Force-1 as it made its way to the space elevator. Looking at the group travelling with her, she had the strange feeling that they would make a great crew for a space station. She shook her head, as she listened to the various theories being offered up. Soon, the ship landed in front of the space elevator and the passengers disembarked. All of them looked up the length of the giant building. Susan Ivanova shook her head and muttered, "I hope that thing doesn't fall." Sinclair replied, "That is one of the reasons no one has attacked the silly thing. The length of it is so great that it could wrap around the Earth at least once. I just hope none of the other races have heard about this." "I ordered a news blackout when it appeared. I'm trying to head off an invasion from other races," Levy said. Susan took a look at two of the other women and shook her head. "I'm just a private. I have no idea why I'm here with the president of Earth, a Psi Corps member, and officers of the military." "You were asked for by name. I don't know why though," Lyta Alexander replied. Susan shook her head and gave a start when a small door opened up. Everyone looked at each other and then proceeded inside. Everyone saw that the entire structure was working and yet there was no one inside. "This is creepy," Gerabaldi muttered. "A structure like this and there is no one around." Sheridan looked closely at some of the markings on the walls and doors. He blinked in shock when he recognized the language written on the surfaces. He took a closer look around and even though the structure was set up grander and differently than most other structures, Sheridan felt an uncomfortable familiarity with the way the interior was set up. "What the blazes is going on here?" Sheridan muttered. "Everything points to this thing being of human make." "Indeed it does, for it is of human or Chiram make," a male voice came from in front of the group. "President Levy, I see that you brought all those I requested to speak to." The group saw an old man with a long white beard and wearing robes and carrying a staff walk out from a door. Behind him was a girl wearing a skin-tight outfit that looked like a one piece yellow bathing suit with pink arms and leggings attached. "I am the Colonel and this is Nataruma. I do apologize for upsetting your world with our arrival. I was going to reactivate the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb to send everything on its way, but Nataruma convinced me that helping this Earth out, might help in repaying the debts that were caused by the original detonation of the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb," the old man said. "Before we proceed, I'm taking a precaution so that you don't shoot first and ask questions later," Nataruma said. Before anyone could ask what she meant, all the guns that were being carried flew up and formed a ball. The ball was crushed and the resulting scrap metal fell to the ground in a rain of metal powder. Everyone looked at Nataruma in shock and a bit of fear, as her blue hair had flared out around her and her two tentacles were revealed. "You are a telekinetic," Levy stated a bit hoarsely. Nataruma smiled and replied, "Telekinesis, telepathy, force fields, mentally see far away, and a few other powers are available to me." After that little revelation, the Colonel reached up and removed his face revealing the robot underneath the mask. "This is what I truly look like and now I will now tell you of the great war that happened more than two hundred years ago and the events that led to having the Space Elevator appear in your world, including the time loop in this world that acted like a barrier preventing everything from going to the universes they were supposed to. Please follow me and I will project the images so that you can see the past." The group of humans looked at each other and nervously followed the two beings. "We're the only two here," Nataruma stated. "However, that doesn't mean we're helpless. I'll tell you my story as well, since it ties into this mess." The group entered a decent sized circular room with plush couches lined up against the wall. In the center of the room was a holographic display table. After everyone got comfortable, the Colonel projected an image from his eye and explained about the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb and the war that led to its initial activation that turned many separate Earths into mosaics of planets. He went on to explain about the subsequent war to reactivate the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb to put the four worlds right. "We were for the most part successful, but some elements were forced into yet another world," the Colonel said and continued on. "Colonel, I think I had better take over for the next part and then you can jump in and cover what I didn't," Nataruma said. Nataruma told of her life in Zaphram and how the rulers of that country wanted to use her as a weapon and killed her mother because of it. She told the story of taking Lean hostage and their subsequent adventures to get to the country of Rivillia. After getting to the part where she telekinetically ripped open a steel gate, the Colonel took over and explained his actions in seeking Nataruma and the new Space/Time Oscillation Bomb. He went on to explain about how he tried to set things right when King Perriam activated Lebo and prevented the use of the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb and how anyone using Lebo would be driven mad by using it. President Levy made a mental note to have that robot dismantled completely. Nataruma smirked in President Levy's direction before taking up the tale of how Lean was going to fly the Orguss 02 against Lebo and how Nataruma acted like Lean's eyes and the subsequent battle where she deflected energy bolts capable of leveling a city. They viewed the final battle where Perriam tried to grab her and Lean and Manning's use of an old rifle to kill the maniac. "Now we come to why the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb dropped everything off on this world," the Colonel said. "Join hands and Nataruma will show you." Nervous about what was going to happen, the Earth Force members did as they were told and Nataruma finished the circle by taking Sheridan's hand in her right hands and Sinclair's in her left. She closed here eyes and showed them the wars to come with the Minbari, the Shadows, even the loss of the IPX expedition that Anya Sinclair would be on, Clark's murder of President Santiago, Psi Corp's placing a false personality inside Talia Winters, Bester placing compulsions inside Gerabaldi, Sinclair becoming Valen, Babylon 4's fate, and more. She released her grip and opened her eyes. "What you just saw happened many times before and would have happened many times more if the stuff that was being transported by the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb hadn't acted like a battering ram," the Colonel explained. "The combination of the two repaired the Space Elevator and restored the various mecha to their fully functional state and gave this Earth back its future." "The Colonel explained that my ancestor was the one who triggered the original bomb. I tried to set things right for my homeworld. I can't call the Emaan world my homeworld, even though I am one technically. I have never been there." "That future seems sort of inevitable the way the Vorlons and Shadows manipulate everyone," Sinclair muttered. "Even my future was pre-set." "Like I told Lean, negativity breeds nothing. One's own destiny lies in one's own will," the Colonel said. "Moving on. President Levy, you can send people you trust to hold the Space Elevator and use it. All that I ask is that Nataruma and I retain quarters in it, along with food and clothing for Nataruma. She also needs someone to look into seeing about correcting the genetic quirk that only allows her to have just one child. The technology of many different Earths now belong to this Earth." "You're just giving us this stuff?" Sheridan asked in disbelief. "Yes. Why wouldn't we? It helps repay the debt that was caused by the dimensional war and removes another opportunity of pain for the living," the Colonel said. "When you leave here, look to the left and you'll see the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb. I am the only one that can operate it and Nataruma is the only one who can control it. Other than space travel, the technology that you have now been given is far more advanced than yours." "Just how many worlds were affected by that thing?" Gerabaldi asked. "Five confirmed. The Chiram who created the Space Elevator, the Mu who created me, the Emaan from which Nataruma is descended from, Jabby's world where the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed and sentient reptiles arose. The final confirmed one is the world with Zaphram and Rivillia. There was an unknown number of unconfirmed worlds," the Colonel replied. "There was a incident where Joan of Arc led a tank battalion of the French Foreign Legion against the evil dictator Queen Marie Antoinette in that mosaic of worlds." "There are so many things wrong with that scenario, that it is not funny," Sinclair muttered. "The bomb is suicidal to use." Levy shook her head. "I agree to your terms. You're here to help, not harm. I have to do something about Psi Corps and Clark. I'll talk to you later. Doctor Franklin will stay here and examine Nataruma and compare her DNA to ours. I have the feeling that she is as much a human as the rest of us, although with some slight genetic differences. Colonel, I expect you to train who I send here to operate this elevator." The Colonel nodded. "I have placed the histories of the five confirmed worlds onto the computers here, along with the various technical data. The Mu had a working warp or teleportation technology and force fields. The Emaan had working gravity control, which is how they could have their ships glide and float in the air. The Chiram is obvious what they could do." "Building something like the space elevator is pretty impressive. They must have some advances in lightweight materials," Levy said in agreement. "I will talk to the two of you later. I came here expecting a terrorist threat and found out I was so wrong. I will keep Psi Corps off your case Nataruma. You've had a very hard life and too many people trying to control you." Over the next few days, Earth Alliance techs and scientists looked over the technical specs that were given to them. Psi Corps did find out about Nataruma, but with the threat of the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb waiting, they kept relatively quiet. In the machines and devices that appeared around the planet, Earthdome forces found the bodies of other humans and a few Emaan corpses. One Emaan corpse was confiscated by Psi Corps for study. At the end of the week, a meeting was held by the president to go over all the data. Doctor Franklin was the first to speak. "I've gone over Nataruma's physiology and compared to the humans of this world. There were some major discrepancies. Fortunately, with the discovery of Chiram, human Mu, and Zaphri corpses, I was able to get a clearer picture." "Zaphri?" President Levy asked. "The planet with Zaphran and Rivillia," Dr. Franklin replied. "At any rate, Her body is close to base-line human, with some problems. Once she has a daughter, her reproductive system shuts down and her body seals itself up. Constant sexual frustration after that for her is pretty much her fate. After talking with the Colonel, I found out that if an Emaan girl does not have a child by the time she is twenty- one, her body will do pretty much the same thing. The ovaries shut down and the body seals itself up. I think I can prevent Nataruma's daughter from going through either of the problems. However, there is something else I found out. We are dying." "What?" Levy demanded in shock. All around her, various members of Earth's government were also in shock. "We are off base-line human. The telepathy that has shown itself is not natural and is acting like a genetic bomb. Worst case scenario is within three generations the genetic anomaly will go critical and all children born will only live a maximum of eight years before dying a horrible pain-filled death. The Emaan are closer to base-line human than we are and they are a race of touch empaths and have those tentacles growing from their heads," Doctor Franklin explained. Alfred Bester of Psi Corps stood up and nodded towards the doctor. "Our own independent studies have also shown this to be true. We are still trying to figure out why Nataruma is as powerful as she is." "That's because she is a direct descendant of the idiot who triggered the first Space/Time Oscillation Bomb," Doctor Franklin replied sourly. "I have no idea how that affected her genes, since I don't have the body of Kei Katsuragi to dissect and figure out what the Hell is going on with her." President Levy waved both men to her seats. "Nataruma is to be left alone. She has no desire to use her powers other than to protect herself or her current home, the space elevator. She has had enough of people trying to use her. Doctor Franklin, can we cure the genetic bomb within our species?" "It will take time, but yes. The downside is the loss of telepathic abilities. Although, for the average person that means nothing to worry about. The only thing that would be adversely affected by the cure is Psi Corps," Doctor Franklin replied. "Nataruma is an exception, since her powers come from her unique physiology." Bester sat mumbling in his seat about alien jerks and loss of power. The other members of the tech squads just ignored him and waited. "What are the situations with the other technologies?" Levy asked. A group of men stood up and nodded to the president. The leader of the group stepped forward and placed a card into a projector slot. "It took us a bit of time, but we have been able to isolate each of the other planets and show where there main strength lies," the group leaders said. "The Chiram built the Space Elevator and the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb. Later on, they also built sensors that could detect dimensional disturbances. They used this to track down a single human on a planet underneath a lot of turbulence called the Dimensional Tepest. Lightweight and strong materials are one of the things they excelled at. Their sensors are better than ours by quite a bit. They also built weapons that were more compact and stronger than what we use. Next up are the Emaan. From what we have figured out, they were a race of gypsy traders. We have one of their ships called a Glomar and it has a Hasai cannon on it. I'm not the one that came up with those names. They used a gravitational drive in almost all their vehicles. Their fighters have back up thrusters, but the Chiram thrusters are generally better." "Impressive so far," Levy said. The tech leader nodded. "This is just scratching the surface. The Emaan also have the powerful Hasai cannon. Nothing we have right now can stand against it. It is one of the most powerful weapons I have laid my eyes on. Next up are the Mu. The humans of Mu built the Red Goliath or Lebo. That thing has a force field that will repel most energy attacks and has powerful energy weapons that put the Hasai cannon to shame in energy output. However, the Hasai cannon is more compact than the energy weapons of Lebo. The Mu robots had a teleportation technology called dimension shifting where an individual robot could appear anywhere on the planet. If it weren't for the Dimensional Tepest creating interference, the robotic Mu would have wiped out all non-robotic life on that mosaic of worlds. The Zaphri robots are sturdy and simple to control. The Zaphri tech provides the bridge from what we know to understanding the technology of the other worlds." President Levy nodded and looked at General Hardcastle. "General? Did the expedition to the moon and Mars turn up those two ships?" "Yes, Madame President. They did," Hardcastle replied. "I was hoping they wouldn't show up and that the Colonel was wrong," Levy muttered. "In fourteen months, a war between Minbari and Earth is supposed to start, due to the actions of the Vorlons. I tend to believe that the Vorlons were the ones who put that genetic time bomb inside us. How long will it be before our ships are outfitted with the tech from the space elevator." "The stuff is from the twenty-first century," the tech leader said. "We can probably have about a fifth of the fleet completely refitted by the end of a year. It will take us about five years to completely refit all our ships," the tech leader said. "We haven't begun to mess around with those two alien ships." "And, you're not going to," Levy said. "There is no point. The tech from the space elevator is human and is easily understood by us. Those two ships probably have nothing we need." The tech leader nodded. "I tend to agree. The only thing we really had over our counterparts is space flight and the only reason they didn't have that was due to the Dimensional Tepest. Heck, the Chiram had stuff in orbit around their Earth and probably had colonies on other planets in their solar system, due to the space elevator. I think combining what we can get from Mu and Chiram that we might be able to discard jump point generators and jump gates." General Hardcastle spoke up. "Moving away from refits, we are right now building a new class of ships from the technology we were given. It will have gravitational drives, force fields, excellent sensors, and hopefully an FTL method that doesn't use jump space. It will take us some time to get our new gravity generators to the same level as the Emaan." "What makes you say that?" Levy asked. "We can't build them that small. One of the things we found was a World War II United States Army jeep with its motor replaced by a gravity generator. That mixture of technology is probably why it wound up here. Chiram was pretty much another Terra or Earth. Other than a few landscape differences, it was Earth," Hardcastle stated. "I see," Levy said softly and hummed to herself. "Okay, other than that fact, how are we compared to those Shadow ships?" "We believe that the new Warlock class will be on equal footing to that spider-ship we found on Mars. The weapon systems might be of better quality." President Levy nodded. "We have at minimum fourteen months to get prepared for a war that we wouldn't be able to win normally. So, we have to be prepared for that. Whether it is with the Minbari or the Vorlons, I am not sure. We need ships built and we need to get that genetic time-bomb out of us." "What about this Shadow race?" Bester asked. "We want to keep neutral in the war between the Shadows and Vorlons. When the first Warlock comes out of production, I am going to have an expedition sent to the Drahk and have them deliver the message to their masters. We want to stay out of it," Levy stated. "The Vorlons set up a time loop and forced us to be their pawns. One of our officers was supposed to become the Minbari Valen. I am putting Jeffery Sinclair in charge of that ship that will make contact with the Drahk. I want the Shadows to know just how bad the Vorlons had manipulated everyone and the time stream itself. We have no need of alien technology. Emaan, Chiram, Mu, Zaphri, and Dinosoids have given us all we need to make it on our own. Speaking of which, what did the Dinosoids have over everyone else?" "Agriculture and terraforming. We can terraform Mars so that it has its own atmosphere," came from a random scientist. Levy nodded. "Now then, we come to the most important thing we have to deal with. What do we do with that damn space elevator?"