He reviewed what he’d just accomplished with a mixture of relief and awe. It had all happened so naturally, yet it was far in excess of his normal mentalic abilities. Somehow, they’d been significantly augmented, and the only thing he could think of that could have accomplished that was the regeneration chamber. He focused down on it and, suddenly, all became clear.
The chamber had been affected by the crash in exactly the same way as everything else aboard the ship. Its processes were significantly impaired, and on top of that, it had been struggling to work with his unfamiliar physiology and body chemistry. In some ways, such as the repair of his bones, it had failed miserably, but in the case of his brain it had done a damned good job. That injury had been life-threatening, and if he hadn’t died from it he should sure as hell have been left a gibbering wreck. However, the chamber had gone right back to the drawing board and used his DNA as a blueprint to rebuild the damaged section.
This would have worked as intended had it not been for Sol’s spatial PHASEing twenty years before, which had introduced major changes into his DNA. Some of those changes had re-routed existing neural pathways and provided him with mentalic abilities he hadn’t previously possessed. Many more were related to the structure of the brain and had produced little or no effect at the time because his brain had already been fully formed. After the crash, however, things changed significantly. Now, there was a need to re-build his mashed brain, and it was the changed DNA that the stasis chamber had used for the template. A template for a new, improved, brain.
Sol couldn’t help but feel elated. Hell, he’d just received an upgrade! What wasn’t there to be happy about? Perhaps he’d now be able to do some of the things Josh could do. He’d need to do some careful self-examination during his regeneration period to determine the extent of his abilities, but it was already looking pretty good. Deira was going to be so jealous.
That last thought made him pause. How long had he been out of it and what had happened outside the ship in the intervening time? Was Juliette alright? Had they got all the asteroids? Was Earth still there? He searched around in his head and found what he knew had to be there somewhere – a biological chronometer. He consulted it and …shit … it had been over eight weeks! What the fuck was wrong with these damned El machines that they couldn’t have got him sorted out before now? Deira must think he was dead.
He immediately sent out a mentalic probe to let Deira know he was alright, but it hit the equivalent of a brick wall. That damned folded-space barrier around the ship! He silently fumed. What was the point of new mentalic abilities if he couldn’t use the blasted things? He was stymied, unable to use his mentalics to reach outside the ship and in no physical state to move out of the stasis chamber. So, back to introspection again. This was an opportunity to learn more about what made him tick, and how his new repertoire of mentalic abilities worked. Then, once he was physically recovered, he’d try to get some sense out of the El.
Putting external events on hold, he dived into his mentalic levels like he’d been doing it all his life. He flicked into alpha-normal and had a swift look at the portal-forming ability that was lodged there before moving down to theta-normal and delta-normal. It was all very interesting, and he spent several hours watching his various metabolic processes and how they were responding to regeneration. Then he looked down at the infra-low. While he’d been descending through the levels, he’d noticed the increasing amount of detail at each level, culminating in atomic processes at low delta. What must the infra-low contain?
He was poised, ready to sink down, when he suddenly remembered Chard. Where was he? He’d been focusing so much on his new abilities he’d completely forgotten his best friend. It was unforgivable. The infra-low was immediately forgotten, and he rapidly moved back up the levels and emerged feeling relatively hopeful. If his abilities were as good as he thought they were – at least as good as the young agents’, and maybe on a par with Josh – he should be able to contact Chard telepathically. He put out a call and waited for the reply. There was nothing.
After a few minutes thought, he realised he was being stupid. The AIs in the young agents’ PWCs were bonded with their agents by more than purely physical means. The electromagnetic wave pattern of the AIs mirrored the brainwave pattern of their respective agents, producing a kind of telepathic communication. Sol and Chard had been bonded purely physically, by means of a neural node, and though most of Sol’s contemporaries had managed a form of non-verbal communication with their AI known as “structured thinking”, Sol had never got the hang of it. Now, though he knew he’d be able to achieve it, he also knew he’d need to be in line-of-sight with Chard for it to work. So, he came back to his original question. Where was Chard?
He cast around for a method of locating the AI and finally settled on the one Josh had used on the Cthon planet. A niobium scan should do the trick. He went back down to delta-normal and set one up. Once again, it seemed to be the most natural thing in the world and, flushed with success, he emerged again and scanned the ship for a niobium signature. This time, he was out of luck. This wasn’t the Cthon planet, it was a massive spaceship employing advanced electronics – and electronics used niobium. There were niobium signatures everywhere, literally thousands of them. It was like hunting for a photon in a light beam.
Chagrined, he abandoned the scan and considered other options. How could he identify one piece of advanced electronics in a ship that was laden to the gills with them? It couldn’t be anything to do with Chard’s composition, but what about his electromagnetic wave pattern? That was unique to him. Unfortunately, Sol found he hadn’t a clue what such a pattern might look like.
He re-immersed and went hunting for something that might be what he wanted. There was nothing obvious in alpha-normal, so he went down to theta-normal. Truth be told, he was beginning to get irritated with himself by this time because he realised he didn’t really know how to go about this. He was like a toddler with a new train set. He knew what he wanted to do with it but didn’t know how to put it together in the first place. He skimmed through theta-normal, then spent a little longer in delta normal where, according to Josh, a lot of the more interesting things happened. It was all useless. Unless his regeneration procedure provided him with some sort of user manual for his new mentalic toolbox, he was stumped.
He gazed around. He’d already reached the lower border of delta-normal, so perhaps now was the time to go that extra mile and see if he could find something down in the infra-low. He hesitated. There was something in the back of his mind about the infra-low, he was sure of it, but it just wouldn’t come. Damn it, why was he always scrabbling around for errant memories? Finally, when it was obvious he wasn’t going to get it, he took the plunge, diving down into the depths of the infra-low – completely oblivious to the danger.
Like everyone who visited the infra-low, he was entranced by the sub-quantal world that was laid out for his inspection. Unlike most, however, he felt some kinship with it, understanding the nature of the quantum functions that surrounded him as if they were old friends. He could only surmise that he’d had training in sub-quantal mathematics in his previous life, and the knowledge had remained even though the memory of its acquisition had disappeared.
He spent a little time drifting aimlessly around, investigating what was on offer, like a diner scanning a menu. However, introspection wasn’t something that came naturally to him, and it wasn’t long before his patience began to run thin. Time to abandon the naval-gazing for now. His regeneration would be complete soon, then he could free himself from stasis and go looking for Chard. He headed back towards delta-normal.
That was when he found he couldn’t. Yes, he could move up the infra-low a little, but he could get nowhere near delta-normal. So, what was this about? He’d got this spanking new upgrade yet, somehow, he couldn’t move out of the infra-low. He just didn’t seem to have the necessary energy. He knew that both Josh and Tao had been down here, so how had they got back out?
Then it was that the errant memory emerged, the one he’d been trying to access before coming down here in the first place. It was the memory of Josh mentioning, in an offhand way, that Swift had given him the necessary stimulus to get out of the infra-low when he’d been on the Cthon planet. Sol hadn’t really taken it in at the time but now it suddenly assumed critical importance. He didn’t have an AI backing him up.
To escape the infra-low, he needed to contact Chard for help – and he had no idea how to do that, or even whether it was possible from down here. He seemed to have got himself into a bit of a predicament.
Chapter 12
For Deira, her first breakthrough was the most important. After a few hours rest, she approached the task of mentalic development with a completely different outlook, a glowing sense of optimism, as if anything were possible if she just put her mind to it. Jiao clearly picked up on this because, from positive motivator during the early stages of achieving alpha-normal, she was winding down the rhetoric now, as if she didn’t want to risk Deira becoming too confident – and having that confidence smashed. Deira didn’t care. She was on a roll.
‘Okay – back to work,’ she said brightly, sitting at her console and propping Jiao up next to her. ‘What’s next?’
‘It may be sensible to practice alpha-normal today,’ Jiao said. ‘You need to be able to flick in and out at a moment’s notice.’
‘Don’t think so.’ Deira set her chin in a way Sol would have recognised had he been there. It was a look that said she’d do what she wanted regardless of her original question. ‘I think I’m heading down a level or two. Theta-normal’s next I think, followed by delta-normal?’
‘That’s correct. However, I … ‘
‘Great stuff. Immersing now.’
Deira flicked into alpha-normal as if she’d been doing it all her life. Why on Earth would she want to practice this basic stuff? She headed downwards and entered first theta-normal then delta-normal, spending a little time at each level taking in all the possibilities, and not letting herself get side-tracked by the sheer wondrousness of it all. Then she shot upwards and emerged again.
‘How long was I in?’ she asked.
‘A little over forty minutes,’ Jiao replied. ‘How far did you get? You mustn’t get downhearted if you make scant progress at this stage. It’s entirely normal for …’
Deira interrupted again. ‘I had a good look round both theta-normal and delta-normal. It seems to me the place to manufacture the DNA scan is delta-normal.’
‘I’m amazed. Your potential for development has clearly been underestimated.’
‘Yeah, well.’ Deira grinned, feeling smug. ‘Must still be life in the old cortex. Anyway, I guess I should get on with constructing this scan. Immersing …’
‘Wait!’ The sharpness of Jiao’s interruption had the desired effect. Deira stopped.’
‘What?’
‘If you’re genuinely set on formulating the scan, you need to be aware of certain things that Josh found only after trial and error. For a start, delta-normal alone will not furnish you with all you require for your construct.’
‘But I saw it there. It was a clear DNA signature, and it matched Tao’s DNA sample.’
‘I concur. However, the signature of DNA occurs on every level, including the infra-low. To construct a scan, you’ll need to gather the relevant parts and fit them all together.’
‘Oh.’ Deira felt suitably chastened. ‘The infra-low as well? Isn’t that a little … dangerous?’
‘It would be if you had no back-up. Luckily, even though I’m not bonded to you, I can still provide you with the necessary stimulus to get you back out again. I should also warn you that if you spend any time at that level you’ll be extremely tired when you emerge and will almost certainly require a long period of sleep. That being the case, it would be expedient to attempt to construct the scan in one go, collecting the various segments as you move down and putting them all together in delta-normal after you have collected the last piece. Then you can bring the finished article up to alpha-normal, where it will stay until we need it.’
‘Sounds good.’ Deira was trying to dampen her enthusiasm slightly, recognising that she’d become a little over-confident. Hell, she’d been about to shoot off without thinking it through. Very Sol. ‘How long will I have in the infra-low before you get me out?’
‘The entire exercise will probably take about forty minutes – fifteen in the infra-low. One other thing, though … ‘
‘There’s more?’
‘Merely another trick that Josh employed. The DNA section in the infra-low is represented by a sub-quantal function. You won’t be able to collect it directly.’
‘Then how do I get it into my scan?’
‘Josh copied the function and inserted the copy into his construct.’
‘He worked all this out for himself? And on the hoof, too?’ Deira was briefly overcome by a mixture of pride and sadness. ‘How will we manage without him?’
‘Much of what he learned was passed to me via Swift. Also, by the end of the mission, Tao had made considerable progress too.’ There was a pause. ‘Please don’t think I’m suggesting that Tao is a substitute for Josh. Josh was, and forever will be, the original pioneer in mentalic development. And, of course, he was your son. However, when Tao went into sub-quantal space, she was almost as well-developed as Josh, and once she’s back in her body, she’ll be fully capable of continuing that development. I hope I haven’t given offence.’
‘No offence, Jiao. I understand. You mustn’t feel inhibited about mentioning Josh. It’s important that we’re able to talk about him freely. I still feel the hurt, of course, but I’m not about to become a simpering wreck every time someone mentions his name.’
‘Thank you, Deira. So, taking on board my comments, do you wish to commence?’
‘Hell, why not? Forty minutes before you pull me out then, and no more than fifteen minutes in the infra-low. Copy?’
‘Copy. Good luck.’
Deira flicked into alpha-normal and went DNA-hunting. She hadn’t seen the partial signature on the way down, but having been told what to look for, she found it after only a few minutes. She imagined a bag – almost like a shopping bag – and put the relevant piece in it. Okay, she was getting the hang of this. One down, three more to go.
Theta-normal proved to be a real headache. Try as she might, she simply couldn’t find the piece she knew was there, and kept finding herself in various dream scenarios, many involving Adam. Each time she pulled herself free of a dream, another one seemed to take its place, effectively blocking her from the areas she needed to access. She yanked herself out of the most recent dream and tried to imagine what Josh would have done in these circumstances.
She knew there was much more to theta-normal than dreams because, on her first outing down here, she’d already seen the myriad biochemical processes of her own body. Why hadn’t she been affected like this that time? The answer had to be that she had been much more relaxed then, while now she was tensed up and concentrating on formulating the DNA scan. She deliberately calmed herself, telling herself the DNA scan wasn’t that important. It could be done any time. There was no hurry. Almost immediately, the emerging picture of a dejected Adam disappeared, and she was free again. She gazed about and soon saw what she needed. Triumphantly, she grabbed it and shoved it in her bag. Two down.
Delta-normal was the exact opposite of theta-normal and it took her a while to work out why she wasn’t getting anywhere. It was because she was too relaxed. She’d been completely hooked by the molecular and atomic processes on show down here – processes that were just waiting to be used for something – and she’d lost focus on her objective. So, now it was concentration time again, and even that failed to produce the desired outcome for a considerable time. She hunted carefully, increasingly irritated because she’d seen the damned thing the first time she’d been down here. Where the hell was it?
It turned
out to be hidden behind a set of processes that regulated her liver. It seemed that things in delta-normal, and perhaps the other levels too, were mobile – they could drift around and sometimes get behind something else. That was a tip she could have done with before setting off. Unless, of course, Jiao hadn’t been aware of it. Okay, she told herself, just get on with it and stop dithering. She grabbed the section she wanted and dropped it in her bag. So, now it was time for the big one. She sank to the edge of delta-normal and let herself slip into the infra-low.
She was stunned by what she found. She’d thought delta-normal had been fascinating enough, with all its molecular, atomic and sub-atomic processes on display. The infra-low was something else again. If she’d had a body, her mouth would have been hanging open like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Surely, anything was possible down here?
Quickly, she pulled herself together before she lost herself completely, and hunted for the fragment she needed. She was sensing a need for urgency now. She’d been immersed for a considerable time and badly wanted to accomplish her goal before Jiao did her bit and yanked her out. So, where was that damned function?
Suddenly, she saw it. Again, it was partially hidden, but she was getting better at recognition now. She dived down and snagged it, trying to put it in her bag and forgetting for a moment what Jiao had said. Shit, she was making things worse by rushing. Slow down a bit! Carefully, she copied the section she wanted, and tossed it into her basket with the rest. Got it!
She wasn’t a moment too soon. There was a sudden burst of energy and she found herself moving up and out of the infra low. As she looked back, she momentarily caught sight of the hole Adam had mentioned, along with the tentacle waving round, then she was back in delta-normal.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 9