Floating a little more than an arm's reach away from us, the Specter of Fryga waited, shrouded in unearthly silence. Although it was a singular construct, the feeling it sent us while staring with only a single set of glowing white eyes was not unlike being on trial. We had been tried. Sentenced to death. Yet, here we remain, on an alien world; our guilt for the pending murder of thousands of Fryga's citizens weighs heavy. An unsettling sensation to say the least. Ægir's perpetually shimmering and shifting features reminded one of a dark, restless ocean. It was always everyone and no one.

"So," Midnight sighed, shifting her weight to her left side, "It's a ghost?"

Kasuna shook her head, "It is no ghost. Poltergeist would be more accurate; many spirits concentrated in this one... construct? It's nothing short of incredible."

Marth snarled with his hand resting casually on his belt, "What is your intention, ghost?"

Utilizing that same choral voice, Ægir replied, "As the caretaker of the Library of Yggdrasil, our intention is to locate and provide accurate information based on the data we've collected over the course of generations."

Luna nodded and almost yawned, "Oh. It's a computer. You found a computer, good job, Gene." Stepping forward, Luna cleared her throat and addressed Ægir, "Where is Director Jenkins?"

Ægir's aura rippled outward as if someone had thrown a rock in the center of a pond. Gesturing with its hands apologetically, the construct replied, "Stephen Erik Jenkins, deceased. Born common era 2245 - 2299. Surviving family members, Stephen Damien Jenkins..."

Marth bellowed out more aggressively as if louder would yield better results, "Where is Stephen Damien Jenkins, you cursed Ghost!?"

Reciting without either emotion or taking offense, Ægir answered, "Stephen Damien Jenkins, born in the common era, 2268 at 2312 hours, at Capital City Medical Complex, Fryga..." Ægir went on at length about the specifics of his birth and known home addresses.

Marth's impatience boiled over, "Enough. I demand you tell us Director Jenkin's current location or by the wrath of-"

With a gentle hand, Midnight reached out to touch Marth's forearm, "I don't think that's what this thing does. It said it's a collection of history, like a book. It's not alive."

"Correction," Ægir said in its multitude of voices, "We have transcended what is considered either or alive or dead. Our collective consciousness resides now in a transdimensional state outside of known reality. We have ascended beyond mortality."

Kazuna tapped her foot in that rhythm only she could hear while she was in deep thought. While we all stood, trying to grasp what this Specter just said, our Doctor offered a layperson's translation; "I believe what Ægir means is their former population now exists as part of this collective consciousness, a living book as it were. I suppose it could be considered what some call heaven."

"Or what some might consider hell," Marth breathed out bitterly. "A prison."

"Correction," Ægir once again interrupted, "The Frygan Ægir Matrix exists outside of space and time, not fictional constructs such as heaven or hell. Those currently residing within the matrix were given the option to join prior to their mortal bodies expiration."

Midnight continued to swish her tail pensively, "So you, all of you, exist somewhere that's real. Where is transdimensional space then?"

Ægir floated backwards, a map of the Norn system projecting itself in its wake. From the center binary suns out to the farthest celestial gas giant of Oden, the Specter gestured to the map with its hands; "You currently reside in Temporal Space." The projected map suspended in the center of the room flattened horizontally rising up several centimeters. Below the Temporal Universe, several more layers appeared nearly identical but colored differently for the sake of distinguishing one layer from the next. I read the different layers out loud from top to bottom...

Known and Observed Alternate Realities

Standard Temporal Space

Transdimensional Space

Valhalla

Niflheim

Muspelheim

Asgard

Midgard

Jotunheim

Vanaheim

Alfheim

Svartalfheim

Heven

Gaea

"I thought you said there was no heaven?" Midnight mumbled while rolling her eyes.

Shifting slightly toward to address the dragoness, Ægir replied, "Our alchemists, astronomers, and physicists lead by Dr. Bryan Greene had conferred that there exists a twelfth observable rearrangement of universal matter. In accordance with tradition, the president had been set to name subsequent realms after ancient realms in Norn Cosmology. Thus, Dr. Greene named his findings after the tenth realm in the Frygan Mythology: Heven, palace of the warrior angels."

Marth grabbed a bookshelf beside him and hurled it off to one side, "Enough of your stories, tell us where your master is!"

"Stephen Jenkins is not this phantom's master," Karma spoke low and began to circle around to the back of Ægir. His eyes searched the ever shifting ghost of Frygan souls long since past. "We must learn from this phantom of the past, or suffer the same fate as those trapped within it."

"That is correct," Ægir interjected, "The Ægir matrix was constructed and placed within Transdimensional Space as a way to preserve the history of Fryga and her citizens. Amendment," Ægir spoke, pausing to collapse the map of alternate universes. In its place several men and women appeared with their biographies scrolling beneath them. "Those who are part of the Ægir Matrix are not considered trapped, merely suspended."

Luna's ears twitched, "Suspended? As in temporary?"

The hundreds of thousands of biographies and photos of scientists, architects, philosophers, and a multitude of deceased citizens of Fryga faded away. Ægir once again stepped forward, their head tilted forward almost apologetically, "Clarification: those that reside within us are in a state of quantum suspension, neither alive nor dead. However, it is theoretically possible that technology could be made available in the future for those within the Matrix to transition back into Temporal Space."

We all stood shocked and stilled. What this machine had suggested was that the ancient ancestors of the Frygan people experienced a form of immortality. What we've seen and witnessed with our own eyes is no longer a mere suggestion, but an ironclad fact. Ancient Frygans, using a combination of technology and the supernatural have found a way to indefinitely preserve the souls of their ancestors. Now, under Jenkins' control, they'd found a way to perpetually resurrect those who have passed on. It was nothing short of a miracle.

However, in the wrong hands, immortality could end up being a nightmare. Especially so if upon one's resurrection, they were immediately enslaved to the will of a sociopath. Knowing that Stephen Jenkins possessed the ability to perpetually resurrect and hold anyone he got his hands on in eternal servitude was monstrous. It was one thing for those ancient Frygans to volunteer their minds and souls be made available for future generations. In Jenkins hands, they were now truly, solely at his whim; to be remade, destroyed, and brought back endlessly.

Surprisingly, it was Marth who cracked first. The weight of this revelation forced him down on his knees as he breathed out, "This is beyond any hell I've served under. For one's soul to be under the dominance of one man?"

Equally astonishing, Karma agreed with Marth, "Especially if that man is Stephen Jenkins, we can not allow this. It is the will of Libra that we must destroy Jenkins and this Ægir Matrix."

Kazuna objected, "We can't destroy the history of generations. We're not merely burning books, we'd be obliterating the vary souls-"

Marth shouted over the Doctor, "Liberating imprisoned souls!"

"Correction," Ægir attempted to speak but-

"Silence, ghost!" Marth shouted. "You may tell us how to destroy you."

Luna held up her hands, taking a step closer to Kasuna to align with her position, "She's right, we're supposed to be saving souls, not destroying them. Right?"

Midnight, with all the indifference in the world, was seemingly occupied balancing a scalpel on the tip of her finger, "I mean, we should definitely DO something. I grow bored of talking and of reading all of these books."

Luna stomped her foot, tail bristling, "No one asked for your opinion, dragoness!"

Catching the hilt of the scalpel in her palm, Midnight gestured toward Luna, "As royalty, you are blessed by my opinion. When I want to hear your opinion, I'll ask you to sit and recite, wolf."

I caught Luna's fist in my palm just before it collided with Midnight's face, "Enough. Everyone. Our target remains clear. We must first stop Stephen Jenkins. We'll figure out the rest when we have to."

Karma nodded, "Gene is right. Now is the time to draft a plan for battle. We'll save ethics for a later date."

Marth stood cracking his knuckles, "We cannot go into battle without first hunting down our prey." He turned to Karma, a restrained animosity to his voice, "Where is our villain?"

The resurrected shinobi lowered his head, "As I've explained, I was not made aware of where Jenkins' stronghold is. Neither could Kazuna locate any data within my..." Almost hesitant to admit his new, artificial form, Karma trailed off. He simply gestured to his head. Seeing the brief glimmer of pain in Karma mirrored my own.

There was solace however knowing that despite the manufactured body I now resided in, I took comfort knowing that there was something deeper, an intrinsic quality to my person beyond flesh and blood. I took comfort knowing that the body I had now was sufficient for the one I loved. In fact, I was joyful, thankful, strengthened at the connection Luna and I now shared. It transcended the physical bounds of time, space, and now death was no longer an obstacle.

Kazuna stepped forward. I'd been distracted by the others that I hadn't noticed her continue to tap out her internal thought process. She addressed the phantom, "Ægir, you stated that your discoveries were named after ancient Norn Mythology, correct?"

The ghost nodded spreading his hands, gesturing to the entirety of the library of Yggdrasil, "This is correct."

With a snap, Kazuna asked, "Are these mythologies rooted in anything within the known Temporal Space?"

Once again the map appeared, the Norn System was spread out before our eyes floating above the floor at eye level. Ægir gestured to the celestial bodies in turn as he spoke, "Recitation: ancient philosophers and poets often named the planets after deities in their stories and metaphors. Modern astronomers continued this tradition; from the twin suns Dellinger and Ullr, to the gas giant Oden. Elements of fiction became reality and vise versa."

This struck a chord in me as I looked up along the walls to the ceiling. Cables, roots, branches, we were in the center of it. A solution to our immediate mystery was within my grasp. I reached out to take that answer out of the air; "Ægir, does Yggdrasil have any basis in reality?"

Once again the phantom of the ancient Frygan people replied in their many voices, "Extrapolation: ancient poets often used Yggdrasil as a means to explain the interconnectedness of the universe, commonly referred to as the Tree of Worlds. Published in 1971, theoretical physicist Alberto Thomlonson discovered an anomalous gravitational event. It was later designated Yggdrasil."

It crossed my mind that this thing, this ghost was purposefully withholding what we needed to know. Maybe it thought it was a particular kindness hiding the unimaginable danger we sought to vanquish. Or, it could just be a stupid computer. Either way, I had to know for certain.

Stepping closer to the Phantom, I asked, "Where is Yggdrasil?"

"Designation," Ægir began, "Gravitational anomaly 'Yggdrasil' is located 410.75 million light years away from Fryga. It resides within the gas giant Oden."