Paying the Price (Book 5 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (13 page)

She nodded. “I’ll make that happen. When do we want to try?”

“As soon as possible. We can withdraw from the black hole system in a few hours. I think that’s the best thing to do. We have a long trip home.”

“I can have
Persephone
in position in half an hour.”

He rose to his feet. “Then do it. Let’s get our people back. And the bodies. I want Doctor Stone to go over them with a fine-toothed comb.”

* * * * *

“Your people are preparing to get you back to your ships,” Omega said. It had figured out how to communicate directly with Carl through his implants. Impressive for an alien that had never encountered them before.

“What do you think the chances are?” Carl asked.

“Very good, I believe. Even from this range, I have narrowed down the possible realities greatly. If there are still many choices, we can try them one by one until we reunite you with your people.

“I will be sad to see you go. It has been refreshing to have someone to speak to after so long.”

Carl nodded. “How long ago did your people leave?”

“More than two thousand of your years. I have many diversions and we are a solitary people by nature, so that has not been a burden. Still, I will look back fondly on this time we have shared.

“Speaking of which, I see that it is the custom of your people to give gifts. We also have that tradition. When friends part, they exchange meaningful things. I would give you a gift my people left with me. It is precious to me, but I believe you are destined to have it.”

“I don’t want to take something that means so much to you. That wouldn’t be right.”

Omega laughed. “At least see it before you decide. Come around the ring. I will tell you where to stop.”

Carl made his way around until he found another closed off chamber. It didn’t have a door, so he doubted the designers had intended anyone to go inside.

At least, that’s what he thought. The bare surface of the metal shimmered and became like a mirror.

“You may pass through. It is safe. This is where I reside.”

He took a deep breath and stepped into the liquid metal. He passed through unharmed and emerged into a large room. Larger than the one where he’d found the bodies, in any case.

“This is bigger than I expected.”

“That is really no mystery,” Omega said. “There is a level of the station reserved only for machinery. This chamber resides there, on what your people would consider an engineering level.”

“Wait. I’m not on the same level? How did that happen?”

“My people have long had the ability to open portals from one location to another, so long as matched quantum equipment was on either end. The range is short, relatively speaking. On this doorway, it is only good within this station. And, in fact, it is the only such door here.

“Before our world was destroyed, there were larger doorways that allowed for many to travel between cities at the same time. The power requirements were quite large. A similar portal served to get things into orbit. I suppose one could have been created for travel between planets, but the energy cost would have been extreme.”

Carl tried to envision a world like that. Such ability to travel instantly from one city to another would change the very fabric of society. One could live on the other side of the planet from where they worked and commute. It was astonishing.

“That’s a tremendous thing. Your people were magnificent.”

“Thank you. I believe they still are. Walk forward to the row of cabinets. You want the one on the far left.”

Carl started that way, but turned to face a wall full of machinery. A large, clear tube held a brain harnessed in thick, gold wires that penetrated its surface in many places. “Is that you, Omega?”

“It is. They removed my brain to become the controller for this station. My body would have failed long ago. I was ill and they could not cure my disease.

“I doubt they imagined my brain would live on so long. They provided a way for me to end myself, if I ever wanted to, but I am content in my isolation.”

It was amazing. Carl could hardly imagine it. He took a good recording and then turned to the cabinet. It slid open to reveal a large case.

“How do you get to things like this without a body?” he asked.

“I have mechanical devices that I can direct. You have seen them, I believe.”

Carl slid the case out and set it on the countertop. In the blue water, it looked vaguely pinkish. Movements were still awkward.

It wasn’t difficult to open. Inside were rows of clear crystal disks. Thousands of them.

“What is this?” he asked.

“The collected knowledge of my people. Every written word, every oral story. At least those since we could save them for those who came after ourselves. That box contains the sum of all my people’s knowledge.”

Carl’s heart raced. “That’s too much. I can’t take your people from you. That’s why they left this, wasn’t it? So that you would never be alone.”

“I have all of this in my data banks,” Omega assured him. “They left this as a symbolic gift to repay what I did for them. One that I feel is appropriate to give to you who has done so much for me. Take this gift and use it to know us, Carl Owlet.”

He nodded. “I will. But, I have to give you something, too. It will require some thought to match what you have given.”

“No, my friend. Simply meeting you was more of a gift than you can imagine. Our people did not believe there was other sentient life in the universe. We saw no sign of it in the heavens. The knowledge of your existence is a tremendous thing.

“The reader is also in the cabinet. I will send you the information on how to decode these disks. The data is quite dense. They are constructed in such a way that the media will remain stable for as long as the universe continues to exist.”

“From my people to yours, thank you.”

Still, Carl’s mind wandered as he considered appropriate return gifts. Then he smiled. That was perfect. And he had just enough time to arrange for them to bring it.

* * * * *

Angela floated out of the pinnace and guided the box Carl had forced her to pick up from his lab. She’d argued until she was blue in the face that he didn’t need any extra equipment, but he’d been adamant.

The plan was for her to place it where they went in. The being inside would be sure that they exited at the same location.

She thought they were trusting the thing too far. The very idea of an alien lifeform made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It probably had tentacles. And lots of eyes. She shuddered inside her suit.

But those were issues far above her pay grade. She’d attach the box to the hull and stand clear.
Persephone
was less than a quarter kilometer away. Perilously close to the station for a ship her size. Kelsey wanted to give the being the best chance possible to find the right reality to open a door into.

Angela only hoped it wasn’t some kind of trap.

Once the box was in place, she pulled back into the pinnace, notified
Persephone
, and waited.

After a few minutes, the hull deformed and extruded again. Standing on it were a number of armored Fleet vacuum suits. The explorers had returned!

She ordered the pilot to take her in. He’d hold them close to the hull, since the magnetics didn’t seem to work on the station.

Talbot floated up the ramp as soon as she lowered it.

“It’s good to see you again, Angela. Damned good.”

“You, too, Talbot. Let’s get you all inside and get the hell out of here.”

He gave her a small headshake through his faceplate. “Not yet. Carl is still inside.”

“What? Dammit all to hell. Is he a hostage?”

“No, he needed to handle the box you brought over. He’ll be along shortly. The station only had to try half a dozen times to find the right reality for us. It swears it knows the right one now, so
Persephone
can move away and we’ll pick Carl up when he comes out. He said it should only take about thirty minutes.”

“I’m going to kill that runt,” she snarled. “I swear to God. Let’s get loaded. I don’t want to have the alien screw us up by accident.”

They loaded the bodies into the pinnace. A glance inside one faceplate told her she didn’t need to see the rest. They’d purged their atmosphere, but death was never pretty.

She opened a channel to
Persephone
. “The station says you can pull back. We’re still waiting for Owlet.”

“I know,” Kelsey said. “He just told us. That’s annoying.”

“For once, I’m in complete agreement with you, Highness.”

“Move away from the station and wait. I’ll let you know as soon as he’s coming. Jared wants to get the hell out of here. As soon as Carl is aboard, we’ll move back to the Harrison’s World flip point.”

* * * * *

Carl lugged the box down to the room where Omega’s brain rested. He set it on a counter and started opening panels, looking for power.

“Can you point me at a power line I can tap into? Something on the same order as the light the others created above the room they used.”

“There is a line inside the panel to your left. What are you doing?”

He opened the panel and spotted the line. He needed to be cautious because he was in water, but he could do this.

“Once I’m gone, you’ve lost your means of communicating with any of our people. I made a number of other quantum pairs, so I’m installing a few here for you, linked to a redundant communications array. That way we could leave one at Harrison’s World, keep another on
Invincible
, and still have others that might prove helpful without having to return and add more.

“I figure it’s better to spend the time and effort while we’re here than come back. This might be for nothing. Damned if I know what kind of range they have.”

He pulled several pieces of equipment out of the box. “With the radiation, you probably won’t get more than a few dozen kilometers of range on the communicator, but if someone else tries to board you, you can warn them off. Or invite them in. Whatever suits you.”

Omega was quiet while Carl worked. It only spoke after he closed the panel.

“I am deeply moved by what you are doing for me. It is unexpected and most welcome. I am inspired to do something for you, in turn.”

Carl smiled. “No need. This is what friends do.”

“I have not had a friend in a very, very long time. I shall work hard to be a good one. Which in turn, leads me to what I might be able to do for you. We built this station to open a path to another reality. Until your people came, I was unaware of these flip points.

“They are fascinating. I think they are part of the same theory that allows for interdimensional travel. That affords us an opportunity.”

Carl closed the box. “Really? That’s pretty interesting. Let’s test the normal communications unit. Call
Persephone
.”

A few moments passed before Omega spoke. “They indicate my signal is weak, but they received it. Hopefully, this will save new visitors from danger. This is wonderful. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. I can test the quantum part once I get back to
Invincible
. What was the other thing you were talking about?”

“This station can open a portal to other universes. That requires a lot of stored energy to breach the barrier. I once gathered it for months from the sun before I released it all at once.

“I believe the theory of your flip points is similar in many ways. Through my gravitational monitoring of the black hole, I can sense the layout of nearby flip points now, including the three in this system. The one you came through and two others that are likely hard to sense with your instruments in this environment.

“Those, in turn, link to other systems. All together, they form a web of connections. I can detect the linkages out for many hundreds of light years. It may be possible for me to use what I know of your destination to create a flip point between here and there, using the vast gravitational power of the black hole to forge a link powerful enough to cross that gulf.”

He blinked. “That’s insane. People can’t just make flip points.”

“Your science also dismisses the possibility of interdimensional travel. Yet, I have made portals to other realities many times.

“They faded after a short once I stopped expending the energy to keep them open, so there is no guarantee that the flip point will endure. But even if it is only in existence for a few days, that should allow you to get home much more quickly than would otherwise be the case. I at least owe it to you to try. And who knows? Perhaps it will be permanent.”

“That sounds amazing,” Carl said. “Thank you.”

“Perhaps you already have this information, but allow me to send you the map of flip points I have detected. It may prove useful to you in the future.”

Carl’s implants received an incoming data stream. Not a map, but individual listings of flip point pairs. They had directions and estimated distances, but no map of real space stars to give them structure.

He brought up the Old Empire flip point maps and began comparing them. Many of the flip pairs were marked, but not all. Not by a long shot.

Also, some of the pairs were not pairs at all. A small number had three, four, or even five possible links coming from the same flip point. That was a possible confirmation that the weak flip points perhaps led to several potential locations. Doctor Leonard would be thrilled.

Once the data stream ended, Omega continued. “I also have some spare parts for the interstation transport system. I can create more for my own use. I will gather enough to create a larger doorway and a smaller test unit. The larger unit will be able to move people from one side of a planet to the other. Or to stations in orbit.

The smaller unit will allow you to study the technology, and eventually recreate it. The details for the construction are in the discs I gave you, as well as the theory behind it. I hope that it makes a difference in your struggles going forward.”

The implications were staggering. If he could duplicate this equipment, people on Avalon could go to the opposite side of the planet in a moment. They could get from the surface to Orbital One or even the moon. Long-range travel would never be the same. It would change society in ways he couldn’t begin to imagine.