Epic of Aravinda 1: The Truth Beyond the Sky (7 page)

“Oon, are you okay?”

“Apologies. Navika is relaying a great amount of data to my mind. This vortex is quite extraordinary, Zahn. It seems light, as well as matter, is able to filter though the vortex aperture. It is quite faint, but Navika is perceiving some stars on the other side. Are you ready?”

“Yes, do it.”

“I’m going to approach slowly. I do not know all of the effects of going through such a gate, or if it is entirely stable.”

“What’s the worse that could happen?”

“Well, we could be turned inside out.”

Just as Oonak said this, the bright point at the center of the gate grew, and as Navika was pulled into the vortex, a loud rushing sound filled the cavern.

“What’s happening?!” Zahn shouted over the noise, but before either of them had time to react, they were engulfed by the swirling maelstrom.

For a few fractions of a second, it appeared as though Navika was completely twisted around as they passed into the vortex and entered a realm whose rules were quite different from ordinary space. And just moments after the ship had disappeared into the vortex, the point of light that had been in the center of the gate blinked out of existence, and the controls went dark.

Once again, the cavern seemed lifeless, and the only trace that was left by their presence was as subtle as a single twig on a forest floor.

CHAPTER
11

THE UNIVERSAL SONG

For what seemed like only an instant, Navika and everyone inside hurtled through a corridor made of pure light. Beyond the corridor, Zahn thought he could see dozens of other corridors great distances away, like spider webs spun from the light of a trillion suns, and then Oonak and Zahn saw a flash that overwhelmed them.

Once their eyes adjusted, they found themselves staring at a huge star just ahead of them. The star was so bright that Navika reduced the transparency of the walls to avoid harming their eyes. The sight was truly incredible, and Zahn soon recognized it as Kuvela, the star that Avani called home.

“Aren’t you concerned about how close we are?”

“I was, but Navika is indicating that we are currently in a stable orbit around the star and are in no danger of falling into its gravity.”

“That’s a relief.”

Zahn continued to look out onto the star. Now that he was so close, it nearly filled his field of view, and he was thankful that Navika graciously filtered the image so that he could see the seething waves of hydrogen and helium below without hurting his eyes. With traces of disbelief, he watched a solar flare slowly arc across the star and then plunge back into the rippling surface. As an observer, he always thought it was ironic that something appearing so hellish from up close provided Avani with the energy that made life possible.

“So chaotic, yet so beautiful,” Zahn said. “And the vortex corridor. That was the purest light I’ve ever seen. Did you see the network of other corridors?”

“Indeed, I did, and Navika is continuing to analyze the data that we gathered. From what we saw, there may be many gate corridors in this part of the galaxy, and now we shall use this next gate to continue.”

“What gate?”

“Look above you.”

Zahn looked up and was surprised to see a ring shape far above him. He’d never noticed it before because they seemed to be in the exact center of the huge ring. Yet, as he watched, he realized that this wasn’t quite accurate, either. They were moving forward, beyond the ring, at some speed. However, the ring was so large that it was difficult to judge how fast they were going.

“Whoa.”

“I suspect that we exited through this gate, and that we can use it to continue onward, as well.” Oonak paused. “Excellent. Navika has just located what appears to be a control panel on the ring, similar to what we found on Avani’s South Pole. We are heading there now.”

The sensation of flying through space in a partly transparent ship was even more unsettling than flying over the ocean. Without feeling anything, he saw the edge of the ring grow closer and closer.

Zahn looked down and instantly wished he hadn’t. The floor was still transparent, and now, instead of seeming to stand on thin air, he appeared to be standing on nothing at all. Below his feet was a vast array of tens of thousands of stars, and he decided to sit cross-legged on the bench once more.

When they reached the edge of the ring, Zahn noticed another control panel with a row of glowing circles, and by now he was certain that the circles symbolized planets since there were the same amount of them as there were planets in the Kuvela system. Even Rodhas, the most distant planet, was indicated as a dim red orb. Most of the planets were.

Since the first gate indicated Avani as a green orb, Zahn guessed that the dim red color meant there were no gates on most of the worlds, and this disappointed him. As an observer, he would have loved to visit Rodhas in person.

In stark contrast to this, Avani’s green indicator was outlined in a warm starburst shape with golden threads coming off of the starburst. These threads connected to a golden band of light that led far above him and around the entire gate, creating a faint golden ring.

Just above the planet symbols, he noticed a white point of light and smaller points above it. Zahn guessed this symbolized his sun, Kuvela-Dipa, in relation to nearby stars.

“This control panel is quite similar to the one on Avani,” Oonak said. “It would appear that we can indeed use this gate to travel beyond your star. Do you see the strange markings below the panel? Those are the same ancient numbers that the first gate used. If my understanding of the number system is correct, we are currently at gate 3.3.2, 71.11.23, 000.”

“Three zeroes at the end. What could that mean?” Zahn said.

“I hypothesize that we are at a gate which serves as the center node for many other gates, and I suspect the way these addresses work will become more clear as we see more of them. Once we understand the addressing system, we can plot a direct path to the Confederation Council.”

“So what do we do now, Oon? We can’t touch the control panel. It’s out there in a vacuum, and I just realized I haven’t seen any space suits in this ship at all.”

“We take the next logical step, Zahn. We listen, and then we knock.” Oonak looked ahead. “Navika, scan for any energy signatures radiating off of the control panel itself and theorize about possible methods of communication.”

A voice surrounded them, coming from everywhere.

“No signals are being emitted from the control panel itself,” Navika said.

Zahn looked down below the bench again, which appeared to be resting on nothing more than a faint dusting of stars.

“However,” Navika said, “the gate is radiating a faint gravity wave from the center of the ring. It’s possible this wave could contain information. Analyzing. Oh, how elegant.”

“Have you found a signal, Navika?” Zahn said.

“A rather universal one, in fact. The gravity wave is creating a pattern of pulses that appear to be cycling through prime numbers. I would hypothesize that this gate network was explicitly designed to be relatively easy to learn how to use.”

“Wow, so my guess was correct,” Zahn said. “They wanted us to use them. Whoever ‘they’ were.”

“Indeed, evidence suggests that whoever built these gates wanted others to use them. The question is: for what purpose?”

Oonak paused and massaged his chin.

“Navika,” Oonak continued. “Do you think you can communicate with it?”

“I can generate similar gravity pulses, yes. What would you like me to send?”

“Well, if my hypothesis is correct, these gates are arranged in a hierarchy. So our next step is to go up one level in that hierarchy. Navika, transmit 3.3.2, 71.11.00, 000.”

After a few moments, Navika spoke again.

“What happened was intriguing, but you may not like it.”

“Did the gate ignore you?” Zahn said.

“Oh no, far from it. The gate quite definitely received my message, but it transmitted back something I don’t quite understand. It sent a harmonic signal that was discordant, almost like an instrument being played out of key. Do you have any further commands?”

“Yes, Navika. Try sending the address of the gate we just left. Send the address that would lead us back to Avani, and see how it responds.”

“All right,” Navika said. “I have scans of the cavern, but I’d like to confirm. The address you request me to transmit is 3.3.2, 71.11.23, 003. Is that correct?”

“Exactly correct, Navika. Proceed.”

As he awaited the results of Navika’s message, seconds seemed like minutes to Zahn, and silence hung heavy in the air.

“I wish you both could have heard what I just heard,” Navika finally said.

“What do you mean ‘hear’? I thought you were sensing gravity pulses. Isn’t sound impossible without air?” Zahn said.

“Avanian, that would depend on what you consider sound. Sound is merely vibration. Sound only requires a medium such as liquid or gas. It can even travel through stone. I am well aware there is no sound in space that you can hear. However, I process sensory information in ways that are beyond your understanding, and I
heard
these gravity waves.”

“Navika, please call our guest by his name. He is part of our expedition now.”

“As you wish.”

Zahn looked out toward the edge of the ring again and the stars beyond.

“I apologize, Navika. I didn’t mean to question the way you hear and see. I’m just trying to understand. So what was the response to our message?”

“A most exquisite harmony, Zahn. I am certain it was a musical chord of some type, but relayed as a gravity wave. The chord itself seemed alive.”

“A living chord? Sounds like a resounding yes in the language of music, if you ask me.”

“I wonder if the set of two-digit numbers all go together,” Oonak said.

“You mean, they could be different from the first set of single-digit numbers?”

“Very likely. Navika, try 3.3.2, 00.00.00, 000. If my hypothesis is correct, we will be taken to a node gate.”

This time they didn’t have to wait for long. After a few seconds, Navika spoke.

“The response was not negative this time. However, it wasn’t like the signal I got when we put in Avani’s address, either. It started as one chord which then changed key again and again.”

Zahn looked down to the center of the ring, which was far below them now, but saw nothing.

“So why isn’t a vortex opening up?”

“That is a good question, Zahn. Navika, has it indicated any discordance at all?”

“Negative,” Navika said. “It seems our current knowledge of the gates is insufficient.”

After all this, Zahn was beginning to wonder if their entire quest would stop here, just because they couldn’t solve the riddle of how to use this gate.

All the hatchlings of eternity have gone before us,
he thought.

Recalling Kavi’s strange words from their meeting just a few days before was strangely comforting.

“Wait a second, didn’t you say these gates are tuned to only respond to the life that lives near them?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we’re still in my home star system, so it’s possible it needs to know that one of us is from Avani. Why not try broadcasting my DNA to the gate itself? Maybe that’s why the last gate worked. I cut my finger!”

“Broadcast your genetic code to the gate? Intriguing idea. Navika, can you translate genetic material into a signal that this gate is likely to understand?”

“Unknown, Oonak. But I can certainly reduce the genetic signal into a string of numbers and broadcast that to the gate. However, even if I broadcast it at extreme speed, an entire genome could take a while to transmit.”

“Then do not send the entire genome. Start at the beginning, and if it responds, stop transmitting.” Oonak turned to Zahn. “Do you have a sample we can use?”

“Here. This should work,” Zahn said and gave Oonak a single blonde hair from the top of his head.

Oonak placed the single hair onto a panel that popped out of the armrest of his chair. Zahn watched as the panel flashed brightly for a second, and then the single hair was gone.

“Decoding…”

Zahn was about to ask how the hair had disappeared so quickly when Navika spoke again.

“Transmitting.”

After a few seconds, a bright light grew within the ring.

“Excellent work, Zahn! Navika, position us one klick away from the center of the ring. I would rather not get taken in unexpectedly like last time.”

In a few seconds time, they had gained some distance from the growing point of light at the center of the gate. As before, the space in the middle of the ring spiraled in on itself, except that this time thousands of stars were behind the vortex, creating the illusion that they were circling a massive drain. This gate was also much bigger than the first, and when Zahn studied it closely he noticed that the surface of the ring itself had lit up in perfect geometric patterns, just as the previous gate had.

“Oonak, I am receiving a repeating signal. It appears to be repeating the signal of the address we just entered. I would surmise that this is an indication we can now proceed through the gate.”

Indeed, the bright point at the center of the gate stopped growing, and the space around it continued to swirl in a strange way as if starlight itself weren’t sure what to make of it. Zahn looked over to his right and gazed at Kuvela-Dipa once more. He wondered if it might be the last time he would ever see it.

“Proceed,” Oonak said, and Navika moved closer and closer to the bright center of the vortex. Soon, it completely filled their view, and in an instant, they were gone.