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Fur Suit. Part 3 of the Diamond Suit Series.

Chapter 1: Bridgehead

A pool of light cast by a lone spotlight illuminated the figure standing at the auditorium’s podium. Tier upon tier of attending minds scaled upward into the darkened heights; numberless thousands of minds looked down from the upper reaches of the arena to the figure at the dais.

To describe a universe so utterly different from our own we have to rely on imperfect analogies. This is a fable because humans don’t have the vocabulary to explain the real events. The setting for this fable is a universe that surrounds our universe – more dimensions than ours. The characters in the auditorium are minds far different from ours and impossible to describe.

Minds gathered around the darkness of an arena. Above, stretching along an infinite ceiling was a sheet of paper upon which drawings of stars were born in galaxies, planets circled the stars, creatures lived and died on planets. Our universe, to the greater minds, was like this sheet of paper. The flat creatures on the paper could only see paper before, behind, left and right. They had no ‘up’ and ‘down’. The greater universe was as inaccessible to the paper creatures as the minds’ universe was inaccessible to ours. We have no ‘splunge’ and ‘counter-splunge’ (if greater dimensions had names) to probe or measure into the universe surrounding our own. To the tiers of minds our universe was a flat, simple place.

Time worked differently for the minds. To them time was a list of scenes, past, present and future. While they lived in a ‘now’, they understood that their actions were to bring about a future built on the foundations of their past. They had free will with the understanding that decisions and actions they took now played out the scenes leading to the consequence of those actions. Knowing their future was the act of bringing it into existence. Time was a complex web of interconnecting strands of silk with important events as glittering pearl-drops like morning dew on the web-work. As events happened pearls fell from the end of a strand, being the now and becoming the past. Larger pearls marked critical events; junctions which spawned greater portions of the web.

They could observe our reality – watch events and lives play out from sub-atomic to super-galactic scales. But to inflict their will upon others was unthinkable; the greatest sin. The minds evolved through collaboration and cooperation, not contest and conflict. Cells, then creatures, then minds combined to uplift the other. Collaboration in harmony grew minds but conflict and selfishness withered minds. Every few centuries a disrupted mind becomes assertive, anti-social. It tries to inflict its desires on other minds. The disruptive minds are shunned from society. Eventually the disruptor wilts away, unable to thrive alone.

In the spirit of elevating other minds the society looked through the infinite universes for candidate societies to collaborate with. They could not force or compel others. Rather the minds presented possibilities for advancement of the candidate species’ technology and society. If a new society embraced the overtures of the minds both societies benefitted from the collaborations.

The lone figure standing in the pool of light addressed his audience, “We have a new candidate for uplifting,” intoned the mind. Of course the minds didn’t need to speak – seeing the future meant they already knew what someone would say. But speaking was necessary to have brought about that knowing. And being a collaborative, highly technologically advanced society meant everyone was part of a collective mind – all immediately had the knowledge of a speaking individual.

The sketched lines on the paper universe moved so the galaxies expanded and flew by. Focus shifted to a tiny fleck of pencil. A star grew on the paper and planets circled the star. The fleck grew large and details of sketched land and oceans began to emerge on a flat circle. A circle resolved into a drawing of a world with continents and clouds.

“On this planet there is one low-technology species and many non-technological species,” said the mind. “This world is suitable for collaboration and to assist with our reproduction.”

Such knowledge brought great joy to the assembly. Whispers of excitement susurrated through the auditorium. Compatible species for reproduction were a rare occurrence. As eons had eroded other candidate universes and species the minds needed to discover new possibilities to maintain their population. Through unanimous assent it was decided that the assembly would craft a bridgehead to the new paper world.

Technology and mind were one and the same. In thinking of requirements to produce the bridgehead the minds brought it about. A machine was constructed, or came into being as the assembly deemed it necessary. One mind became part of the machine, incorporated into the technology. The machine mind sent a portion of their essence down an energy channel to the flatter universe. Power flowed through the conjoined minds, pouring down tiers of the auditorium to coalesce around the machine. Thousands of arrayed beings linked in concert became a battery – a network of ethereal currents – supplying the energies to power the transference. It was a phenomenal expenditure of force and resource to establish a conduit to another universe – many of the assembled minds fell into an inert state with the effort and would remain hibernating for hundreds of days.

In the Gibson Desert of Australia a tiny grain of sand winked into existence like the smallest nova star. A few quadrillion exotic molecules with atomic bonds extending out of the boundaries of the sheet of paper formed the miniscule crystal. The link was forged – the bridgehead created.

The mind who was the machine creating the link radiated pleasure. Joy rippled like waves in a pond through the assembly who contributed to the machine. With their bliss more of their essence flowed through the bridgehead. The tiny grain of sand expanded, growing its crystalline structure. Exotic molecules flowed downhill from the wider universe to the paper world. In the space of a few seconds the grain of sand grew to a faceted orb as large as a pineapple. A fragment of the mind had extended through the tough fabric that separates universes. In exhaustion the machine mind collapsed, joining its inert siblings. To the observing minds a solid diamond crystal appeared to be laying on the sheet of paper of the newly linked universe.

While the interface mind recovered, information began to flow from the paper world. Electromagnetic radiation resonated through the crystal and the mind began to learn about the creatures inhabiting their world. Radio waves and TV shows, wireless internet via satellite and cell-phone towers, the sum total of human history and human activity fed through the bridgehead. In the auditorium petabytes of information uploaded into the array of alien minds to study. The mind that was the machine interface formed a unique identity and took on a name: Chase.

* * *

Time passed on the paper world. A mineral survey team discovered the pineapple-sized crystal in the Australian desert. Their company’s researchers determined the material wasn’t diamond or indeed any structure they could identify. Tiny sparks of gold and sapphire glinted, refracted at impossible depths in the orb. The crystal was passed along to a university to study. High-powered lasers, diamond anvils, X-Ray crystallography, magnetic resonance imaging failed to scratch the secrets of the crystal. The structure behaved unlike any other material the faculty had encountered. When the orb was moved or turned the molecular structure appeared to morph into different configurations. While impossible it seemed to the scientists as though the atomic bonds extended outside three-dimensional space. The substance of the crystal globe was unknown and unknowable – impossible to determine with technology constrained to three dimensions.

Years passed before a junior technician named Robert made an accidental and startling discovery. After another unproductive day of extensive experimentation the crystal was being placed in storage. Although the crystal globe was impervious to physical changes during testing, as Robert manoeuvred the orb into a crowded storage vault the crystal sheared between his bare hands. Diamond facets flowed like putty between his fingers, surrounding his hand in a shimmering morass. Glitter flowed up Robert’s arm and across his chest, shredding his clothing into a tattered confetti of small triangles. Before the technician had time to comprehend what he was seeing the tide of sparkling diamond had coated his entire body. Panicking, the technician closed his eyes and held his breath as the glitter encased his head.

Watched by thousands of minds the crystal orb on the sketched world of paper stretched and flowed over the drawn outline of a human shape, filling out detail. The drawing gained depth and perspective as crystal facets surrounded the human form until it became almost lifelike. A sparkling diamond three-dimensional person in miniature lay bisected by the paper sheet. As the sketched human outline moved the suit followed exactly. Chase and his orb vibrated with joy at being integrated with one of the creatures from this alien world. Observing a species through their technology was insignificant compared to partially merging with a creature. Its biology was immediately apparent and the mind could see how the creature thought, what motivated it, what pleasured or pained it. Right now the alien creature on the sketched world was feeling confusion and mild panic.

Robert gasped out an explosive breath and opened his eyes. He’d felt the glitter surge into his throat and across his eyeballs. But he could breathe and the storage room looked normal despite the substance in his mouth and eyes. He stood surrounded by tatters of cotton and polyester rags and dark curls of hair on the tile floor. Looking down at his body Robert realized he was naked, entirely coated in a clear, glittering substance. When he tried to brush the material off his arm his touch passed through as though there was nothing adhered to his skin. But then he felt the suit contract, tightening its bond with his flesh. Robert felt alien material flow into his ears, penetrate his sphincter and even ooze inside his urethra. The sensation was peculiar; startling, although not painful.

Robert briskly walked to an emergency wash station in the corner of the storage area, hoping the shower would rinse away the alien material. In the wall mirror the man discovered he was completely bald – no hair, eyebrows or eyelashes. All his body hair and pubic hair had been razed away. But as the water flowed the suit began to hum. Across his skin, inside his rectum, inside his penis Robert felt a buzzing vibration. With a gasp the technician staggered, holding the shower handrails to steady himself. The buzzing hum was undeniably pleasurable – so much so that Robert found he was immediately sexually aroused. Realizing the material wasn’t going to wash off and that it was apparently affecting his skin the technician hit an emergency alarm switch to summon aid. As senior staff arrived to assess the situation Robert wrapped a towel around his waist to hide his nakedness. Unfortunately contact with the glittering material shredded the towel into small triangles which fluttered around his bare feet.

For two days the senior scientists studied the properties of the material on the skin of the junior technician. Like its orb form the material on the skin of the technician seemed impervious to their tools and resisted all attempts at removal. And at each failure the testing became more extreme. Solvents and scraping gave way to acids and chisels gave way to lasers and hydraulic presses. While entirely flexible and almost invisible the suit was completely invulnerable to the intensive assaults of the scientists. Robert could feel the solvents and acid as though they were pleasantly warm water. High-powered lasers were a mildly warmed spot on his arm.

And all the while the buzzing of the suit kept the young man sexually aroused. Embarrassingly he was unable to hide his erect penis while male and female scientists prodded and probed the material on his skin. For two days he endured their attempts to study and hopefully ultimately remove the shimmering coating from his skin.

On the evening of the third day Robert lay bored on a cot in the laboratory, trying to get to sleep. Having been kept at a constant state of high sexual arousal he was incredibly horny. Hiding from the ever-present cameras he furtively stroked his penis. As far as Robert could tell the glistening coating over his genitals in no way impeded his ability to feel his hand on his penis. Combined with the buzzing vibrations it was only a few moments before Robert gasped and erupted in a powerful orgasm. At the same moment the crystalline material erupted from his skin and reformed the faceted egg shape of its inert form.

The young technician was left embarrassingly to explain to the senior staff exactly how the suit had been removed.

Linked through the crystal from another universe Chase cried out in pleasure shared with Robert. Ripples of ecstasy swelled through assembled watching minds, basking in the joy they had brought to a creature from another species. The minds were thrilled the humans had discovered some of the intended functionality of the bridgehead. But Chase collapsed, exhausted. Transfer of suit dynamics downhill to the sketched universe coupled with the energy required to pull the flood of sensations uphill to Chase’s universe caused the mind to withdraw into hibernation to recuperate. His energy would fully recover in five days and he used the time to process the vast swathes of new information which had flowed through the uplink to his mind.

Unknown to the scientists the orb had become inert and their attempts to replicate the circumstances that had led to Robert’s encasement repeatedly failed. They persisted, trying different combinations of variables which may have affected the suit’s response until on the fifth day a volunteer successfully re-activated the suit and was encased by its glittering material.

Chase awoke to share his insights with the assembly. Humans would be excellent couriers – the minds had chosen a viable world. But there were some complications; humans weren’t entirely attuned to viable co-dependent species. Chase had begun to perceive the web of pearl-drop events focussed on this world and its place in the sketched universe. Replication of minds was inevitable on this planet. But initially the process would be delayed – the next keystone event for replication was a considerable distance along the orb’s thread of events. As he shared with the assembly of minds the crystal orb flowed around another sketched human shape on the paper universe. Chase thrummed with the pleasure of sharing his body for a time with another of the alien creatures. As the humans discovered they could easily remove the suit ecstasy flowed up the link to Chase. Again he collapsed in bliss while his orb reformed on the paper sheet. A tiny pearl winked out of existence as it fell from the end of the orb’s event thread.