* * *
EARTH
S EATTLE
ALEX STARED AT THE ARRAY of screens organized neatly above the low table. The whirlwind aftermath of the final battles against the Metigen fleet having at last subsided, it was surely time to go back to work.
She tried and failed to choose any particular screen on which to focus. Her vision blurred as her mind drifted….
Understand you are but a glint, a faint spark in the sea of stars of the true cosmos. Aurora was born but yesterday. Your species only moments ago.
Fifty-one lobbies. Fifty-one subordinate portals, mirrored fifty-one times over in an elaborate, interlocking tunnel network. Fifty-one universes.
We have explained to them that Aurora displays the potential to deliver the very answers we seek, but they are no longer listening.
What answers? To what questions?
We cast you adrift to do as you will, with this one warning: do not come looking for us.
But what were the Metigens doing ? What purpose drove their universe-tinkering games? She had believed they went to war to preserve the secret of their existence, but what further revelations remained shrouded, hidden beyond those portals?
The Messier 71 job could be interesting, due to the globular cluster’s hybrid profile and abnormally high metal content.
Valkyrie’s unsolicited input jolted her out of her reverie. She blinked and tried again to concentrate, dropping her elbows to her knees and leaning in closer on the off chance it might help.
Or boring .
“So the Advent contract pays well, but a week sampling asteroids is hardly what I’d call a good time—if that’s our first job together you’re liable to bolt back to Division before the credits clear the bank. Zwicky Research wants detailed, on-scene readings of the impending supernova WR 102f in the Quintuplet Cluster.” She accessed Valkyrie’s astronomical databanks.
—current core 72-80 M
—indicators of secondary core collapse
—detection of rising levels of Ni 56 beginning 2322.1215
“But it’s liable to erupt any day now. Even I’m not that crazy. There’s two planetary scouting jobs, one in NGC 3603 and one in Messier 71, and an initial spectrum survey of two sectors way out in Palomar 1.”
A sigh made its way past pursed lips. “What do you think? 3603? I mean, we have to do something, right?”
Her inquiry was met with silence. She gave him a few more seconds then looked over her shoulder.
Caleb stood behind her, as he had for several minutes now. His hands rested on the top of the couch, and he swayed idly back and forth. His gaze appeared to be targeted at the screens displaying her current job offers, but it held no greater focus than hers had a minute ago.
“Caleb? Thoughts?”
He smiled a bit sheepishly. “Sorry. Well…are you sure you don’t want to risk the supernova? It could be quite the show.”
She peered up at him curiously. His eyes were bright and dancing about. The corners of his mouth were twitching erratically. The corded muscles of his arms flexed beneath rolled-up sleeves as he continued absently fidgeting behind the couch.
“You’re going completely stir-crazy, aren’t you?”
He sucked his lower lip in to chew on it. “Are you telling me you’re not?”
She held his gaze stoically for a beat, then groaned and crossed her arms atop the back of the couch. “I’m about to crawl out of my skin . ”
He leaned down to tease the tip of his nose against hers. “Want to go climb a mountain and jump off of it?”
“Yes, I do.”
PARNES
C AELUM S TELLAR S YSTEM
S ENECAN F EDERATION S PACE
The mountain loomed with icy temperance over the sheltered valley in the pre-dawn light, casting a ghostly shadow upon the small research camp. Khione, they called it, after the Greek snow nymph.
When Caleb had suggested they go climb a mountain, she had assumed he meant Rainier or McKinley, or possibly some notable peak on Seneca. The fact he had instead meant this frozen volcano on the frozen fourth planet in the Caelum system, a planet so cold it was uninhabitable except in a narrow band at the equator, and then solely by a few dozen planetary geologists and geochemists? It only amplified her appreciation of him. This was fantastic.
It had taken them nearly two days to get here, since she still hadn’t managed to acquire the next-generation engine she’d been coveting. Her special use waiver request for the military’s highly classified sLume drive continued to be ‘under review.’ She could steal a copy of the schem flow—okay, she had stolen a copy of the schem flow—but she couldn’t steal an actual engine, not without getting Valkyrie in trouble with the authorities. Because much to her frustration, Valkyrie now ‘officially’ belonged to the authorities.
The arrangement, as well as Abigail returning to the service of the Earth Alliance, had been the only way Project Noetica was allowed to continue following the end of the war.
Alex was not in the employ of the government, but she was tethered to it by a thousand intertwined strands. The policymakers argued and prevaricated over what to do about Noetica, granting and revoking access to various systems by the Prevos on an almost daily basis. She’d been threatened with house arrest three times and relocation to a top-secret research facility twice…at least twice that she knew of.
Her mother was making a valiant effort to protect her from the worst of the inanity, running interference on countless bureaucratic meddling and power plays. It was a thoughtful gesture, but one driven by more than merely familial affection. Alex was a single provocation away from flipping everyone off and taking Caleb and her ship wherever the hell she wanted, permanently—something Miriam without a doubt knew.
In point of fact she would have already done exactly that, but for the risk to Valkyrie. The Artificial was still housed at EASC and physically under military control. If Alex ran, they could shut Valkyrie down. They could dismantle her if they wished, which Alex would not allow to occur.
So until she figured out a solution, she nominally played by the government’s rules. Rules which, for now, did allow her to roam settled space—so long as she informed the military of her location at all times. Tethered.
“The volcano isn’t for sport climbing. This is not a tourist destination.”
Caleb dipped his chin at Dr. Becnel, the research station director. “We realize it isn’t, and we appreciate the serious work you’re doing here. That’s why we’re here as well—work. My companion is a professional interstellar scout, and we were hired to—”
“Oh, I know who you are, both of you. Your faces were all over the news feeds for weeks.” The man’s glare shifted to her. “Ms. Solovy, I was under the impression you worked in space, however, not planet-side.”
They weren’t here on a job, of course. Caleb was lying through his teeth, an act he excelled at. Being somewhat less skilled in the art, she gave the man a blank expression. “I’m branching out. ”
He stared at the two of them for several seconds before shaking his head. “It’s your funerals. I can’t prohibit you from going up—but I’m also not obligated to come rescue you when you get into trouble. There’s more than one breed of dangerous wildlife on Khione, not to mention volatile winds and unstable terrain. The days are lengthy here—you’ll have thirty-four Galactic hours of light. But if you’re above three thousand meters come nightfall you will freeze to death.”
Caleb nodded. “Understood. We’ll be careful.”
Alex suppressed a laugh as the man wilted beneath the force of Caleb’s powers of persuasion.
“We have some backup gear adapted for use in Parnes’ conditions in the supply building over there.” He pointed out the semitransparent tarp protecting the office from the elements toward the rear of the settlement. “You’re welcome to borrow it—after payment of a security deposit equal to replacement value.”
Caleb smirked. “A generous offer, but we brought our own equipment.”
<
br /> “Right. In that case, the sun will be up soon, so I suggest you grab your gear and get moving.”
“Valkyrie, why does the snow have a faint jade tint to it?”
The Artificial had quickly learned when Alex voiced a question aloud, the response was to be directed to Caleb as well, via a livecomm-style interface they had customized and added to his eVi. It was a habit Alex had worked to develop after some prolonged silences led to awkwardness in the early days of their new living arrangements.
‘The planet is rich in the mineral zaratite. The active geology in this region in general and the volcano in particular leads to a constant churning of the zaratite through the atmospheric cycle.’
Caleb shifted his pack as the terrain grew steeper. “It’s one reason the scientists are here. The geology is unusually dynamic but fairly stable. The planet’s mantle is constantly being expunged and replaced. Though an active volcano under the strict definition, Khione’s never experienced a violent eruption. It simply leaks materials from the mantle into the ecosystem to feed the cycle.”
She smiled to herself. He’d already known the answer and then some.
He caught her inquiring expression. “Daniel—Isabela’s husband—did a stint here a year or so before he died. That’s how I knew about this place.”
“Ah.” She’d finally been able to meet his sister a few weeks earlier when they’d spent several days on Seneca. She’d found Isabela more reserved than her brother, but the woman displayed the same innate charm that made them both easily likeable. Her daughter, on the other hand, had been a whirlwind terror of energy and stream-of-consciousness chatter. Caleb was wonderful with the little girl, however, illuminating yet another facet of his character…one she hadn’t expected.
‘Also, the ground cover cannot accurately be called snow. Rather, it is a mineralized crystal containing only 4-6% water.’
At least Valkyrie had begun to drop the endless decimal places during normal conversation, Alex observed wryly as she inhaled the dry, frigid air. The atmosphere was breathable but thin, and despite the nanobot injections they’d taken to increase oxygenation in their bloodstreams they’d need to don the breather masks soon.
Caleb glanced behind them and came to a stop. “Turn around.”
The research station lay two kilometers down the steep incline. The rays from the white sun, glazed the palest of green hues by the pervasive mineral in the air, now blanketed the valley below. They reflected off the ‘snow’ to create rainbow prisms upon every surface and lit the settlement in an effulgent glow. Off to the left the ice fields peeked out from Khione’s profile in flashes of radiance.
“Well this is sublime, and we’re less than halfway up.”
“Yep.” He massaged her neck through the thermal jacket. “I think if—” His voice cut off with a sharp inhale.
Don’t move .
She felt his body tense against her back as first one hand, then the other dropped away.
What is it?
Thirty degrees to our right, eighty meters down the slope. See it?
She honestly didn’t. Normal human eyesight discerned only whiteness decorated by the burnished nickel of scattered boulders. So she opened the full connection to Valkyrie, blinked and saw the scene anew.
The creature stood four meters tall even in its crouched stance. Six slender limbs ending in splayed pads were connected by a translucent membrane. No, ten limbs—the filmy membrane continued on to connect to the four appendages currently on the ground. Each pad was lined in a ring of stunted but barbed talons. Its skull was narrow and gaunt, the skin covering it more chitin than flesh. Two front-facing eyes were fixated on them while the additional two eyes located halfway down the long skull darted around in recessed sockets. The color of weathered flint, the creature blended almost perfectly into the surroundings.
I see it.
Do you trust me?
Implicitly.
As soon as I step away, start moving a LOT. If it leaps toward you—which it will—make a show of drawing your Daemon. If it gets too close, don’t hesitate to shoot it. Ready?
She mentally noted the precise location of the weapon attached to her utility belt, brought along in case of an encounter with the ‘dangerous wildlife.’ An encounter like this one, it seemed.
Ready.
His absence manifested in the increased chill at her back. Her left hand went to her hip. She leapt up and waved one arm in the air as her fingers fumbled with the Daemon’s clasp through the thermal material of her glove. “Hey you! Over here!”
Her pulse pounded with the force of a hurricane in her ears as the creature sprung forward and the clasp came free. Its upper limbs spread out and the dual membranes became pseudo-wings, giving it lift as its lower limbs skimmed across the ground at astonishing speed.
She raised the Daemon and pointed it at the creature’s thick chest. Its elongated jaw split apart to expose razored edges and a spindly, knife-like tongue.
She had no idea where Caleb was, but this beast was ten meters away and closing fast. She fired.
The laser struggled to penetrate the tough, bony hide. The impact evoked a shrill, strangely hollow cry, but the beast didn’t fall or even slow. She kept the trigger pressed to send an unrelenting torrent into its chest, albeit to little effect. Her other arm instinctively came up to protect her face and she retreated backward. Talons extended toward her in concert with the horrifying tongue and—
—the creature reared up, sending a limb and the attached wing whizzing by her face. A shimmer flickered to reveal Caleb atop its spine. His arms wrapped around its skull, and with a violent wrench he yanked its head up and sideways. It fought him, thrashing wildly as it tried to escape his grasp and throw him off.
Then the left-most eye locked onto Caleb’s fierce gaze and the flailing ceased. Seconds ticked by as they stared unmoving at one another.
The creature’s jaw looked as if it dipped slightly. He gave it a tight nod in return. In an exaggerated motion he released his hold and swung off its back to land smoothly on his feet beside it.
Its attention veered to her. She had quit firing, not wanting to hit Caleb amidst all the thrashing, but the Daemon remained pointed firmly at its chest.
It took a series of hurried steps to the side until it was able to watch both of them at once. Its head rose into the air and it let loose another shrill cry, then pivoted and glided off down the slope.
“Are you hurt?”
She spun to Caleb as he hurried over. “No, it never touched me.” A frown materialized as she willfully tuned Valkyrie’s excited chatter in her head down to a low hum and wiped blood from a cut on his cheek. “You are, though.”
He grimaced and wrapped his hand around hers. “Only a scratch, right?”
“I suppose. What just happened?”
“A show of dominance. It respects strength.” With a soft exhale he pulled away and slipped his pack off, then dropped it to the ground and began rifling through it. “It’s an intelligent animal. Probably not primate-level intelligence, but clearly smarter than most canines and reptiles.”
“And you learned how to recognize this…spending your summers roaming the Senecan wilderness as a teenager?”
He shrugged mildly and dug deeper into the pack. “Some of it.”
“I didn’t know you brought a cloaking shield.”
“Habit, and one I’m thinking I’m not inclined to give up.” He finally produced two energy bars from the depths of the pack and tossed her one. “Lunch?”
The summit revealed itself in the flood of afternoon sunlight streaming into the broad, shallow caldera. Alex increased the tinting on her goggles and checked the feed to her mask. Even with the supplemental oxygen, her lungs begged for more air, protesting the deepest breaths as inadequate.
The mountainside had served as a bulwark, but now the wind whipped into them with bitter malevolence. Layers of thermal garments designed to capture and amplify the body’s natural heat felt as effe
ctive as porous gauze in the face of the onslaught.
She drew her hood in tighter. “Fuck it is cold.”
“You are the master of understatement, baby. But look….”
She glanced over to find him facing the interior of the volcano. The summit displayed a gently sloping concave exterior. Puffs of jade-white steam shot out of holes in the spongy gray material filling the caldera .
“Whatever. Look at this .” She gestured in the opposite direction, for the view beyond the summit was nothing short of magnificent.
The research station where they had begun their trek was a tiny speck far below and to the right. In front of them the terrain swept downward to a frozen plain stretching to the horizon. Her initial inclination was to liken it to parts of northeastern Alaska, but this was a decidedly alien landscape.
Jagged fissure rifts split the sheets of ice to allow the same jade-tinged steam to escape into the air, unveiling brilliant emerald crystals beneath the surface. Large swaths of the sheets glowed pale green where the ice grew thin and new fissures would soon form. The sun blazed across the landscape, turning the ice iridescent and filling the sky with daytime auroras.
But for the single dot of humanity in the valley below, it was untouched. Untamed. Nature loosed to run free.
An apt description, I do believe. Does the planet feel alive to you?
It certainly looks alive, Valkyrie. But peaceful somehow…or at peace with itself. Hopefully it doesn’t mind us intruding.
She dropped her head onto Caleb’s shoulder. “You take me to the nicest places.”
“I really do. But next week, I’m thinking a sweltering jungle somewhere, full of serpents and flying insects.”
“So long as it’s warm, I’m in. Though I will point out, a nice, luxurious hot tub overlooking a white, sandy beach is also warm.”
“True. And it has other benefits.”
Her chuckle sounded reedy in the rarefied air. “I’m temporarily too cold to think about other benefits. Shall we?”
“We shall.”
She opened her pack and removed the small glider harness. It consisted primarily of torso-hugging straps attached to a small rectangular module, but when activated the module would unfurl a pair of airfoils. Made of a hyperlight carbon nanofiber, when fully extended and locked open they were strong enough to endure 240 kph winds and a 150 kN impact. Pockets beneath each wing enclosed the hands to provide the wearer a measure of control during the flight, and tensile ankle straps kept their legs from flapping awkwardly and destroying the aerodynamics. But there was no frame, no motor and no brake; the glider was as close to natural wings as humanity had achieved.
Short Stories of Aurora Rhapsody Page 8