“In the Court of the Emperor, his subjects never approached him, they were invited to come forward and speak. Doing anything else was tantamount to suicide. His personal guard would strike you down before you made it to the first steps of his throne. How the seventeenth Emperor, Sen-To, was assassinated in this manner was story of lore and legend. It happened nearly three hundred years ago. It happened the day he came to power, at his first public appearance no less.

The current Emperor, Qi-Mon, had died of old age. He was a beloved leader. A people’s leader. He staved off many wars, created treaties that brought wealth and happiness to his kingdom. It was said he was blessed, that the gods looked over him, protected him during his entire reign of ninety years.

Emperor Po-Gin, his successor was coming to power in one day. There were rumors abound that the protection given to the beloved Emperor Qi-Mon would not be bestowed on Po-Gin. But, like they say, these are stories, stuff of legend and lore, not to be taken seriously.

And, who in their right mind would want to assassinate an Emperor in Court? There are surely easier ways than that. But this is the whole point of the story. How the Emperor lost his life in Court on his first day, just like the seventeenth Emperor.” Ira paused for a moment. He looked at his two boys sitting on the floor with their legs crossed hanging onto his every word.

“You boys need a drink or a break?”

“No dad, carry on.” One of them responded.

“Ok, no more breaks, I’ll carry on. So, in one day the new Emperor would come to power. Why was everyone so nervous? The Emperor’s generals feared the new Emperor had enemies who wanted to replace him. Word got around that the people wanted Bo-Lin to be next on the throne. Why was he not chosen, if the people wanted this, you might ask? Well, politics and power are a strange couple. Sometimes greed, revenge and hatred cloud the judgement of a few powerful people and this in turn can alter the course of a person’s life or a kingdom’s destiny.

On the morning of the Emperor’s swearing in a galactic transporter had arrived.”

“Ida sent a gift on that ship!” The same boy spoke again.

“Yes Aiden, that is correct. But you ought to let me tell the story uninterrupted.” His father looked at them both. He smiled. They were both in their pajamas. They wore identical clothes. Twins often do, it’s strange how common that really is, he thought to himself. “Sorry Arlo, I will continue.” He added looking at his second son.

“The ship had a special cargo. It was a gift to the first Ambassador of the Court. This role is a very important one because it is a neutral role. The role does not change when the Emperor is replaced. The first Ambassador of the Court is the people’s voice. He or she only changes when the Ambassador retires, dies or is voted out of office.

The gift was sent from a planet in Andromeda’s Local Group known as Spiros IV. It was also the home of the Ambassador’s twin brother. And, yes, the gift was from him. The twin brother was the Ambassador to the Emperor of Spiros IV. The gift the brother sent was a ring. The accompanying note wished the brother well and told him to wear the ring as it would bring them closer together.

That afternoon, the Emperor was sworn in, he made his first speech to an audience of millions, broadcast across the planet, both audio transmissions and visual screenings. As he closed his speech, there was a small flash of light and the Emperor was no more. He was slumped at the throne, throat sliced, bleeding out. The man was dead before anyone could reach him.”

“Ok, dad, now’s the part you explain what happened.” Arlo said, looking a little annoyed at his dad. “We know the boring story, tell us how it was done. That’s my favorite part!” He finished, looking at his dad and brother now smiling in anticipation.

“I’m getting to it. I can just blurt it out now or I can walk you through the story. Which will it be?” He laughed. Both boys seemed to lap up the story.

“Tell the story!” They both chimed back at the same time.

“Sure. So, the autopsy was carried out, the surgeons agreed that it was a laser. There were no tool marks and the laser must have been fired which could have played a part in causing a flash. Officially no one came forward to claim having killed the Emperor. Unofficially there was plenty of finger pointing.

A few days later, word arrived from Spiros IV that their Emperor had suffered the same fate. He was assassinated in the same way at the same time. Time being relative, if someone could be in two places at once when Emperor Po-Gin was murdered, the Emperor of Spiros IV would have been sound asleep. This was exactly what the report had stated, he was asleep when his throat was cut leaving the same clean cut and no tool markings.

Two worlds were now hunting two assassins, but there was one question that had yet to be answered. How did both Emperors succumb to the same fate at exactly the same time? Given the distance between the two worlds, it would be impossible to communicate in real time. Galactic communications, even with the advanced technologies in existence, take a few days.

The answer was discovered a few years later. Both the first Ambassadors to their Courts retired in their respective worlds. They both left a letter to their Emperors which detailed their actions.

The letters explained that the two brothers were twins. They were genetically engineered. They were of superior intellect and physically close to perfection. They aged but very slowly and over eons. They moved every few hundred years to new places, taking on new identities both in name and even physically changing themselves. They lived in different galaxies to minimize chances of being discovered. The rings were built at a subatomic level. They carried special traits of quantum entanglement. They were also linked to their DNA. In effect, each twin could instantly know what the other was thinking or doing. The letters went on to say it was by their decision that these men now ruled their worlds, and should they talk of this, they could as easily find themselves in the same predicament as their predecessors. Of course, officially none of this was acknowledged.

So, the assassinations were perfectly timed because Ira and Ida could communicate instantaneously with an unknown technology that still does not exist to this day, as far as anyone is aware.

The planets that they chose to alter were being slowly destroyed by greed. Powerful people were perverting justice and using their power to manipulate society. Ira and Ida may have been designed but by their own design, they spend their time searching for what is unjust and bringing the balance of power back to people.”

“I love the quantum entangled DNA rings, that’s awesome dad!” said Aiden.

“Dad, which one of us is going to live with Uncle Ida?” asked Arlo. “Last year you said we were almost old enough and things were going to change soon.”

“Well son, Ida has chosen you. We will be creating four rings. When we are ready we will meet with your Uncle. This will be a rare occasion when the four of us will be together on one place.

Destiny is our way of life and the destiny of human lives is what we must protect.” Ira stood up, rubbed his boys’ heads and left the room. He looked at his ring and connected with his twin. “Ida, the boys are ready, time to expand our horizons, time to find Earth.”

“Ira, I have found Earth, we must move quickly if we are to save it.” Ida replied. “I am building the new rings. This pair is almost depleted. I will meet you and the boys in the Milky Way, somewhere neither of us have visited before. We will need the four of us together if we are going to tackle the Earth problem.”

“Why, how bad is it?” Asked Ira.

“I have picked up signals. World War II. Based on my calculations if I went there now I would reach them about a hundred years after that transmission.” Ida explained.

“You are closest Ida, maybe you should make your way there now. As you get closer, let me know what the outcome of this world war is.”

“Agreed. Make your plans to bring the boys. I will find a way to get you here sooner. Are you any closer to multi-dimensional travel yet?“ Ida asked.

“I am close. I need to create some new materials, I need exotic particles that are extremely rare. I could use your help. Have you come up with any alternatives to the ring?”

“I am also close. I am toying with an energy source and black holes. Dangerous but interesting. I will let you know when I have more.”

“Ok, I will keep the boys with me, we will work on a plan to get to Earth. I do hope Earth survives until then. Our original DNA comes from there. Who knows what we will find, what you will find.” Replied Ira. “I will let Arlo know he may have to wait a little longer before he trains with his Uncle.” Ira closed his connection to the ring and walked on to the kitchen. He made three drinks and grabbed some snacks and headed back to the den where the boys were waiting.

“Looks like Uncle Ida has to make a detour. He is on his way to Earth.” Ira smiled. “You know what that means fellas? It means we are going to the Milky Way, finally!”

“Yay!” Aiden and Arlo got up and jumped about with their hands in the air. They were seven years old and enjoying the lives of children, just as Ira had intended. By the time they get to the Milky Way those boys would be closer to four hundred and seven years old thought Ira. At least four centuries with Dad and not alone.

“That will give us lots of time to train and prepare for when we meet Uncle Ida, won’t it boys?”

“Yay!” They continued to jump about for a little while longer.

Once they wore themselves out they had their snacks and drinks and went to bed.

Aiden, now a fully grown man, got out of his bunk and headed to the canteen. The ship was equipped for deep space travel. His dad and Ida owned the company and the ships. This was a luxury cruiser, but Aiden was slowly getting tired of being cooped up for so long. Had he been an adult when they left he could have opted for cryo-sleep, the same went for his brother Arlo.

He sat down at the canteen table opposite Arlo. “Morning.” He muttered.

“Hey.” Was all his brother mustered as a response.

They both ate in silence. It wasn’t until they were drinking coffee that Arlo looked at his brother.

“Another year brother. Another year and we will meet Uncle Ida finally.”

“Another year and I will be able to get off this ship and possibly get lost.” They both chucked at Aiden’s response. “I know it’s not dad’s fault but why can’t we do cryo now and not be awake for the last year?”

We won’t be able to use the rings coming out of cryo. It would take almost a year before they would work. Once we are bound to them with our DNA it won’t matter.” Explained Arlo.

“Oh yeah, that. Well, I’m going to go train with the sparring programs, then I might look at the schematics Ida send Dad. He might have a way for us to get there sooner.”

“Cool, I’m looking at star charts. I might join you later.” Arlo finished his coffee, got up and left. They didn’t bother with niceties such as hello, goodbye and so on. It’s not like they were going anywhere far.

Ira passed Arlo in the hallway heading to the canteen.

“Hey Dad.”

“Hello Arlo. Aiden still in the canteen?”

Arlo nodded and kept walking.

“Morning Dad.” Aiden saw him entering.

“Hey Aiden. I got a message from Ida. Those schematics he sent, it looks like we can adjust the ship’s drives and cut down on our arrival time.”

“Really? How significant would that be?”

“We’ll get to Earth in fourteen days.” Smiled Ira.

“How is that possible?”

“Your Uncle and I have been experimenting with exotic subatomic particles. We were able to create something akin to how the rings work and we finally have a method of adjusting current drives.

Of course, as soon as we can, we will build drives and ships that can fully utilize the technology. Only four ships will be designed. The rest of our fleet will have their current technology improved, for our own advantage. Freight and so on.”

“I was slowly going mad thinking we had to sit around for another year. This is great news Dad. What of Earth? What year is it there? Where will we be staying? Do you have the planet’s history for us to read about yet?”

“Slow down. Your Uncle is sending us a data burst. There will be plenty to learn. Apparently he had the materials to build the rings on Earth. He has sent a small rocket up and it will rendezvous with us tomorrow. The year, he says, is 2319. There were two more wars that impacted the people on the planet. It seems that he was able to direct actions to a more stable form of governing. The planet has an Emperor now. They have world peace. The rest of the details will be available soon.”

“Wow, crazy planet. How long will be we there, I mean, before we can leave?”

“Well, son, Earth is Ida’s project, not ours. He wants us there together for a short while and then we will be off. We can find a suitable planet to harvest raw materials and start building our ships. By the time we are done that, Ida may be ready to join us again.”

Arlo ran back into the canteen. “I just heard, we are going to get to Earth in a matter of days!”

“Yeah, I know, right!?” Aiden was as excited as his brother. “And Arlo, I win. I clearly win. We got here in under four hundred years. Three hundred and ninety three years. Thanks to Dad and Uncle Ida.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will find you an appropriate gift for guessing right. You know what that means Aiden? We will all be together for our birthday, with Uncle Ida. This is going to be great!”

“That’s so true!” Arlo was surprised he hadn’t thought of that first.

“Ok fellas, let’s get on with what needs to be done. You will have plenty of reading material to absorb soon. Let’s be ready for it.” Ira got up and left.

The boys were still excited about the news. “Yes Dad.” They both chimed in at the same time.

“Some things never change.” Ira told himself as he smiled walking back to his room.

The day finally came. Ida was going to meet them on their ship and they would all travel to the planet together.

“Ira, Can you swing around the Sun before coming in? There is massive solar flare activity taking place. It will affect the drives if you get too close.” Ida was communicating with his brother in a more conventional way. Radio. They were close enough to talk directly using ship technology.

“We finished the changes to the drives. The new quantum slipstreaming is online. How about we take it for a spin and wrap around the asteroid belt and come in from behind Earth, relative to the Sun?” Ira responded.

“Sure. We can test the rings during slipstream too. Get Arlo to use his ring and say hi. It would be a treat for him.” Ida sounded confident that it would all work.

Ira pushed a button on the console. “Aiden and Arlo to the bridge please.” He turned back to the radio. “You can tell him yourself. Both of them will be wildly excited to speak to you.”

A few minutes passed while the brothers talked. Aiden and Arlo both walked in. “Uncle Ida.” Arlo called out.

“Hello Uncle.” Aiden followed.

“Hello boys. Well, we have the Slipstream drives ready for testing. Solar activity is forcing you to detour around this system. Arlo, once you are under way, feel free to connect with me using the new rings I sent.”

“Sure, I enjoy an experiment as much as the next twin, ha ha. I can’t wait to see you!”

“How much longer will it take with this detour, Dad?” Aiden asked.

“Our calculations show we should get there even sooner. The quantum slipstream does not abide by space-time-gravitational laws. It’s more of a jump, at a subatomic level.” Ira explained. “It’s an even better model design than the rings. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before Ida.”

“Needs must, brother.”

“Agreed.” Ira replied. “Ok fellas, take a seat, lets enjoy this test together. Ida, see you in a couple of hours.”

Ira engaged the drives. The jump was started. Nothing felt any different.

Arlo looked at his ring and connected. “Uncle?”

“Yes Arlo, the rings actually work during slipstream. That is good news.” Ida messaged back. “Can you ask your dad where your ship is currently?”

“Dad?” Arlo started.

“Arlo, ask Ida if he is tracking us. The constellation is wrong for Earth and its Sun.” Ira was puzzled at what he was looking at.

“Uncle, are you tracking us? Can you see where we are? Dad noted that the constellation is wrong. What happened?” Arlo asked.

“We were too close to the Sun when we entered slipstream.” Aiden piped up. “I think we just conquered how to manipulate local space-time Dad.”

“I don’t think I would call this conquering. It’s more of an accident son.”

Ira looked at his ring and connected with his brother. “I did some calculations Ida. We slipped too close to the Sun’s expelled mass and these stars put us around twenty five hundred years in the past. As long as I maintain this slipstream bubble we can communicate. I don’t know if the rings will work once we enter regular space again.”

“Ira, the rings don’t obey normal space-time laws. Its entanglement principles. I have a feeling that time will not be a constraint. You should disengage the drives and scan the planet. I will contact you in a few minutes. I am uploading everything I have on the drives and the new rings for Aiden.”

Ira took their ship out of the slipstream bubble. He looked at his ring. It connected. “Ida?”

“Yes Ira, I have a connection. Do you know what this means Ira?”

“It means you can see the effects of any changes we make in this time as an outcome in the future.” Aiden responded. He was also connected to the rings.

“Arlo, Ida is still in contact with us on the rings.” Aiden shouted to his brother.

“Great!” he replied using his ring, deeply engrossed in a screen filled with Earth’s history. “I looked at the scans of the planet and the history of Earth as noted in Ida’s time. I found a place where we can go and minimize impact but introduce Imperial Dynasty through culture.”

“Arlo, what are you thinking?” Ida promoted through the rings.

“I recalled the story of Qi-Mon. The peaceful ruler that you first installed. What if we installed an Imperial Dynasty in the east. Current history puts the first emperor who conquered the six kingdoms sometime around 200 Common Era. We can save four hundred years of warring states and bring to power a single ruler and establish China sooner. We can also set the first Dynasty to survive with our knowledge of critical changes for success.” Arlo explained.

“Arlo.” Aiden was also reading the history notes. “The Han Dynasty was the one that set China’s future. Why do you want to start with Qin Shi Huang? He didn’t last.”

“Reforms and standardization. Once they are in place, we can assassinate him and bring in someone who can be remembered as Emperor Gaozu of Han. We can help give this group of people an identity like no other. We can prepare the planet to enter the Galactic Empire sooner.” He explained.

“Arlo, I like the plan. With me being in the twenty forth century, I can communicate the affects to you. We can sculpture humanity in preparation for their joining the new Galactic Empire. Earth may have a chance in establishing an Empire in the Milky Way Galaxy. I can then broker a treaty between here and the Andromedans. In fact, if we do this right, we could get them into space quicker too.” Ida explained.

“Uncle, what year did Earth first send someone to their moon?” Aiden asked.

“1999. It was known as the Millennium Success Story” Replied Ida.

“I’m sure I can push that back thirty years or so.” Aiden replied. “I can already see a path to there.”

“Ok Ida, I will work on the sciences. If they can understand theories about entanglement and the quantum sciences I can influence them with human biology, we can accelerate them to a galactic people sooner.” Ira stopped for a moment. “Ida, our DNA is from Earth.”

“Ira I know what you are thinking. We could improve ourselves because you can make changes to us before the DNA samples are taken from Earth by our maker. In fact, you can meet our maker and tell him about us.”

Ira stopped for a second. He just realized the impossible. It took him a moment to fully understand the complexities of what he was thinking. He was then distracted by Ida.

“Ira, could it be?” There was a short pause. “Ira, you are our maker! You created our DNA.”

“No Ida, we both are. You created the slipstream drive to take us back. We are our own makers. How is that even possible?” Ira replied.

“Arlo, Aiden. You two must go alone to Earth. Arlo, insert yourself into the eastern societies. Do whatever you must to bring about the Han Dynasty early. Aiden, push back the space and exploration programs in the twentieth century, get them to the moon sooner. Ira, I am going to get you back here. You cannot be on Earth. You and I cannot be here. If you interact in any way that changes anything, we may cease to exist.” Ida sounded nervous. It was rare to see that in him.

“Ida, after I drop the boys off I will enter the quantum slipstream and calculate a way forward to you. You are right, I cannot be on Earth at this time. We do not know when our maker visited here. It’s too dangerous.”

Ira dropped Arlo at what would later become the capital of China Aiden with the Greeks. How much trouble could he cause with their history?

Once they were in place, Ira made his way to the far side of the Sun and initiated the slipstream bubble.

“Ida. I’m ready to plot my path back to you.”

“It looks like we did the right thing with the boys.” Ida replied. “The changes were instant as soon as you created the slipstream bubble.” Ida replied.

“Hey dad.” It was Arlo. “Aiden and I are both here with Uncle Ida. We made the changes we discussed, and with Uncle Ida’s help, we didn’t affect our lives in the future one bit. We are just waiting on you. Wait until you see how Earth turned out. We might make them galactic citizens after all!”

“Dad, You won’t believe what Archimedes had going on in his head. Can anyone say Eureka? It was the least I could do waiting for a couple of millennia to go by.” Aiden chuckled.

“What about the moon Aiden?” asked his father.

“1969!” Aiden replied.

“Ok fellas, I’m going to engage. See you soon.” Ira engaged the slipstream drives. Like before there was no real change but the stars certainly changed. In fact, they changed too much. He could hardly see any stars at all.

“Oh no!” he said out loud. “Ida!” he tried to connect to his ring. It shimmered around its edges. “No, no, no. Don’t do this.” He was beginning to panic.

“Ira, it’s Ida.”

“What happened? The stars are almost invisible to me. How far forward did I go?” Ira was frantically trying to calculate based on his readings.

“The sun expelled a sizeable amount of its mass and you are now close to a billion years ahead of us.” Ida explained. “Your ring will not work for long over these distances. I have no knowledge that will help you brother. I don’t know what to do to get you back. That far ahead in time, you have outlived myself and the boys. Stay in the slipstream bubble for now. Once you leave I doubt the rings will work.“

“Ida, the drives are fluctuating. I don’t think the slipstream will hold for long. Here are my coordinates. Here are the star maps. Good bye Ida, I love you Aiden, and you Arlo. Make your Uncle proud. You have already made me proud.” The slipstream bubble failed.

Ira looked into space. Where the stars were once teaming and bright was now dull and dark. The little star light that he saw were so far away that he had to magnify his viewer thousands of times to see them clearly. Ira got up and went to the canteen. He sat and ate. He pondered on his situation, his welfare. What was he going to do now? He had no way of going back.

He sat up straight. He just realized something. At that moment, his radio came to life.

“Ira.” A voice came over the intercom.

“Ira, are you there?” the same voice repeated.

Ira went back to his navigation seat and pressed a button on the console.

“This is Ira.”

“It’s Ida. Aiden and Arlo found a way to punch through time. I am here to take you back. You need to live through what your boys did. It’s quite amazing Ira. They have outdone even us.”

“Where are you Ida?”

“I am in your ship. I do not need to be in a physical form. I am pure energy Ira. Once I take you back you will join us. We are free to roam the universe and enjoy any time or place we wish for. We can take physical form at will too.”

Ida appeared behind Ira’s seat. “I am here brother.”

Ira turned and saw his twin. “Now that’s a neat trick brother. So the boys finally broke all the barriers of the known universe then? Have we finally achieved what our maker designed us for?”

“Almost, brother, almost! We have just a small issue with Earth and the Milky Way to fix.” Ida grinned.

“I’m guessing it’s not impossible then, based on the look on your face?”

“Well, let’s just say, you bouncing so far forward in time forced your boys to think differently about time. It was the first steps to us evolving and stepping out of time. We saw what the humans did with the galaxy over three millennia. They literally destroyed it along with themselves.

We are going to go back and make the required changes to avert this galactic disaster. We are going to evolve the galaxy ourselves. Humans are like children, and they never grow up. We have a lot of work to do brother, let’s get started. The boys are waiting for us.”

“What year are we going to start at Ida?”

“2442” Ida responded.

“Why, what happened in 2442?” Ira was curious how everything could be dialed back to a single year.

“It’s when they discovered how to harness the Sun as a galactic energy source, Ira. Instead of harnessing it for energy, they tried to create weapons with it. They blew up their own sun and the catastrophic repercussions destroyed the Milky Way!”

Ira looked at his brother surprised. After a moment he replied.

“I prefer Andromeda to the Milky Way Ida. Send me back to 2319 and I will take us all home. The boys can discover the secrets of the universe without losing their father. This whole pure energy thing doesn’t seem right either, Ida. It feels forced.”

“Ok Ira. If you think it is wrong then let’s set things straight for us and the boys.” Ida put his hand on Ira’s shoulder.

“Let’s leave the Milky Way then. Andromeda is our home. We have always been Ira and Ida of Andromeda, have we not?”