She paused for a few minutes to examine her “catch”. It was a little like constructing a three-dimensional jigsaw. Or, to put it another way, like solving a code. And Deira was extremely good at solving codes. Within a very short time she’d fitted the pieces together, marvelling at the beauty of the finished product. Then she moved rapidly up to alpha-normal, left her construct within easy reach, and fully emerged into the outside world.
She yawned, and almost fell out of her chair as her body suddenly demanded sleep, only saving herself at the last minute. She quickly sat up again. ‘Crap! That was a hell of an experience.’ Her eyes began to droop again. ‘Job done.’
‘I’m suitably impressed,’ Jiao said. ‘To have gone from a standing start to this is nothing short of remarkable. We’ll move on to the next phase tomorrow. Now, you need some rest.’
‘You think?’
Deira stood up, teetering rather unsteadily, and formed a portal to her bedroom at home. She stepped through and collapsed fully-clothed on the bed. She’d just had the most incredible time of her life and had done things she’d never dreamed she’d ever be capable of. She sighed contentedly and was deeply asleep in minutes.
§
She slept for sixteen hours, and it was well into the following day before she felt in any fit state to continue the search for Tao. She’d also had a thought about what they were trying to accomplish. She folded back to her workstation in Chayka’s lab and found Jiao exactly where she’d left her.
‘Sorry,’ she said.
‘What for?’ Jiao seemed genuinely mystified.
‘I should have taken you home with me last night.’
‘For what purpose? I’ve been perfectly alright here and could have achieved no more by watching you sleep.’
‘I guess so. It just feels wrong somehow.’
Deira knew it was crazy, but she was beginning to feel an empathy for the AI. She knew it wasn’t bonding and could only guess at what the young agents must feel for their own AIs, let alone the relationship that Sol must have had with Chard. It brought back thoughts of getting a PWC for herself, and she made up her mind she’d give it one last go when this was all over.
‘If it helps, I went into standby mode while you were absent and performed a number of diagnostics and updates. I haven’t been lonely.’
Deira felt stupid. ‘I never thought you would have been. Okay, shall we move on to the next phase?’
‘Whenever you’re ready.’
‘I’m ready now. It’s just… I don’t think what we’re doing is going to work.
‘I don’t see why.’ Jiao sounded a little put-out. ‘If you search for a signature in sub-quantal space that’s congruous with the one you have sitting in your alpha-normal, that will pin-point Tao.’
‘Simple as that, eh? First of all, I’ve no idea how to search for a signature in sub-quantal space, using our so-called scan.’
‘But … ‘
‘No, wait. There’s more. Even if I could use the construct to mentalically find Tao, we’d still have nothing to fire an energy bolt at.
‘But if we know Tao’s position …’
‘We still won’t have a target. How do you aim a physical energy bolt at something in sub-quantal space? When we first freed Tao, she’d provided us with a good target – her virtual body that had accessed normal space. This time we’ll have nothing.’
‘I understand.’ Jiao sounded upset that she hadn’t thought of this. ‘In that case, perhaps what we need is a beacon rather than a scan.’
‘Now I’m confused. Would you like to explain?’
Jiao was back to sounding pleased with herself.
‘It’s evident from your own argument that we need to recreate the conditions that pertained on the last occasion when Tao was in sub-quantal space. Specifically, we need to encourage Tao to make herself known to us so that we have a target for the stimulator.
‘Okay, I get that. But last time she homed in on Juliette’s DNA signature. Why wouldn’t she do the same again?’
‘I suspect she’s probably lost. If she’s sunk too far down into sub-quantal space, the signal from normal space would probably be too weak for her to detect. I think she’d stand a better chance if we placed your DNA construct in sub-quantal space, preferably near the hole in her infra-low. That may just be sufficient for her to home in on. Like a beacon.’
Deira’s brain was beginning to swim with all of this but she could clearly see some problems with what Jiao was suggesting.
‘That’s all very well,’ she said, ‘but I can’t get into Tao’s infra-low. We’d have to get Adam to do it – and he doesn’t have any mentalics. He only knows what he does from observation.’
‘Might I suggest we ask him?’ Jiao said.
Chapter 13
There wasn’t much that could get Tao emotional, but she knew that if she’d had proper eyes she’d have been openly weeping. She couldn’t believe that Josh was still alive.
‘I thought I’d lost you,’ she whispered, ‘I came down here to try to rescue you, but when the nuke went off I thought I’d failed. You just vanished.’
Josh wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, but his photonic body simply wouldn’t allow it.
‘It wasn’t until the last few milliseconds that I knew what I had to do,’ he explained. ‘Time had slowed right down – it was hardly moving – so I grabbed Swift’s electronic signature, piggy-backed it onto my own, and literally threw myself through the hole in the infra-low. I only just made it. As soon as I got through, the blast went off, and some sort of echo of it must have come through into sub-quantal space because I was blown away into the depths.’
‘Like what happened to me.’ Tao was so excited she didn’t know what to do with herself. This photonic body stuff was just so frustrating. ‘And Swift’s here too?’
‘Indeed I am, Tao.’ Swift’s voice sounded in her head. ‘Not only that, but my current state apparently allows me to communicate with you directly. It’s most gratifying.’
‘I’m still having trouble taking this in. Oh, Josh …’ She tried once again to throw her arms round his neck, and again sent showers of photons flying off into the sub-quantal ground substance like a storm of confetti. ‘Damn this place! I just want to hold you. Well, that’s not exactly what I want – but it would do for starters.’
‘I know. I feel the same.’ He looked at her in wonder, having finally registered what she’d said. ‘You deliberately put yourself into sub-quantal space? To save me?’ He shook his head in amazement. ‘And that after you’d already been stuck down here once. I don’t know what to say.’
‘Tell me you love me.’
It came out before Tao knew she was going to say it. She’d once told Josh, when they were on the Cthon planet, that she didn’t know what love was. Over the past few weeks she’d learned that wasn’t true. Thinking she’d lost him had been the worst experience of her life. She’d known he loved her – he’d almost said as much – and it had been her own reluctance to engage that had prevented him from coming out with it. Now she wanted him to say it more than anything. And she was prepared to help him along a little this time. She gazed into his eyes.
‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘I love you so much, it hurts.’
Josh’s face blossomed anew, a smile spreading from one ear almost all the way to the other one. He knew he loved Tao. Had known for some time. However, after what she’d said on the Cthon planet, and the fact she’d said nothing after their subsequent liaisons, he’d begun to feel he was no more than physical release for her – and he wanted so much more. Now, she’d said the magic words – those few words that changed his world – and he couldn’t do anything about it. Except …
‘Of course I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time. You must know that.’
Tao’s face was more alight than Josh had ever seen it. She was positively gleaming, almost radiating pleasure, something that was all too possible in this place.
‘
We need to get out of here,’ she said urgently. ‘I need a proper body.’
‘I agree. Any ideas? You’re the one with the prior experience.’
‘It was quite easy last time. I was never far from the surface and I was able to find Juliette’s DNA signature without too much trouble. This time …’
Her voice tailed off and Josh knew what was going through her mind.
‘This time we’ve been blown and buffeted somewhere deep inside. We’re lost, aren’t we?’
Tao nodded. ‘I haven’t been able to pick up any signatures that might relate to normal space. I thought if I followed the photon drift I might get nearer the surface. That was when Nerima found me.
‘Nerima?’
Tao pointed at the woman who was standing a few metres away, talking with the hawk-nosed man. Josh looked sceptical.
‘She was probably the one who pulled you down here the first time.’
‘She says she wasn’t. I don’t care anyway – she helped me find you. Who’s the guy, by the way?’
Josh looked suddenly grave. ‘His name’s Barth, and if you think we’ve got problems, you ain’t heard nothing yet.’
‘These are the sub-quantal entities Chayka discovered, aren’t they?’
‘Seems so.’
‘Then, why have they made their photonic bodies look human?’
‘Barth said we’d find their real bodies disturbing. Might interfere with effective communication.’
‘Like the Eich, you mean?’
‘Don’t know exactly, but that’s how I read it.’
Barth and Nerima came to the end of what had looked like a heated discussion and wondered over. Nerima was beaming.
‘We’re glad your re-acquaintance was pleasurable,’ she said. ‘It reminded us once again of the intense emotions associated with corporality.’
‘Yeah, that’s true. Thanks for bringing us together.’ Josh wasn’t sure what else to say. He was feeling a little embarrassed.
‘You ‘re very welcome.’
‘We’re delighted to see you both,’ Barth said. ‘Josh, I already know. We’ve just completed a detailed mentalic download. You must be Tao?
Tao nodded, but didn’t pull any punches. ‘Are you the ones who pulled me down here the first time I was here?’
‘Barth looked uncomfortable. ‘We’ve only just discovered you’ve been here before. I must apologise. On that occasion, one of my colleagues spotted you while you were engaged in a spatial transit. What I think you refer to as a fold. He acted precipitously and without reference to me. Later, he even briefly managed to enter your infra-low before being thrown back out. It won’t happen again.’
‘You mean we can access sub-quantal space via a fold?’ Tao said, wondering if this might provide them with a route of escape.
‘Not usually. This fold was temporo-spatial in nature and held open by four separate individuals. The apposition of layers of normal space and sub-quantal space, one on another, together with the negative gravity in the throat of the portal, enabled him to pull you out of normal space. It was a highly unusual occurrence, and I do not condone his actions.’
‘Okay. I guess we’ve all got mavericks. Apology accepted. What about that tentacle in the infra-low, though?’
Barth looked relieved that Tao had decided to move on and was obviously on firmer ground now.
‘I admit the tentacle is mine,’ he said, smiling uncertainly. ‘It’s an automated mentalic construct. It’s situated wherever the way is open, its purpose being to find advanced mentalic entities that might be able to help us.’
An alarm went off in Tao’s head.
‘The way?’ she said. ‘You mentioned the way, and it being open. We recently heard about this from an alien race that’s been trying to destroy our planet. They said that we were the gateway, and it had to remain closed. They also said that the gateway led to where the souls of the damned reside.’ She cocked her head, looking from Barth to Nerima and back. ‘That wouldn’t be you, by any chance?’
Barth visibly flinched and looked down as if he were embarrassed. Nerima took over.
‘That could be one interpretation of the events that led us here,’ she said. ‘Barth had a very difficult decision to make and I can understand why some races might feel we’re damned.’
Tao looked questioningly at Josh. ‘You know this story?’
‘Yes. It was all included as part of Barth’s download. I’ll tell you when we have a few minutes to ourselves. It’s grim, but I understand why Barth acted as he did. So, Nerima, what is “the way” that we keep hearing about?’
‘It’s simply the way in and out of sub-quantal space. Getting in is easy for a mentalic being if they can access their infra-low. However, as you’ve discovered, getting out again is far more difficult because of the very steep energy gradient.’ She looked at Barth again as if she was asking permission for what she was about to say. He nodded, and she continued. ‘We have been trapped in sub-quantal space for a long time, and it has become vital that we free ourselves. The only way we can escape is to attach ourselves to someone like you and travel with you through the hole in your infra-low. Theoretically, once out of your infra-low, we’ll be free to emerge into normal space.’
‘You say you’ve been down here a long time,’ Tao said. ‘How long exactly?’
‘Don’t ask,’ Josh said.
Tao raised her eyebrows in surprise and whispered, ‘How long?’
‘Since the beginning.’ Josh was looking uncomfortable.
‘The beginning? The beginning of what?’
‘The beginning of the universe. These guys created it.’
Tao was appalled. ‘They’re some sort of gods? Sorry, I don’t do gods.’
Josh turned to Barth. ‘I think it might be better if Tao had all the relevant information. Would you mind downloading your story again?’
‘My pleasure.’ Barth appeared to have recovered from his small setback and smiled. ‘I never tire of talking about myself.’
Since the story was told mentalically, its telling took very little time, and Tao was soon in the same state of confusion that Josh had been when she’d found him.
‘Yeah. It gets you like that.’ Josh grinned and waited for her to recover from the shock. ‘You understand all the stuff about the cosmic constants?’
‘I think so.’ Tao also understood the Cthon comment about the souls of the damned. ‘The continuing presence of these entities in sub-quantal space is causing an instability in those constants. If they remain, the constants will degenerate, and if that happens, the universe we know will cease to exist.’
‘Exactly the opposite of what the Cthon believe.’ Josh put in. ‘They believe these entities must remain here if the constants are to be preserved.’
‘A classic case of misinterpretation,’ Barth said.
Tao looked from Barth to Nerima, trying to interpret their faces. It was impossible, of course. Not only were they an alien race who didn’t conform to human norms, but their bodies were wholly artificial, mimicking another species, and composed of photons. She couldn’t see any hints of subterfuge but, then again, she wouldn’t, would she?
‘You say you want our help? she said.
Barth nodded. ‘For the sake of the universe.’
‘Yeah, well, about that. How do we know your interpretation’s correct? The Cthon might have got it right.’
‘You’ve just received the download, so how can you doubt us?’ Barth said. ‘First, you must know that it’s impossible to lie during direct mentalic communication. Then, there’s the question of our motivation. We’ve sacrificed much to escape a dying universe and spent more than thirteen billion years stuck in this one. Why would we try to escape if that would lead to the destruction of the very universe we created?’
‘Good point.’ While Tao couldn’t fault his logic, she was struggling to understand the mentality of someone who would sacrifice billions of his fellows so that sixteen thousand could live. It felt like
a very AI sort of thing to do. He obviously guessed what she was thinking.
‘I’m not proud of what I did,’ he said. ‘I think it was the only logical action, because it allowed at least some of us to survive. Nerima understands. She has always been close.’
‘We’ve always been partners,’ Nerima said. ‘We’d almost forgotten our first period of corporality when we entered our final phase.’ She both looked and sounded a little awkward. ‘It was a very … intense … time for us.’
Josh laughed. ‘I know exactly what you mean.’ He whispered aside to Tao. ‘I’d say this wins the prize for the longest love affair on record. They’re still together after thirteen and a half billion years – longer if you include their time in the other universe.’
Tao smiled, but Josh could tell she still wasn’t completely won over. There was that very slight frown that accompanied the smile – a look he knew so well. She turned to Barth.
‘Do you think Josh and I might have some time to ourselves? We’ve been apart for eight weeks – the longest eight weeks of my life, because I didn’t think I was going to see him again. It’d be good just to sit and talk. Since you two have a special relationship as well, I’m sure you’ll understand what I’m saying.’
‘Of course. Nothing could be more natural. We’ll leave the log cabin construct for you to use. Let us know when you’re ready, and we’ll talk about how we might be of help to you – and how you might be of help to us.’
Their two photon bodies dissolved into a multitude of rainbow-coloured pixels that gradually faded into their component photons.
‘Have they really gone?’ Tao whispered. ‘Do you think we can talk without them listening in?’
Josh shook his head. ‘I don’t know. It seems like they’ve gone, but who knows what they’re capable of? I think we’ll have to take their word for it. Come on – let’s get back to the cabin. I don’t know about you but I’m enjoying this semblance of normality. A little bit more make-believe is just what the doctor ordered.’
Together, they wondered slowly back to the cabin in the clearing. The rendering of the scene was so perfect that they even tried to hold hands at one point, becoming frustrated when it was so obviously impossible. They went inside and sat in the chairs by the log burner, rocking silently for a few minutes while they relaxed. Josh looked as if he wanted to fall asleep, though that wasn’t possible without a functioning body. Tao felt her mind begin to wander as she settled into the softness of the chair. She sat silently, enjoying the feeling of being comfortable and having Josh right next to her. It was wonderful – and yet there was something wrong with it.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 10