“Ugh, I do not want to sit through another lecture on military protocol! That class sucks balls,” Beth complained. She was focused on her phone, not paying attention to the growing crowd in the lecture hall. Theo watched her with some bemusement as her outburst drew the attention of some of the other students, though most seemed to sympathise with her complaint. He waved at a few that had slowly begun to reach out over the past few weeks, but he largely remained focused on the disgruntled brunette beside him.

  “I get why it’s important, but does it have to be so damn boring. I mean, what if I was a lefty? Why should I always salute with my right? And why does my hand have to go up the long way and stay there for three beats of a quick step…”

  “Quick-time march,” Theo corrected.

  Beth looked at him before rolling her eyes. “Whatever. You know what I mean. And the ranks ugh! Just give me a tank and some damage dealers and point me to where we need to go.”

  “I never thought I’d be living in a video game,” Theo mused to himself. Turning back to Beth. “Where do we fit as special officers in a joint operation?” Theo asked.

  “What?”

  “Well, you’re keen to get out there and face the Tagma, but I’d rather not get in trouble for doing things wrong, and our last two years of training are with the Special Forces teams. Who do we have to salute, and who has to salute us? What happens if you don’t salute a senior officer? Who in our team has to salute, or do we all salute? Who has higher ranking in the joint operation between the military and the ARFO group where the leaders are of equal rank? What happens when there are command line breaches, and…”

  “Whoa there soldier, simmer down.” Beth looked at him askance. “What planet did you fall in from? I get that having a uniform fetish is a thing, but this is a bit too much.”

  “Seriously Beth, you think with your dick more than most men do.”

  “I resemble that remark, Sharon.”

  “Alright Kimmy, keep ya’ knickers in a knot.” They both laughed softly.

  Just as Beth was about to continue her rant, the doors opened at the front of the theatre and Master Jane Bronson entered the class. She was a short, stocky woman, heavily muscled, Theo assumed, from having spent most of her life in some form of physical activity. Her movements were precise as she made her way into the room. Quickly, the room quietened, though Jane was not the strictest of lecturers that their cohort had. She was generally happy to let the class discuss quietly together as the lecture progressed, unless of course it was blatantly obvious they were not focused on the content.

  “Right, welcome back to Anomalies & Mutations everyone,” she said as she made it to the lecture podium. She spent half a minute or so fiddling with the holo projector. “Blast these damn machines. Rick get up here and sort this out for me, will you?”

  “Thunderbird nerd,” Beth whispered. Theo had to try hard not to laugh out loud as one of the front row students got up and made his way to the podium. Jane meanwhile stepped around it, addressing the class.

  “To recap last week - whilst the tech is being sorted - anomalies are breaks in the continuum that contains the physical reality of our universe. They are virtually invisible, often appearing as only a distortion in the air, which makes them particularly dangerous for insensates. Their size can range from two to five metres in diameter. Who can remember what we discussed about the initial stages of anomaly formation from last week?” Jane paused, waiting.

  Someone from the front row shot their hand up, getting a nod from Jane to speak. “During formation, anomalies are at their most dangerous, as they have yet to form a link between its internal world and our own. Most consider falling into an anomaly at that point a guaranteed death. Testing has shown that the space in between is completely deprived of aether, so it has been commonly referred to as the void.”

  “Exactly, good work Jeremy. A lot of our knowledge on anomaly formation and their features is speculative, though we have noted a few consistencies. Who can tell me what these are?” She paused, waiting for someone to be brave and volunteer the information. Silence.

  “No one?” she asked, a little bit of annoyance entering her tone. “I hope you have done the assigned reading for this week,” she said. “Vanessa, tell me what some of the known commonalities in anomaly formation are?”

  Theo’s red headed neighbour stood before answering. “Of course, Master Bronson. According to Professor Gary Vance’s paper, anomalies occur almost exclusively along ley lines where aetherivite has been found, indicating a clear association. Theories as to the reason why are numerous and remain one of the ongoing disputes in academic circles.

  “He describes two spatial types of anomalies, those being the limited and unlimited types. The limited types tend to have a discrete area, associated with the location in which they have formed. Of the studied anomalies of this type, they seem to be environmentally influenced from various points in that location’s timeline. Examples of this type of anomaly tend not to link to any modern age but have been known to include prehistoric and primordial anomalies.

  “Confirmation of this has been ascertained by both carbon dating for more recent organic materials, and cross-referencing uranium-thorium-lead dating. Recent developments in aether-based methods of dating have started providing greater accuracy. They are often described as bubbles of condensed aether, forcing mutation on any of the inhabitants.

  “The unlimited types can be more diverse in nature, either reflecting the local area, or of a completely different location altogether. Exploration of the unlimited types of anomalies has often found no delineating boundaries, though they tend to be much more unstable than the limited types.”

  “Very good, Vanessa. What are the two main theories from the readings about the nature of unlimited anomaly types?” Jane asked, nodding for Vanessa to sit. There was some anxious shuffling in response. Finally, one of the front rowers answered.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Well, umm, both Vance and Arabel said that unlimited anomalies are formed through a type of aetheric harmonisation. Vance suggests a multiversal theory of divergent timelines. These anomalies show distinct similarities to the areas in which they have formed, but with notable mutations of flora and fauna that suggests different evolutionary pressures.

  “The alternate theory that Arabel put forward was that there are moments of aetheric harmonisation that resonate across spatial folds, potentially connecting points of confluence across the physical universe. In these instances, anomalies are being studied as a potentially controllable form of interspatial travel.”

  “Well done, Henley. As you can imagine, many of our R&D teams are desperate to get their hands on these particular rifts, though they tend not to last too long, being much harder to stabilise than their limited cousins. What is the missing factor that helps to explain their instability? This was not something in your required reading, so there’ll be contribution points for the person who is able to get this right.”

  Immediately the hall broke out into a smattering of chatter as small groups of students put their heads together. It was at that time that the holo behind the podium came to life, and Rick made his way back to his desk with a nod from Jane.

  Theo looked to Beth, whose eyes had glazed over, before he tentatively raised his hand, which Jane acknowledged with a nod.

  “As you said, this wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the readings, but I did find it fascinating that all anomalies are known to have higher levels of ambient aether. I think it was Hall who suggested that anomalies can only open where the aetheric pressure within the anomaly is greater to such an extent that an aperture forms as a means of balancing that pressure. Because of the size of the unlimited anomalies, equalisation is much more difficult to achieve, therefore making them harder to stabilise.”

  “Excellent Theo! You clearly delved into the additional readings. I’ll forward twenty contribution points to your account.” Jane gave him a grin before turning back to the rest of the group. “What Theo has said is correct, one of the foundational needs for rift formation is that the ambient aether within the anomaly is of a significantly higher density than the area in which it forms. Given current levels of ambient aether on Earth, this has resulted in anomaly formation occurring at a relatively high rate, though there has been a slow increase in ambient aether over the past century.”

  “Why do we have such low levels of aether?” The question came from a guy named Jack, whom Theo had met in his Radiance Division classes.

  “Great question. Anyone want to give it a go?” … silence.

  “Very well. We are heading into somewhat theoretical territory, which has been formulated from our work with limited anomalies. In these instances, as Vanessa mentioned earlier, we know that limited anomalies are somehow intrinsically linked to the location at which they form.

  “On a very rare occasion, these types of anomalies have opened to a preceding civilisation, one that does not match any of the historical records we have for known civilisations such as the Egyptians, Chinese, or Mesopotamians. This civilisation, on the rare occasion we have been able to stabilise the anomaly, had enough technological advancements to suggest that the currently accepted evolutionary timeline is incomplete.”

  “Holy shit,” Theo whispered, startling Beth back to attention.

  “Modern research indicates that the formation of life began around six hundred million years ago, with the earth dated in age at around four and half or so billion years. What these anomalies suggest is that there was a flourishing civilisation that existed prior to the re-emergence of life six hundred million years ago. There are similarities found in the inorganics of these anomalies that seem to correlate with thorium and uranium-lead dated rocks and crystals that existed more than nine hundred million years ago.

  “Given this, we assume that there was a mass extinction event that occurred between eight and nine hundred million years ago that completely reset the evolutionary cycle on earth. This includes the aetheric levels. There are theories of periods within the Precambrian that were oxygen rich and life supporting, but insensate scientific theory presumes there was nothing resembling intelligent life during those periods.

  “These anomalies would suggest that there indeed was a period that did in fact do this, possibly more than one. Four and a half billion years is a long time, and organic fossilisation is virtually impossible to properly track at those ages.

  “We have named the peoples of this civilisation the Rodinian’s, as cross referencing against known inorganic specimens suggest these anomalies date to around the time of the Proterozoic supercontinent of the same name. Most just colloquially refer to them as the Ancients, though all reported cases of access to this ancient civilisation have occurred after their collapse as a functioning society. Some have proposed that the civilisation had such an advanced control of the atmospheric aether that anomalies were prevented from opening randomly during their active timeline. The alternative, and generally more accepted theory, is that atmospheric aether levels were likely at such a level that anomalies rarely formed.”

  “Have you seen one of these anomalies, Master?” A student Theo couldn’t put a name to asked.

  “Once only. Given their historical significance, they are fiercely protected, and often rapidly monopolised by the First World Society. Very occasionally, they will run joint explorations, usually when they need the stabilisation resources for a particularly temperamental anomaly.”

  “What was it like?” Someone else jumped in.

  “As fascinating as this topic is, we are getting off track. This will be the last question I answer on this. If you want to know more, there is a subject you can choose in your second-year electives that goes into this further.

  “The Rodinian’s clearly had a capacity for aetheric manipulation that was substantially more advanced than our own, again this is likely to be because of the difference in aether density. Stylistically, their construction has a slight similarity to ancient Grecian architecture. Most buildings were colonnaded and of an open design, though every building seemed to have an underground component that researchers have theorised was to protect against rapid weather shifts. Their construction was much less linear and rigid, and space did not appear to hold the same premium as our current society, suggesting a much lower population density.

  “Beneficially for us, they had a method of crafting and construction that was able to utilise aether intrinsically. This has meant many of their buildings and artifacts are well preserved and show a sophisticated incorporation of aetheric formations beyond just natural infusion. Our meditation mats, as well as the technology used for local teleports, are some of the adaptations that we were able to create as a result of the research that came from these findings. The satellite network we use to monitor for anomaly formation is another. The First World Society, aside from its stated goal of preserving historical purity, sees the reclamation of this technological skill as one of their foundational mandates.

  “Sadly, the field of anomaly stabilisation is still evolving, and too often the time we have to explore these spaces is limited. But, whilst I understand your fascination with this topic, it is time to get back to what we are supposed to be learning about.”

  Jane then moved the lecture back to basic anomaly theory, but Theo was still caught up in the incredible revelation of a Proterozoic society. Beth clearly did not share the same sense of wonder, as she had opened one of her books to hide behind while she dozed off. Snorting to himself, Theo turned his attention back to the lecture. This was so much better than medical school.