Worlds Away (18 page)
“While those who fail the Aether conversion have their life
expectancies shortened, those who convert successfully often more than double
their life span. There is a theory that, individually, each of the Grace had
lived for a million years.”
Justine blanched, unable to imagine living so long. Doubling
life expectancy was a more familiar concept; humankind had been exploring that
for all history. Primitive peoples often only lived twenty or thirty years.
Currently, it was becoming more common for people to celebrate their hundredth
birthday, and still be quite active and lucid.
For the Kulsat, the difference between five or six years as
a Risen and the immortality of the Grace was a goal that would be hard to ignore.
“You said there were two aspects.”
“The second thought is more speculative in nature,” Fairamai
said. “We hypothesize that the advanced technology gives the Grace the ability
to remain conscious outside light. That is the only explanation we can think of
for how they were able to create the star beacons. Of course, the last Xtôti
disappeared from the galaxy nearly a thousand years ago, and when they were
among us, they did not share their secrets. Many in the Collection of Worlds
have tried to discover this technology, but so far, we have not advanced our
knowledge very much since the time of the Grace. The war with the Kulsat has
taken its toll on our societies and resources. If the Kulsat gain the
technology, they will control the star beacons, and thus, control us.”
Justine said, “In the message Ah Tabai left for my friend
Alex, he indicated the Kulsat believe this technology was hidden on an
un-Emerged world. Is there any validity to that?”
“Since the Collection of Worlds adheres to the Grace’s
galactic laws, we have not explored this surmise. So far, the few worlds that
have Emerged before the Kulsat destroyed them have not yielded the lost
secret.”
Bringing the conversation back around, Justine asked, “If
the Collection of Worlds grants Emerged status to Sol System, that means you
will offer us protection from the Kulsat?”
“We cannot guarantee the safety of any system,” Fairamai
said. “Indeed, in the last century alone, we have seen the cultures of more
than a hundred Emerged systems destroyed by the Kulsat armada. However, we will
all offer what assistance we are able to, in order to shore up your defenses. There
are ways to limit travel through your star beacon. It is a difficult process,
and requires the combined effort of many Aetherbeings to accomplish this.”
A chime sounded from somewhere in the wall, and Fairamai
said, “Naila has secured the Kulsat shuttle. He will put us into Aethersleep
soon. When we awaken, we will be in Gliesan space.”
“One more question,” Justine said. “Just because we’ve
achieved what you call Aetherflight, that doesn’t mean the Collection will
consider us Emerged, does it?”
“For Gliese, it was years from the first discovery of Aetherock
before we were able to travel outside light.”
Justine cursed to herself. The Kulsat were probably already
looking for Sol System. Earth didn’t have years to play catch-up.
Before she could form any other thoughts, she felt herself
transforming into the photonic state as Naila induced Aethersleep in her.
Cerro
Azul :
Guatemala
:
Michael
immediately rushed
over to Yaxche and Patli, intending to push them out of
the line of fire. Humberto pulled out his pistol, dropping to a crouch as he
did so, and scanned the wooded area for their assailants.
“I said, don’t move!” the gunman yelled out in English.
Michael froze and looked in the direction the voice had come
from. He couldn’t see anything. Glancing at Humberto, Michael said, “They have
us surrounded.”
“Put your weapons on the ground, step back, and put your
hands on your heads.” A moment later, the assailant added, “I don’t want to
have to kill any of you, but I will.”
With a low growl, Humberto complied. Only once the four of
them put their hands on their heads did two people, a man and a woman, step out
from behind the bushes. With a measure of alarm, Michael recognized the tourist
couple from the day before. They’d followed them all this way. Who were they?
He hadn’t paid them much attention at the village, but now
he got a good look at them. They were both of Spanish heritage, and both were tall
and thin. The man’s black hair was cut short, while the woman had her long hair
tied back in a ponytail. Neither of them wore smiles, and their eyes radiated
anger. There was something familiar about the man.
Both held high-powered rifles. The man aimed at Humberto,
while the woman slowly slung her weapon at the rest of them one at a time.
“Who are you?” Humberto asked. When the two didn’t reply, he
continued, “Can I check on my friends?”
The man gave a slight shake of his head and spoke English
with a heavy Spanish accent. “I am an excellent marksman. I did not shoot them
in any vital areas. Shoulder and leg. Both will live. If you do not do
precisely as I say, however, then I will ensure they do
not
survive.”
Careful not to let his aim waver in the slightest from his
target, the man walked toward Humberto. Only when he was right in front of the Cruzado
did he stop. Without glancing behind him to make sure his partner had him
covered, the man slung his rifle over his shoulder. Standing tall, keeping his
eyes fixed on Humberto, he reached out and grabbed the holoslate, which the
Cruzado had slipped into a belt pouch.
He flicked it on with a swipe of his finger and looked at
the readout. “It is fortunate for you that you did not have time to send your message;
otherwise, we might have had to take more extreme measures.”
“Who are you?” Humberto asked again.
Continuing to examine the holoslate, flipping through the
screens to read the history, the man said, “What is this map of? Why is that
area so important to you? Why do you wish to excavate there?”
A wave of relief went through Michael. If these were Ruiz’s
people, then his organization had no idea what he was doing in Honduras and
Guatemala. The attempt to kidnap him and Yaxche was nothing more than a fishing
expedition. Under no circumstances could he let them know his true mission.
“It’s a jade deposit,” Michael said.
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Jade?” She let out a laugh of
disbelief.
“I used to work for a Canadian resources company,” Michael
said. “A mineral satellite that ran over the area several years ago indicated
there might be a deposit there. It was too small for my company—it wouldn’t
have been worth it for a big company like that to lease the rights. It might be
valuable for a smaller operation, though. If I can find it, I can sell the
information for a ten-percent finder’s fee. At my age, I have to think about my
retirement.”
The man and woman didn’t look convinced, and Michael added,
“I asked my friends to help me find the deposit.”
“If we’ve mistaken you for someone else, I’m afraid we’re
going to have to kill you all.” The man smiled conspiratorially. “After all, we
do not need witnesses.” He raised his rifle to Humberto again.
“No, wait!” Michael said, holding out his hand.
“Why?” the man asked, lifting one eyebrow. “Do you have a
different story to tell me, Mr. Sanderson?”
Michael gaped. How did he know his name?
The man nodded, and his smile widened. “Yes, we know all
about you. Your government’s attempt at misinformation might fool the newsvids,
but not us.”
“What do you want?”
“Do you remember Señor Oscar Ruiz? He offered you his
hospitality and protection, and in return, you led the police to his
plantation, ruined his name, and stole the knowledge possessed by Señor Yaxche
for your own purposes.”
Michael glanced at Humberto, and then back. “You work for
him?”
“Work for him?” the man said, looking offended by the
suggestion.
Humberto narrowed his eyes. “He is your father. You must be
Alondo and Nadia. I see the resemblance now.”
“And so,” Alondo said, finally, “now that we all know who
everyone is, let us try this again.”
“What do you want with us?” Michael asked.
Nadia spoke. “Once, you came to Honduras and stole from our
nation. You took knowledge from us, and you and your country prospered. Now,
you are back, and I think you are here to steal more. This time, you will steal
it for us. We will carve out our own legacy.”
“I’m not here to steal anything.”
With a sneer, Nadia said, “You are looking for information,
as you did before. Do you deny this?”
Michael couldn’t, not without giving away the lie—he was too
physically exhausted from the march and too emotionally wrought from the
violence to be a convincing actor.
Alondo said, “You will explain what you are doing, illegally
crossing the border to Honduras, and what is really buried in this mountain
range. I promise you, I have more bullets than you have friends.”
Expecting that Alondo and Nadia would think he was still
lying and kill him anyway, Michael said in a flat voice, “Based on a folk tale,
we believe an alien creature was buried somewhere in those mountains over a
thousand years ago.”
“An alien, you say?” Alondo grinned. “That is quite the
story. Let’s investigate this fairy tale, shall we? I will make the
arrangements.”
∞
Alondo permitted Humberto and Michael to tend to Diego and
Migel, and they did their best to bind the men’s wounds. The two carried the
injured men closer to the stones one at a time, where there was more shade.
After asking if it was all right with Alondo and Nadia, they left the two men
with a few canteens of water.
“I will send someone back to fetch them,” Alondo said, and
instructed his remaining prisoners to march north overland to the small village
Humberto had spotted on his map earlier.
As it turned out, Alondo Ruiz and his sister were not
without resources. Along the way, once he received a decent satellite signal,
Alondo made several calls on his commlink. He didn’t attempt to hide his
conversations from his prisoners.
He contacted a mining operation they partly owned, and
ordered them to start the paperwork to excavate the area.
Sensing Michael’s confusion, Alondo laughed. “What, did you
think you were just going to walk into a national park with a few shovels and
start digging? The police would be on you before you broke a sweat. No, for
appearances’ sake, it will all be legal. The CEO knows how to grease certain Guatemalan
officials to get the permits quickly. Fear not, we will begin surveying by this
time tomorrow. Once you’ve found the location for us, we will excavate.”
After three more grueling hours of marching, they arrived at
the village and were greeted by two armed men driving a two-ton cargo truck.
The captives were herded into the canopied bed. Michael sat on the floor,
welcoming the relief from his blistered and burning feet. Both Patli and Yaxche
looked worse for wear. Humberto was more angry than exhausted, but he kept his
head down.
The siblings rode up front with the driver, and the other
armed man sat in the back with the prisoners, his rifle at the ready.
They drove north for half an hour, and stopped when they
reached an isolated farmhouse.
Michael and the others got out of the truck. Alondo led them
to a barn and motioned for them to go inside. There were several stalls with
straw on the ground. The doors were chained and bolted, and the one window in
the loft was sealed shut. There weren’t any animals in the barn, but there were
a few barrels filled with what Michael hoped was drinkable water.
Alondo looked outside and waved his hand. Another man
entered, holding a large cooking pot. Placing it on the floor, he removed the
cover to reveal a corn, bean, and rice mix. It didn’t look particularly
appetizing, but it had been a long time since they had eaten last, and Michael
was ravenous. There didn’t seem to be any cutlery, as if Alondo expected them
to eat with their hands.
He said, “My father believed in treating his guests with courtesy.”
He glared at Michael. “You, however, are not guests. I trust you will
not
have a comfortable stay.”
Gliese
Outpost :
Gliesan
System :
Justine came out
of the photonic state—Aethersleep—immediately. There was no delay between the
intangible and physical states of being that she’d experienced on her last
journey. While some people experienced momentary disorientation when waking up
from normal sleep, Justine had always been one of those people who were
instantly alert. This process was no different.
She opened her eyes and looked around the passenger
compartment. Fairamai took a few moments to open her eyes. The Gliesan made a
quick ruffling movement with her head, as if to shake off the effects of the Aethersleep,
and then she looked at Justine.
“We are here,” she said. “Home.”
Pushing her
sight
out, Justine quickly sensed that
she was in a new solar system, one with a red dwarf star at its center. There
were several small planets orbiting close to the star, and four larger bodies
outside those. A number of tiny planets that would most likely be considered
dwarf planets orbited the outer edge of the system. From what she could sense,
there weren’t any gas giants in Gliese.
“I would love to be able to visit your home world,” Justine
said to her, wondering which one of the four planets in the habitable zone was
their prime.
“Even if it were permitted, you would not be able to survive
for more than a few days.”
“Oh?” Justine asked. “How come?”
Fairamai got up from her hammock, and it melted back into
the wall. “Our physiology has been altered by the Aether process. The gravity
of a planet, or even a moon, puts an incredible pressure on our cells. It
interferes with the Aether, and dampens its ability to sustain us. Our internal
systems begin to shut down.”
“Alex, the first of us to be changed by the Kinemet, lived
several years on our moon before his health deteriorated,” Justine said.
“As you said before, he is not fully transformed. He might
even be able to survive several months on the surface of a planet. We are
beings of light, Justine. We are no longer true members of our own species.”
There was one question that Justine hadn’t asked yet, and
she realized it was because it was something she wasn’t certain she wanted to
know. Kinemet was a miracle element, and would give any world the ability to
venture beyond the borders of its solar system. For those who successfully
underwent the Kinemetic change, and were forever altered, there were numerous
benefits: the ability to pilot ships between the stars, electropathic control,
and enhanced memory. It was a dream-come-true on many levels.
The change came with some serious disadvantages. There were
many dangers involved with utilizing the Kinemetic power itself, but it was the
secondary effects that would give potential candidates pause. Never being able
to set foot on her home planet again without risking death was a significant
downside. If Justine had had a choice in her conversion, and had known about
this drawback, she would’ve had a very tough decision to make. It was a big
enough issue that it would deter many from going down the path to becoming an
interstellar pilot.
The Kinemetic change altered a person at the cellular level.
What other side effects would this change produce?
Hesitant to ask the question, Justine nevertheless spoke it.
“Whatever you want to call us—Risen, Kinemats, Aetherbeings—we can’t have
children, can we?”
“Not once we are altered,” Fairamai said, as if that were a
well-known fact.
The confirmation was like a punch in the stomach to Justine.
Though she’d made the decision not to have a child of her own long ago, the
option had always been there if she ever changed her mind. Now, there was no
hope. Klaus had taken away a great deal more than anyone thought when he’d
forced Justine into the change.
The anger surged in her, but she had no place to direct it.
Klaus hadn’t survived Lucis Observatory, but if he had, she would track him
down and make him wish he hadn’t.
Fairamai led her back to the bridge, and by the time they
arrived, Justine had managed to regain control of her emotions.
The display on the main console panel showed dozens of
Gliesan patrol ships in the vicinity around the star beacon. A distance away, there
were a number of larger ships that looked like they were military cruisers of
some kind—she could sense a variation of weaponized Kinemet on board them.
Considering the ongoing war with the Kulsat, Justine assumed that if an enemy
ship were to travel to their system, they would quickly be engaged in battle.
Naila said, “I have transmitted our report to Commander
Analock. We will be escorted to Skanse Aerie—our outmost station.” Glancing
over his shoulder at Justine, he added, “The Commander is not pleased that we
brought the Kulsat shuttle with us … or that I offered them asylum.”
Setting her jaw, Justine asked, “What did he have to say
about me?”
“With Ah Tabai and Aliah breaking protocol—and galactic
law—and with my decision to spare the enemy, his response to your presence was
… not repeatable. He has, however, dispatched a courier ship to Gliese Prime
for further instruction.”
Justine felt acutely guilty at the mention of the ‘enemy’,
remembering Fairamai’s warning about how unstable the conversion to and from Aetherspace
was for normal beings. “The Kulsat,” she said. “Did they all make it?”
“There is one less life form registering on our monitors,”
Naila said.
Gritting her teeth at the news, Justine was silently
thankful that her ignorance had not cost any of her passengers on the
Ultio
their lives.
As Naila plugged in the course to the station, Fairamai
stroked her long, taloned finger on the control panel on her side of the
bridge. A workstation of sorts emerged from the wall on one side of the bridge
and a contoured chair rose up and floated above the floor. The Gliesan motioned
for Justine to take a seat.
“Skanse Aerie is approximately two-hundred-thousand
kilometers away—too short a distance for quantum travel. We’ll have to use
normal space engines. It will be at least forty minutes before we arrive.
Perhaps you would like to access some background material on our history before
you meet a representative from the Collection of Worlds and present your case.
It would be best if you were as informed as possible.”
“Thank you, Fairamai,” Justine said, and settled herself
into the floating chair. When she’d been standing up, the display screen had
looked like a two-dimensional representation; once she sat down, the image
before her expanded into a volumetric holograph. Haptic technology had just
started to become popular on Earth, and Justine extended her hand to manipulate
the image in front of her.
“No,” Fairamai said, “the educational database has a
synaptic interface.”
“How do you operate it?”
“Simply focus your concentration on any rendered object or
word.” She pointed to a small antenna above the display. “It will receive your
neuropulses. To manipulate the display, form one of the basic commands in your
mind. I’ve entered translations of ‘Go’, ‘Back’, ‘Follow’, and ‘Return’. You
can customize other commands with the interface at the bottom. Subvocalize
searches to begin. I would suggest that you start with the Xtôti entries before
moving on to Kulsat history.”
Silently amazed at the remarkable technology, Justine looked
at the display. There was a single phrase hanging in three-dimensional
suspension:
Please supply search parameters.
“Xtôti history,” Justine said under her breath, and the
display launched the first page in the database, comprising text as well as a
dimensional image of what looked like a humanoid turtle without a shell. For a
moment, Justine gaped. In her mind, she hadn’t really formed an image of the
Grace, but this was not what she had expected.
Before reading the text, however, she wanted to be sure she
had a handle on the interface. She focused on an arrow on the bottom of the
display and thought,
next.
Immediately, the page transitioned to a topic
list.
Back,
she thought, glancing at the right side of the page. The
first page returned. The top line of the text read, ‘Introduction’, and Justine
focused on that and thought,
go.
A generic definition of ‘introduction’
appeared on the display.
She played with the controls for a few more seconds until
she was confident she could navigate the database.
The synaptic interface was as close to a telepathic link as
technology could get. On Earth, thought-link implant surgery allowed for a very
rudimentary Meshstream to be uploaded through the optic nerves, with commands
still based on vocalization. A true synaptic interface had never been
developed.
Turning to Fairamai, Justine asked, “Can you use this for
communication?”
Shaking her head, Fairamai said, “Far too many conservatives
in the Parliament. They’ve banned synaptic technology for anything other than
databases and medical emergencies.” She made a short screeching sound that
Justine took for amusement. “One of the first demonstrations proved
embarrassing to a certain member of Parliament…”
Justine turned back to the display and immersed herself
thoroughly in the history of the galaxy.
∞
The amount of information she absorbed was incredible, but
she knew she had only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. Even with her
accelerated learning ability, it could take her years to learn everything
available in the database.
A few key points stood out from the research.
Although there wasn’t a direct match in the species catalogs
between the evolved worlds throughout the galaxy, there were significant
similarities among them. With a few rare exceptions, the animal kingdoms of the
diverse worlds could be categorized along the same basic families. As humans evolved
from the primate family and became the dominant species in Sol System, the
Gliesans—whose home world’s geography was dominated by mountainous regions and forests—evolved
from a species of flightless birds that was something of a cross between an
ostrich and an owl.
The anthropology of the
Aves,
as they called their
species, was fascinating, and Justine had to stop herself from spending the
entire session learning about them. There was time for that later. She needed
to learn about the Kulsat.
Ninety-two percent of the Kulsat home world’s surface was
water. The cephalopods on that planet were the first to use tools for survival.
They had created underwater cities and developed agriculture around the same
time as humans were still living in caves. The Kulsat had discovered
electricity thousands of years before the first human hut had been erected in
Mesopotamia.
One statistic that surprised her was, among the
thirty-thousand species that had developed space flight—or were on the
cusp—less than twelve percent had evolved from land-based mammals. By far, the
majority of dominant species evolved from oceanic environments. It only
followed, Justine thought; after all, mammals were latecomers on the evolutionary
scale of Earth.
As Fairamai had mentioned earlier, the Kulsat had been the
second species to expand beyond their planet’s surface and into the space of
their solar system. A million years ago, the reptilian Xtôti had already
mastered light-speed travel, and had discovered a way to circumvent normal
space. Justine had difficulty imagining spending that amount of time alone in
the galaxy, knowing that there were tens of thousands of other sentient species
with the potential of becoming galactic neighbors.
If the Xtôti had not provided technological advancement, the
Kulsat might not have developed light-speed travel for many more millennia—their
system was barren of Kinemet. The nearest solar system was eighty-seven light-years
away. With the short lifespan of the Kulsat species, they would’ve had to
develop generation ships to explore the systems in their sector.
Without Xtôti interference, the Kulsat would most likely
have Emerged around the same timeframe as the majority of the other members of
the Collection of Worlds. According to the database, there was a mass
confluence of advancement throughout the galaxy. The majority of worlds had
emerged between two and four-thousand years ago—it was practically
simultaneous, in the context of galactic time.
Sol System was a straggler. A question arose in Justine’s
mind, and she did a quick search. While interference in un-Emerged systems was
against the law, observation was not. The Xtôti had been notoriously
close-lipped about the existence of other systems, having learned their lesson
with the Kulsat.
A question occurred to Justine, and a few thought-strokes
later, she found her answer. Galactic scientists estimated there were over two thousand
more un-Emerged systems in the galaxy. When Justine read this, she wondered how
they’d arrived at that number. With her mind, she focused on that fact and
thought,
follow.
The monuments housing the star beacons, she read, all
contained the same catalog of language samples. Apparently, the Xtôti kept a
close watch on developing systems. At some point in the evolution of that
culture, the Xtôti would sample local languages and leave a message on the
monument housing the star beacon as a way to welcome them to the galactic fold.
There were 2,341 unidentified writing samples.
Justine wondered at the translation they’d found on the
Dis
Pater.
She knew the Mayan language had dozens of dialects, and even
modern-day linguists argued over the meaning of many of the symbols and icons.
‘Behold the Mighty Door of Kinich Ahua; Eternity is Now
Before You; Beware the Power of Kukulcan.’
It sounded ominous, and she wondered what the message really
meant.