Branegate (16 page)

The portal seemed alive on the screen, swirling green in vortices at the edges of the vertical ovoid, layers of yellow and red in bubbling depths. Still unstable, of course, as the planet-sized maintenance ships appearing as black specks focused a trickle of the very expansion energy of the universe to distort spacetime and move the portal’s black holes into an optimal configuration. Leonid had a sudden, naughty thought, something he hoped might lighten her spirit.

“If I were in a festive mood, and maybe a bit drunk, I might describe that thing as the mother of all vaginas,” he whispered.

Tatjana giggled, and her eyes flashed when she looked up at him. This made him happy. “I do see the resemblance, dear,” she murmured.

They went back to their quarters and for the next two hours forgot all about what they were leaving behind or what they were facing in a universe that had once been their home but now might be hostile to them. And the few times Tatjana cried out, it was not in sadness.

They had experienced transition before, and unlike spacetime jumps in normal space it was not particularly disturbing to the senses. People were encouraged to be asleep during a spacetime jump, since the folding of space produced a discontinuity in time perceived as an event lapse by the brain. People in a conscious state suffered chaotic daydreams and hallucinations that seemed to go on for hours, but in fact only lasted seconds as the brain searched for a new reference point in time. Very disturbing. Transition, on the other hand, involved no trauma except to those subject to seizure in the presence of flickering lights. In transition, one only passed through the brane separating one universe from another, a single pore of the brane magnified hugely to accommodate passage. No discontinuities, since space and time for both universes melded together smoothly at each point on the surface of the brane.

Transition was nonetheless a spectacular event; the energies used to create a portal made memorable displays of ionized gases in the molecular clouds that often accompanied clusters of black holes. People bought and saved recordings of their transition adventures to show to their grandchildren, since each portal was different and any given portal changed from day to day.

People crowded to the bar as transition occurred, but Leonid and Tatjana sat in their corner, sharing a rainbow drink. One thump was felt through the floor as a tug-ship nudged them into an optimal position at the last moment, and then the flickering ovoid was swallowing them up. Gas flowed by, a myriad of bright colors, not rapid but steady, a vague impression of walls, like a tunnel. Ahead of them was flickering yellow, orange and red, and then a dark spot appeared, rushing towards them, then not a spot but an ovoid in black and then bright points of light and diaphanous clouds in red and green.

They were through. They were home. People applauded, and cheered, but Leonid and Tatjana sat quietly and finished their drink. They went back to their quarters for sleep before beginning to pack their things. It was only two days before their vessel would reach the border world of Cay Benz, where they would present their papers and be assigned a ship home. A delegation from Kratola was scheduled to meet them there, arranged for them by Tatjana’s family.

They were excited about going home after such a long time, but wondered how terribly things could have changed there.

CHAPTER 14

T
rae was nearing his twentieth birthday when they reached Elderon.

It was a blue world, with a single continent and a myriad of small islands dotting an azure sea. There was one season, the climate mild. This was due to the planet’s circular orbit around a G3 star, and a rotational axis that was perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. No moon graced the sky, but the atmosphere was pristine and tight regulations kept light pollution to a minimum in the coastal cities. Young mountain ranges with sharp peaks separated the cities from the interior of the continent, a vast high plateau virtually unpopulated. One large river running north to south cut the continent nearly in half and was fed by a spider web of streams from glacial lakes high in the mountains. Along this river, slightly north of the continental center, a single sign of habitation could be seen: a scattering of buildings surrounded by a sprawl of family dwellings, acres of green fields stretching south along the river. Unseen from the sky were the millions of acres of underground steel and concrete that was the bulk of a substantial city.

It was the first city of The Immortals, had been the first permanent settlement of those adventurers and missionaries who’d penetrated the brane to discover new worlds, and who had found people biologically like themselves on the other side.

The debate on Kratola had raged for centuries, yet questions remained unanswered. The Immortals, as far as they knew, had constructed the first branegates to the neighboring universe, and people had been waiting for them, their DNA identical except for the number of random defects, especially seen in mitochrondrial studies. If one accepted these studies, then the ancestors of The Immortals had evolved more recently than those of the native people in this universe. The difference in the times of their origins was over a hundred thousand years, well before the first recordings of history in The Immortals’ worlds. It seemed unlikely that random chemical reactions could produce identical species in any two universes; the currently favored theory was that another race, far older, had populated both universes, perhaps many others, leaving its seed to propagate at its own rate and fashion.

The hundred thousand year time difference might even explain why the settled worlds in this universe were so much farther away from the galactic core than were the worlds of The Immortals in their home universe. When Trae ran the numbers in his head they made sense, for without any spacetime jumps, unknown to the worlds of the Emperors’ League, it had taken him over four years to travel only two light years.

The time had gone quickly, his life planned for him by his fathers. The technology of three hundred years had been squeezed into every dendritic link in his brain, but Petyr had also downloaded it all to cube in more organized pieces. The collection had grown to over a thousand of them: mathematics, physics, nanochemistry, economics, business, the history of two universes—these were only a few of the subjects. To recall and use material it was necessary to do it again and again, though his comprehension was built in. He understood everything, without conscious effort.

Synthesis was another matter. New knowledge generated from old was problem solving, and required constant practice. His older, absentee father had generated a workbook for him, filled with problems of increasing difficulty until reaching the unsolved problems intended as the tasks in his young life. At first glance, it all seemed impossible:

1. Resize the branegate from millions of miles to a size commensurable to the size of an interstellar craft.

2. Investigate the possibility of rapid intergalactic or intragalactic travel by using branegates to jump universes at one point and quickly re-enter at another distant point. Normal spacetime folding is inefficient in terms of travel distance shortened per terrajoule of energy consumed.
   

3. Compactify a vacuum energy generator from planet-size to shuttle-size. Spatial opening to access the false-vacuum state should be variable in both size and stability time in order to achieve a range of variable thrust.

Only three items, but it seemed to Trae it would take a thousand lifetimes, even with the technology available to him. And that technology was buried beneath a great plateau on a planet called Elderon.

They landed on the plateau at some distance from the visable part of the city. Two cars from the Zylak headquarters were there to meet them, without representatives, only drivers who said a few polite words and handled their luggage. Whether these men were normal or Immortal, Trae could not tell. Elderon was truly a planet of The Immortals, and Trae felt nervous anticipation at meeting them. So far he only knew his parents: mother, two fathers, one young and with him, one old and now in another universe. He remembered the strange voices he’d heard years before, when he’d first learned what he was. His parents? Perhaps not. The voices had not returned, yet his absent father had said that all Immortals, especially family members, were connected in some way. Trae still wondered who the voices belonged to and what they were to him. He wondered if they would come back to him, if he might even meet some of these people, now that he was on Elderon.

It was a two-hour drive back to the city they’d passed over seconds before landing. Trae didn’t wonder why the shuttleport was so far away. Halfway back to the city they could hear and feel takeoff of the shuttle they’d come in on. The ground shook beneath them, and the car shuddered as if struck by strong gusts of wind.

The driver didn’t say a word to them all the way in. They were on a speedway and traffic was heavy, little bullet-shaped cars with exhaust pipes flashing short jets of flame when they accelerated. Hydrogen powered, all of them, and a watery haze hovered over the speedway.

First there were houses arranged in neat blocks, looking like identical copies out of a mold. The downtown area was small, perhaps a mile square, the tallest building a few stories of glass and plas-steel reflecting bright sunlight. They entered what looked like a tunnel, a row of bright lights in a ceiling curving gradually, then tighter as they slowed, a descending spiral beneath the ground, but not for long. They came out of the tunnel and the true city was there: busy streets and windowless buildings several stories high, all illuminated by full spectrum light panels far up on a ceiling. In seconds their eyes adjusted; it was as if they were up on the surface, and the warm light of a sun was beating down on them.

They stopped in front of one of the largest buildings. When they got out of the car Trae noticed a breeze blowing, and there was a faint flowery scent in the air. The car carrying their luggage sped off again after the drivers spoke briefly to each other. The driver of their car motioned them to follow him, and led them inside the building. The first floor was a foyer with shining stone floors in black and walls of white marble. Two elevators in clear tubes and an escalator went up to higher floors. There was a reception desk, and standing before it were three people, a woman and two men, dressed in suits. The older of the two men smiled, and extended his hand as Trae approached them.

Trae shook the man’s hand. “You must be Mister Meza,” he said warmly. “My father has told me about you.”

“Only good things, I hope,” said Meza. He smiled, but looked Trae over carefully. “My associates Myra Dan and Wallace Hunley. Myra is in mathematics, and also runs my information office, and Wallace is our Director of Applied Research.”

Trae shook their hands. They smiled and made nodding bows. The woman was quite pretty, he thought, and Wallace he knew had been a chief engineer long before moving into management. He’d been with father’s corporation for over a lifetime. Wallace was an Immortal, and Trae wondered about the other two people. Were they all connected the way he’d been told?

Absolutely,
came a thought, and Meza smiled broadly.
We’re connected as much as you want us to be.
   

Meza had heard his question, and Myra had heard everything. She was blushing.

“It will be useful when we talk about technical matters,” said Wallace. “The brain is so much faster than the currents powering our motor reflexes. Your father has sent us a list of topics for our initial discussions. I must say the tasks he’s asking us to do are formidable, even impossible, considering our present technology.”

“I agree. New technology is necessary, but the old physics is enough. I’ve been working on some ideas for the past four years, and—”

“Time for that later,” said Meza. “Right now we’ll take you upstairs for a light lunch, then Myra will give you a quick tour of the corporate offices. Tomorrow is my day, and the day after you’ll be with Wallace.”

“I look forward to it,” said Wallace, his head cocked to one side. “Layered superconductors. What an interesting idea.”

“What?” said Trae. The idea had surfaced only months before, and was to be part of his initial presentation.

“Sorry. I was prying; it’s a rude habit of mine. Curiosity and impatience get the better of me sometimes.”

Meza clucked his tongue. “Engineers can be so devious when it comes to new ideas. Don’t worry, you two will have plenty of time together. Now let’s eat.”

Petyr had been standing there with them the whole time.
Careful,
came a thought.
The man is your bodyguard and companion, nothing more.
The thought seemed to freeze his brain. For the moment, it made sense.

Trae took Petyr affectionately by the arm. “This is Petyr. He’s my constant companion, teacher, bodyguard, and many things. He does my scans, is there for my upgrades. I depend on him. I’d like to have him eat with us and attend all my meetings, please.”

“Of course,” said Meza. “Your father has told us all about your guardianship, sir. It seems you’re his right hand.”

“It’s my honor,” said Petyr, voice deep, and he shook the man’s hand.

Meza winced. “Ah, a soldier of The Church. Religion is not prevalent on Elderon, but you’ll be able to find a few of your kind here. There are believers on every planet, as far as I know.”

I meant no offense to The Church,
came a thought before Trae could even voice his opinion on what had sounded to him like an insulting remark.

“You’re certainly welcome to join us,” said Meza, and smiled. Petyr did not return it, but followed them dutifully up the escalator to a large meeting room with a round, linen-covered table where they had a salad with strips of marinated poultry and the edible petals of several flower varieties, a sweet biscuit, and tea.

Conversation was light, but it was clear father had told them a few things and not others. They knew about the caverns and the harrowing escape from Gan to Galena. They didn’t seem to know about their royal visit on Galena, but knew of Trae’s meeting with his parents and the vast information bank that had been loaded into him.