‘We remain the best of friends,’ Barth said, nodding towards Nerima. ‘It’s only on this one topic we disagree.’
‘I can certainly understand your position,’ Josh said. ‘Who wouldn’t want to live forever?’
‘Some say that life can become wearisome, but I believe that only applies to life without purpose. My purpose is to understand as much of creation as I can, both my creation and that of others. I also think I understand my colleagues better than they understand themselves. They are already anxious to escape sub-quantal space, to avoid the death that will come should the constants revert to their original state. I’m convinced they’ll feel the same if they escape sub-quantal space and live to the end of this universe. Yet none are willing to prepare. None but me – and I’m vilified for my trouble.’
Josh didn’t know what to say. He’d been expecting to obtain knowledge and skills from these beings. He’d assumed, they’d be both wiser and more emotionally stable than humanity. Now he had to come to terms with an unpalatable fact – that simple longevity didn’t automatically confer either of those characteristics. Yes, he would benefit intellectually from them, but they appeared to carry the same emotional baggage as any other sentient species.
‘I’m sorry you’re having such trouble,’ he said finally. ‘However, you do have a bit of time to address the end of the universe if we can just get past the immediate threat to it.’
Barth was about to respond when there was a sudden flurry of photonic activity and Tao re-appeared. Josh sighed with relief at this unexpected diversion and threw his arms around her. They kissed passionately, then Tao noticed Barth and Nerima watching them and pulled away.
‘Don’t mind them,’ Josh mumbled, trying to pull her to him again. ‘They’ve got each other if they want to indulge in any hanky-panky.’
‘Okay for you to say,’ Tao whispered. ‘I don’t like the way they watch us.’
‘Oh well,’ Josh sighed, ‘back to work then, I suppose. You haven’t been very long.’
‘No, I guess not. I tried visiting the Eich but didn’t get much joy.’
She went on to explain about her visit and how the new Speaker didn’t seem to know, or be interested in, the entities in sub-quantal space.
‘They intend to keep their folded-space barrier up, too,’ she said.
That was news to Josh. ‘They have a folded-space barrier? Why?’
‘They wouldn’t say. I’m worried, Josh. The new Speaker doesn’t come over anything like the old one and I get the feeling things just aren’t right down there.’
‘Some sort of factional in-fighting, you think?’
‘Could be. Whatever it is, it doesn’t bode well for us. They don’t seem interested in anything outside their settlement.’
‘Then we’ll just have to make progress on our own. We’ve come a long way, you and me. We don’t necessarily need the Eich anymore. Why are you back here, anyway?’
‘Professor Chayka’s monitoring me. Your mother’s hoping he can come up with a physical means of opening The Way for our friends here.’ She called over to Barth and Nerima, who were talking quietly a little way off. ‘We’re assuming you guys won’t need physical bodies to move into if we can get you into normal space. Is that correct?’
The two aliens walked over. ‘That’s true,’ Barth said. Our only problem is finding a route out of this place. You do it through your DNA-controlled hole in the infra-low.’ He looked doubtfully at Josh. ‘I’m not sure about you, though, Josh. Even if some way could be found to allow our energy-bodies out of here, I don’t think you’d be able to use that route. You require access to a body. I suppose you could travel with Tao for a while, but that wouldn’t be a permanent solution.’
‘Unfortunately, I’ve already got a travelling companion,’ Tao said, causing Josh to stare in surprise. ‘He was a partner to Josh’s mother and was trapped here many years ago. No, the answer for Josh is a new body, and we’re already working on one. It might just take a little time.’
‘How much time,’ Josh said.
‘Six months is the time-frame Chayka’s given us. Not long in the big scheme of things.’
‘It sounds like a hell of a long time to me.’ Josh frowned at the thought of so long in Barth’s company. ‘I think I’ll see what I can do at this end to speed things up a little.’
‘Anything you can find I’ll gladly take’ Tao turned to Barth. ‘And the same applies to you, Barth. I intend to make regular visits here to see Josh, so if you come up with anything, let me know and I’ll take it back to Chayka.’
‘Sounds good.’ Josh was grinning for the first time. ‘Barth, perhaps you and I can work together? I know you know a hell of a lot more than me – and I hope to pick up some of that knowledge – but I’ve also got Swift. He might give us the different viewpoint we need.’
‘I agree.’ Barth smiled. ‘It’ll be pleasant to have another mind working with me on this problem. After so many years, I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to have a colleague who thinks like me.’
Josh wasn’t exactly sure of the truth of that, but he wasn’t about to say so.
‘Good stuff,’ he said, relatively noncommittally. He turned back to Tao. ‘So, you’re being monitored? Does that mean you’ve no time for any …?’
‘Definitely not! Sorry. I’ll be back again soon, I promise. And no monitoring next time.’
‘It’s alright.’ Josh didn’t feel as if it was alright, and knew that would show on his face, but they had a major mission in play and couldn’t afford to let their feelings interfere with what had to be done. ‘The sooner you get back to Chayka, the sooner he can process his findings, and the greater the chance we’ll get these guys out of here soon. Just make sure my new body’s as good as the last one – I kind of liked it.’
Tao kissed him again. ‘You know – I did too.’ That made them both laugh. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it happens to plan. And that’s another reason for not rushing it – we don’t want any mishaps.’
‘Certainly don’t. Okay, Tao, see you soon. Take care.’
‘Bye Josh.’
Tao did whatever it was she did to lift herself out of sub-quantal space and popped into her infra-low. The same process then seemed to carry her straight up to delta-normal and back to full emergence. It was staggering, really. The Eich had said she would always need help to get out of the infra-low – had intimated that even they did – and yet here she was regularly journeying through it on her way to and from sub-quantal space. She suspected Josh had been right – they probably didn’t need the Eich anymore. In fact, she had a strong feeling she and Josh had already outgrown them.
She emerged into normality again, back on the gurney under the scanner, with all the monitoring attached. Deira looked surprised when she opened her eyes.
‘Couldn’t you do it?’ she asked.’
‘Huh? I’ve already been.’ Tao looked around. Gary and Chayka seemed to be in the same position as when she’d left.
‘You’ve been to sub-quantal space? And back?’
‘Yep, and I had a conversation with Josh too. How long did I appear to be gone?’
Deira shook her head and looked mystified. ‘I’d have said nothing happened. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, as if you were trying to do something, and then opened them again.’
‘I told you once before that time’s a bit tricky in sub-quantal space,’ Tao said, smiling. ‘I’m sure Gary and Chayka will find something on their recordings, though.’ She sat up and began to remove all the monitoring gear.
‘Hey, hey!’ Gary came running over. ‘What’s up? Don’t you want to do it after all?’
Deira put a restraining hand on his shoulder. ‘All done, Gary. Check your recordings.’
Gary’s eyes widened. ‘You’ve already done it?’ Tao nodded. ‘That’s incredible.’ He hurried back to Chayka and explained to the Professor what had happened. Chayka appeared completely unperturbed. He waved to Deira and Tao in ack
nowledgment and was soon sitting with Gary, immersed in the new data they’d captured. Deira helped Tao out of the monitoring setup.
‘Well done,’ she said. ‘How do you feel?’
Up until then, Tao hadn’t really thought about how she felt, but now the question had been asked, she realised she was ravenously hungry and extremely tired. It had to be related to the way she’d been exchanging energy during the recent trip. After all, going to the infra-low led to an enforced period of rest afterwards, so a further move to sub-quantal space could only be additive in its effects.
‘’I’m all in.’ she admitted. ‘I think I can stay awake long enough to get something to eat and drink, but then I’ll need several hours sleep at least.’
‘That’s fine,’ Deira said. ‘I’ll …’ She suddenly noticed something behind Tao. It looked exactly like a portal forming – but, how could that be?
Then her reality turned upside down.
‘Deira? What is it?’ Tao turned to see what Deira was looking at.
Deira collapsed.
Chapter 22
It was dark, and Sol was in a deep sleep when the door to his cabin slid quietly open. He was wakened by Chard.
‘Keep quiet,’ Chard said in his head. ‘Someone has just entered the room. I am activating combat mode.’
‘Copy that.’ Sol went from sleep to wakefulness in an instant as Chard stimulated his adrenals. ‘Who is it?’ His newfound ability to communicate with Chard by structured thinking was already coming into its own.
‘I can’t tell. It …’
Sol was suddenly shaken lightly by the shoulder. Whoever was in the room obviously didn’t mean him any harm. He opened his eyes and squinted into the darkness, just about making out the bulk of a large El standing over his bed. He sat up slowly, and when that didn’t elicit any aggressive movements from the alien, he switched the light on. From the insignia on his chest, Sol thought this might be Uri, the First Officer. What could have brought him here at this time of night?
‘Apologies for disturbing your sleep,’ The large alien sat in one of the chairs and indicated Sol should take the one he’d previously adapted. ‘I’m Uri, First Officer of this ship.’
‘I thought it was you,’ Sol took the indicated chair and stared at the El. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’ve come to warn you.’ Sol’s ears pricked up. ‘For your own safety, you need to get off this ship.’
‘Yeah, well, that’s easier said than done.’ Sol draped his leg over the chair arm. ‘There’s nothing I’d like better but until you drop your barrier I’m stuck. What’s the problem, anyway?’
‘There’s going to be a … disturbance.’ Uri looked extremely uncomfortable. ‘It could get violent.’
‘Sol, I think he may be talking about a mutiny,’ Chard said.
‘You think?’ Sol stared grimly at the El. ‘What’s going on? Micha a little unpopular or something?’
‘The crew are very unhappy. Nobody enlists on a mission of this sort expecting an easy time, believe me. Lives will inevitably be lost. However, the payback for those who survive is extremely generous. This time has been different. This time, following a long and hard-fought war, we came out on top only to find our expectations of going home dashed at the last minute.’
‘I didn’t think that was Micha’s fault,’ Sol said. ‘He told me it was a last-ditch effort by the Eich that resulted in your ship crashing.’
‘That’s incorrect. When the Eich were confined to Titan, a mentalic barrier was erected around them by the Cthon. We all thought that would be enough, but Micha took a very much longer view. He foresaw a time when the Cthon power would fade, and the barrier would degenerate. He also thought the mentalic conditioning of the Eich was likely to disappear with time.’
‘Can’t say I disagree with him on that. Nothing’s permanent. Everything fails eventually.’
‘That was his feeling exactly. And Micha has an extremely well-developed sense of duty – along with no close ties on our home planet.’
‘So, what did he do?’ Sol was intrigued now.
‘He deliberately buried the ship in Titan’s mantle. He told the crew the same story he told you, and then he arranged for them all to enter stasis until the ship repaired itself. But that wasn’t what happened. He arranged it all.’
‘But why? Why would he do that?’
‘To ensure that, if the Eich ever ventured off Titan in the future, we would be nearby, ready to take appropriate action. He programmed the ship to blow up Titan if the Eich departed – and to use part of the destroyed moon to target any likely habitat. He had it all planned out – at the expense of his crew’s future. Now, they have nothing left to go back home to, and they are very angry.’
‘Yeah, I can understand that.’ Sol could understand it only too well. He thought back to his own lost future – lost when he underwent the tachyon PHASE into his past. It was different, he knew, but it still hurt. And Micha had been wrong to do what he’d done, stranding his men thousands of years away from their loved ones. ‘He said the ship had mistaken Mars Base for an Eich resettlement,’ he said. ‘That its systems were damaged’
‘That’s probably true, for over many thousands of years the ship’s systems did suffer significant degradation.’
‘But why use the resettlement of the Eich as a trigger to take action?’
‘His assumption was that any movement of the Eich off Titan would be the result of failure of both the mentalic safeguards – the conditioning, and the mentalic barrier. That would mean they would be free to resume their activities to release the entities from sub-quantal space. Micha felt that, for the sake of the universe, we must be on hand to counter them.’
Sol suddenly saw it. ‘He didn’t count on the actions of the Cthon, did he? The asteroid attack. He didn’t consider a scenario where the Eich conditioning remained intact, but they resettled to save themselves from destruction?’
‘No, he didn’t. The Cthon have deviated considerably from their designated role while we’ve been in stasis, and he couldn’t have been expected to see that coming. However, the fact remains that many of the crew want him replaced.’
Sol tried to read Uri’s face but found on this occasion he wasn’t up to it. The First Officer appeared to have taken tight control of his emotions.
‘I guess you’ll be the beneficiary of this mutiny?’
‘If it’s successful, yes. I’ll become the new Captain.’
‘Sounds like you’re not entirely convinced of the outcome.’
Uri stood and began to slowly pace – another human-like characteristic. His mask slipped briefly, and Sol saw that he wasn’t as calm as he appeared. Beneath the rigid exterior was an agony of indecision. Uri wasn’t sure which side to support. Tough for him.
‘There remain a fair number of crew who would still side with the Captain. It could get … messy.’ He sat down again. ‘This is the reason you must get out. I don’t want to feel responsible for you.’
‘Then we’re back to where we started. There’s nothing I want more than to get off your ship. I simply can’t see how I can do that.’
‘How long does it take you to fold space?’
‘Don’t know exactly. A few seconds at most. Why?’
‘When the trouble starts, I will turn off both our folded space barrier and mentalic barrier for a few seconds. I can’t afford to leave them off for long, because your survey ship is still lurking nearby. However, if I can manage, say, five seconds, would that be enough?’
‘Providing I’m ready, I think that would work. Chard can monitor the barriers and let me know as soon as they go down. Given reaction time of a couple of seconds … yeah, I think it should just about be possible.’
‘In that case, stay alert. I cannot say when something will happen. It could be anytime – most probably during Micha’s down-time, when he’s sleeping.’
Uri stood and made for the door. ‘If you can’t make it off the ship, stay in your room and don�
��t interfere.’ His shoulders sagged, and the mask finally dropped completely. ‘I don’t know which side I will be on yet. I owe Micha a lot, and I believe he was acting from the best of intentions. However, if the rebels look like winning, I can’t afford to see someone else take command.’
‘Looks like you’ve got a bit of a problem.’ Sol didn’t feel any sympathy for someone who was clearly going to wait and see which way things went. He liked Micha, but he wasn’t in any position to help him, and didn’t think he should interfere in things that really weren’t his business. The most important thing for him was to get off this ship.
Uri gave a brief nod and left the room as quietly as he’d arrived. It was amazing how such a large being could move almost silently when he wished. Sol went to the food dispenser, or whatever it was called, and collected a very large Bourbon-substitute before flopping in the chair.
‘Well, buddy. looks like there’s trouble in heaven.’
He drained the glass and went back to bed, making sure he was fully dressed and ready to move should anything happen. He fell asleep almost immediately, but it wasn’t long before Chard was speaking urgently in his head.
‘Barrier off, Sol. Fold now.’
‘Shit! Folding.’
The portal formed, and Sol flung himself off the bed and dived through it, ending up spread-eagled on the floor in his own living room. He climbed to his feet and brushed himself down while the portal closed again.
‘Hot damn, Chard, we did it! We’re home.’
‘It would appear so. I hope you appreciated the adrenaline stimulus I administered.’
‘Whatever you did was very welcome.’
He looked around, trying to decide what time of the day it was. For some reason, the old grandfather clock that had always kept impeccable time, had stopped. That was odd – Deira was usually a stickler for winding it. She said that, with everything that was going on in their lives, it was something to keep them grounded.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 17