"You might say, 'Inventor! Is it really wise to test the Void-Vacuum-Eternal inside one of its own reality vacuums?'

"I would respond, 'Hah! But how would the Eternal be anything of an invention if each Void it created was not stable in its own right? That would mean it was less than perfect, which is, of course, not the case'."



The entirety of existence was a particle, and in each particle was the force. And in each particle were those laws of physics that they went to such great effort to teach Frakutsk back in the Coalition's Military Academy. And in the laws of physics, also, was the force. And in Frakutsk was the rare ability to reach out and touch the force.

But with reality, physics, and the force swirling around him, Frakutsk only had the smallest chance of reaching out and touching the perfectly correct equation that would bring first him, and then the Inventor's entire invention tumbling back into reality. And only once back in reality could Frakutsk hope to escape.



In reality, or at least what was the closest level to reality in the Void-Vacuum-Eternal, Frakutsk's head lolled to one side on top of its gangly neck. The Inventor continued his ranting lecture as if Frakutsk could hear him. Of course, while under the effects of the Inventor's device, Frakutsk could not.

"As we learned in our control," the Inventor's concept of a control experiment was creative at best, "the power of my invention can be used to influence, remove, and control a single force sensitive individual's force-being. You are now experiencing total force-being removal, which is a prerequisite for Stage Two of our first experiment..."

The Inventor pulled a huge lever with all his might before continuing, "total physical removal."



A sickening flash of darkness lasted for an imperceptable moment, and then was gone as if it had never been there at all. Frakutsk's body joined him in the void-vacuum, which was partially relieving but also somewhat distracting. Frakutsk's physical form began in a version of the Inventor's station minus the Inventor himself, but quickly Frakutsk found himself on Coruscant, outside a familiar building.

Frakutsk smiled wryly and felt like a small gungan again, but he didn't have time for comatose dreaming and instead immediately sat down and began to meditate.



"Poof!" mimed the Inventor with two hands as Fraktusk disappeared.

"I really don't know why you're so worried, Mr. Jedi!" shouted the Inventor, as if his voice would somehow be heard in Frakutsk's world, "It was banned in the New Order of course, but I've read some of your work on meditation and exploration of the force. It was a bit dull, but still you're an expert in the field and if anyone is equipped to help me in my research, it's you!"



Frakutsk was surprised to find the inner workings of the force magnified here. In the course of his ordinary life, Frakutsk might have achieved this level of clarity and detail after a full day of perfect, undisturbed meditation. Now he simply closed his eyes, and this was what he saw.

Would the effect be even greater if the Inventor were to put Frakutsk in yet another layer of reality-vacuum? Frakutsk dismissed the idea. Another order of magnitude and he would surely not be able to resist merging with the Force Eternal, and then he would never be seen in reality again. This was definitely something which Frakutsk was not ready to have happen.

Even with the effortless oneness with the force that Frakutsk was now experiencing, he couldn't yet hope to affect the force in the one subtle way which would reverse the effects of the vacuum. He was far away from devising a means of reversal and thus escape, especially one which he could use to return himself and the entire station to reality. Frakutsk's only hope was that the Inventor would leave him here for a long, long time.

A silently flashing display panel indicated to RT Bot that the SICIPs had completed their calculations.

"That was fast," commented Derek suspiciously.

There was a long silence while RT Bot reviewed the machine's output. Ordinarily, RT Bot would have immediately begun communicating the results in his characteristically insensitive way. Reviewing a inference processor's output certainly wouldn't take any significant portion of the extremely advanced droid's system resources.

Derek and Xik waited. Eventually, RT Bot spoke.

"These devices have demonstrated the adaptibility of their inference capabilities."

This wasn't very helpful for Derek and Xik.

"Come on, Tee-bot. When we located it we thought we would be able to fly right up to it, then once we did we found out we would need to make it rematerialize. So, what do we need to do in order to get this thing to show up?"

"The force energy required is approximately 500 LaReves."

Why would the droid start approximating numerical figures now? Derek's mind analyzed RT Bot's statement quickly. "You just made that up!" he snapped.

"I did not... but the spacial integration correlation and inference processors were forced to use this new unit of measurement in order to express their results."

Derek had to give this one to RT Bot. Glumly, he said, "So it really says approximately 500 'LaReves', which is a unit of, what did you say? Force energy?"

"486.5872 LaReves with a sigma of 32.1324 LaReves. I believe it also shows how this force is to be exerted."

Derek snorted. "And a LaReve is..."

"If you consider a single atom of hydrogen at standard temperature and pressure, a LaReve-"

"Stop." Xik interrupted.

The ship fell silent. RT Bot and Derek turned their heads and focused on the young Jedi sitting behind them in the cramped quarters of Derek's personal vessle.

"The force does not work in these terms."

Derek and RT Bot clearly did not appreciate this statement. Derek raised his hands and shifted in his seat, communicating his objection nonverbally, but neither he nor the droid beside him could find anything to say.

"Show me the machines' output," said Xik.

Derek motioned toward the display panels of the SICIPs, which took up most of the space in the one-room ship, and got out of Xik's way as best he could.

Xik went over to look at the display, squeezing between Derek and RT Bot.

"RT," began Xik after a short while, "what does this section mean?" Xik motioned to the SICIPs' input panel.

RT Bot began explaining in his usual dry manner, and Xik, a naturally adept engineer, began to understand the inner workings of these extremely advanced machines. His goal was to determine what the processors could possibly be getting at that they had given a result of '500 LaReves.'

Xik was only a Verpine yearling and a Jedi padawan. Be he would now have to extract the meaning- if there was any- from the machines' numerical analysis of what could not be analyzed with numbers.

Frakutsk watched as the strings of the force swirled and swayed of their own power. He began to organize his perception. He prepared to spend time in his work. To spend time until time lost its meaning.

Something then moved. An external force affected the strands of reality around Frakutsk. Of course, this would be usual in a different situation, but force users who had this type of power were so rare at this point in history, and at this point in the galaxy.

Could it be the inventor? Frakutsk considered this. As he was preparing to include into his meditative work a technique to combat the influence of a madman with a force-altering machine, a second motion in the force made clear to Frakutsk the nature of the external power.

It could only have been Xik. Frakutsk did not know how the yearling suddenly acquired the finesse required to affect the force in this way, but it was as if the Verpine was working towards the same goal as his master. The thought of having an ally in the force was foreign to Frakutsk after the Gungan had spent so many years on his own.

Xik seemed to be highlighting the proper strands of reality that Frakutsk would need to pull apart to bring himself tumbling back down into the inventor's plane. Perhaps the solution was obvious from the more distant perspective of someone outside the void-vacuum? Frakutsk did not know enough about the situation to be sure.

Frakutsk made a decision before he realized in a conscious way that he had one. He would either trust the influence in the force to be benign, and lend his weight to his power, or continue working on his own. The decision to trust was a nearly instantaneous one.



Frakutsk's reappearance was dramatic. The Gungan was at first on his feet. He soon tumbled to the ground and flopped once like a suffocating fish.

"Hmmmmm," the Inventor mused exaggeratedly, "how unexpected."

The madman summarily turned his back upon Frakutsk's limp form and began working with the large controls of his invention.

After a few seconds of unconsciousness, Frakutsk found himself in the unforgivingly sparse environment of the invention's central chamber. He began the long process of bringing himself to his feet, but gave up half way through. The Jedi collapsed for a second time, his back now to the floor.

The only thing that came easily to the Jedi in this state was vision into the force. His muscles refusing to obey due to the effects of his recent shifting between planes of reality, the Jedi looked in to the force.

Frakutsk's perspectives and powers in the force were no longer amplified by the oneness with the universe provided by the terrible compression of the Inventor's machine. The lack of amplification, though, provided also a more complete image of the force-reality. From his new vantage point, though, the nature of the void-vacuum-eternal was much easier to understand.

Truly, the effects of the machine were simple. They were simply amplified to a huge extent by the great waving arms and huge electical power of the station. Although certainly to affect the force in this way took a type of genius, to a Jedi the effects of the void-vacuum eternal were no more complex than a pully system to an engineer.

Frakutsk could see now the ease of cutting the ropes.



The station reappeared above Derek's small ship, and for a immeasurably short moment, the great construction hovered just an arm's length away from the ship's viewshield.

The craft shot away from the station. Alarms sounded. Derek shouted in surprise as he was blinded by the flashing of warning lights. Xik was thrown to the back of the ship.

RT Bot did nothing, his internal resources apparently insufficient to react to his sudden change in situation.

Derek acted reflexively. He threw every brake and inertial damper on the ship to full. This threw Xik once again across the length of the ship's one room. RT Bot at least made himself useful as a cushion to Xik's fall.

After a few moments, his companions in a heap besides him, Derek saw fit to make a joke.

"Found it?" he said, his voice cracking.



"Oh! oh!" the normally eloquent inventor exclaimed in a strangely huffy type of righteous anger. "That was not part of the experiment!"

Frakutsk was now on his feet and feeling much better, having returned to ordinary reality.

The Jedi was in the awkward situation of having won his battle. He had not yet faced his captor while in full control of his actions, and was unsure of how to proceed.

The Inventor was about half as tall as Frakutsk, and probably a human. The man was in nondescript middle years, his hair was thin, and his face unshaven.

Frakutsk knew now that his apprentice was outside. The Jedi even had his own ship docked in the station, if his hazy recollection of how he had come to this place was accurate.

The Inventor seemed to be the only person manning the huge imperial station. Indeed, Frakutsk now remembered the Inventor himself mentioning that he had been left alone on this research station after the Reaver invasion.

Just one man maintaining this huge abomination.

The Inventor was now fiddling feverishly with a tiny rectangular panel of buttons. Naturally Frakutsk had to stop the madman from sucking something else into a void-vacuum, and so the Gungan took the most direct route. He walked a few paces and grabbed the man.

Of course, Frakutsk expected the crazed inventor to struggle.

Instead, the Inventor held his hands out as if they were still on the controls. After a moment, the Inventor dropped his arms.

He then emitted a single, disappointed, "Oh."

Xik regarded with suspicion the feet of the middle-aged man who was now almost completely submerged in the chasis of RT Bot's prized SICIPs. The Verpine wondered for the hundredth time why the normally distrustful droid would let such a person tinker with the prized work of its creator.

"An ingenious inclusion!" came the man's commentary from inside the processors. How could such a harmless scientist have been the source of the previous day's confrontation, and, indeed, the mind behind the ominous imperial presense in the sector over the past year?

'The Professor,' Frakutsk had been calling him. The whole idea was insane, but Xik was beginning to understand that 'insane' was exactly how this man might be described. Verpine did not have the same spectrum of unusual personality types as Xik had observed in humans, but still Xik could not understand why Frakutsk was so trusting of the man that had, disregarding the consequences, invented a great dark force manipulator not a few months ago.

While Xik stared thoughtfully, Derek, on the other side of the room, communicated emphatically with a Verpine salvage expert.

"Yes, don't you see on the scans? The entire station is just floating there and you need to dismantle it."

"It might be useful... together?" responded the engineer in broken common.

Xik took this as his queue to intervene.

Have you not felt the disturbances in the hive mind over the past few rotations? Xik addressed his Verpine elder and the hive through radio wave communication.

Of course.

Those were side effects of the device contained within that imperial station.

The salvage engineer paused for just another moment before completing his conversation with Derek.

"I will... do it." The engineer then walked out of the Academy room- which was an office but serving now also as a workshop and meeting place.

Xik followed after a few moments. He began his journey down to a lower level of the academy to find his master and resume his studies.



In a corner of the Roche asteroid belt in this time of galactic strife, the "Academy" served more as a sanctuary or hiding place for most of its denizens. But there were many types of knowledge still being exchanged in the Coalition-built station.

A generation of Verpine engineers created new technologies out of hunger, creativity, and necessity.

A body of students studied ancient disciplines of science and art.

A Gungan with uncomfortably many allegiences taught the ways of the Jedi.

And a young Verpine, Xik, studied the ways of the force.



Related threads:
Securing the crossroads
Beings (RT Bot)
Creating Crossroads
Difficulties, Technical and Otherwise (Roche Asteroid Belt)