‘Whatever you do, you’re going to have to do it soon because the room with the stasis chambers is just around the next bend.’
The little group walked round the final bend and Sama opened the door into the stasis room. Tao desperately tried to think of something that would keep her in play. It seemed the El had covered all the bases – not surprising, given they were used to dealing with mentalic entities. That last thought sparked another one. They might be used to mentalic entities, but not to mentalic agents. The difference came back to the PWC.
‘Jiao,’ she telepathed urgently. ‘I’m going to the infra-low. I’m hoping my body will slump and they’ll discontinue the barrier. If they do, send me a brief stimulus to let me know. Okay?’
‘Copy that.’ Jiao didn’t bother to ask what Tao had planned. There was no time left for discussion.
Tao immersed and dived straight down to the infra-low. She could have elected to go to any of the other levels, but she had developed a healthy respect for the El and their technology. If they were used to mentalic entities, they might be expecting something like this. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be aware she could escape from the infra-low. Such would be their experience with the Cthon and Eich, at any rate.
Out in the real world, her body went suddenly limp and fell to the ground like a rag doll. Sama reacted just as she’d expected.
‘Maintain the barrier while I check her,’ he said, bending over and applying a small button-like object to Tao’s forehead. The thing hummed briefly before flashing red, and he smiled. ‘All’s well.’ He switched the device off and stood again. ‘I thought she might try something like this. I expected her to go down to delta-normal, but she’s overshot and is stuck in the infra-low. Discontinue the barrier and place her in the stasis chamber.’
After that, things happened remarkably quickly. The El escort turned off the folded-space guns and prepared to lift Tao into one of the chambers. Jiao sent a stimulus to Tao, and she shot up the levels and emerged in combat mode, evading the clutches of the three El and leaping to her feet. Three swipes of the laser were all it took to deal with the folded-space guns.
‘Stop her!’
Sama tried to grab her, but he was trying so hard to avoid her flashing laser that he missed completely. The other three El were so shocked that they hesitated for an instant – and that instant was all Tao needed. She dashed through the door to the stasis room, closed it after her, and destroyed the opening mechanism with a sweep of the laser. Then she sprinted off down the corridor, following the projection of the map Jiao had put on her visor.
She’d only got around the first bend when another alarm went off. This time, it was a harsh claxon-like sound, accompanied by a bright red flashing light, a combination clearly designed to upset alien physiology. Luckily, however, Jiao was on it in an instant, activating audio-safe mode on Tao’s helmet and the polarising filters on her visor.
‘Thanks,’ Tao telepathed. ‘That should have happened automatically.’
‘The helmet didn’t detect the threat,’ Jiao said. ‘Individually, the stimuli weren’t dangerous, it was the combination that was the problem. Right hand corridor at the next intersection.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
She came to the intersection and was about to head down the right-hand corridor when an El leaped out from the left and blocked her way, raising some sort of weapon. She didn’t hesitate. She launched herself into a head-over-heels dive, rolling with her forward motion and coming up onto her feet again almost level with the El. The alien had got off one shot from its weapon but had failed to compensate for her dive and had missed her completely. He didn’t get a second chance. Tao activated the laser and chopped his weapon in half, hardly pausing before she was on her way again.
The El stared bleakly at his destroyed weapon, then started after her, pulling something else from a pouch on his belt
‘Damn,’ Tao thought at Jiao. ‘Should have crippled him at least.’
‘You weren’t to know he’d have another weapon,’ Jiao shot back. ‘You should still have time before he catches you. Next right!’
‘I know. I can see.’
Tao swerved right past the next intersection and saw her destination at the end of the corridor. She could also hear the El gaining rapidly on her and wasn’t at all sure she agreed with Jiao’s estimate of the distances involved. She allowed herself a brief glance behind and saw the large alien level it’s new weapon. She wasn’t going to make it.
‘Shit,’ she said, and stopped dead, dropping to her haunches and curling into a ball.
The action was so unexpected that the El was caught completely by surprise. Before he could stop, his forward momentum carried him up to the crouching girl – and over. He tried desperately, but unsuccessfully, to maintain his balance, and the next minute he was lying flat out in the corridor. Tao considered her options. The El was splayed out in the corridor directly in her path, but he was uninjured and already climbing to his feet. If she allowed him to regain the initiative, she might never get out of this predicament.
‘Just do it,’ Jiao said in her head. ‘No time for scruples.’
Tao stepped forward and the laser flashed. The El collapsed once more, and this time he stayed down, his head lying alongside his body with a look of silent reproach on its face, and its eyes gazing sightlessly at the ceiling.
‘I didn’t want to do that,’ Tao said.
‘No choice,’ Jiao replied. ‘Now get moving. There are more coming.’
Tao sped off again and reached the door to the room that held the mentalic blocker just as she heard the noise of fast-approaching El down the corridor. She raced inside and did the same to the locking mechanism she’d done to the stasis room lock.
‘’Where is it?’ she said, urgently.
‘Over to the left, near the floor.’ Jiao overlaid a plan of the room on Tao’s visor and guided her to the correct piece of apparatus. ‘Yes, that’s it.’
Tao wasted no time. The laser swished again and the cover of the mentalic generator flew off. Then she scrambled the interior workings and stood back.
‘Have I done it?’ she said.
‘I think so. Try folding.’
At that moment, there was a huge explosion and the door to the room blew inwards, missing her by only the smallest of margins. Three El piled in, all with weapons drawn. They headed straight for her. She didn’t wait for them but hurled herself in their direction, rolling again to get under the firing arcs of their weapons. Then she was fighting for her freedom. The laser flashed and stabbed, and the El did their best to avoid it. It seemed they didn’t like close-quarter combat, whereas Tao relished it.
‘For God’s sake, just fold,’ Jiao said. ‘You can’t win this. More are on the way.’
Maintaining her assault on the existing El and keeping them off-balance and unable to fire their hand weapons, Tao went for a fold, expecting to be unsuccessful. To her great relief, a portal formed, but it was to her right and directly behind a large El. She sighed, and the laser took another head from another set of broad shoulders. She leaped over the body, jumped through the portal, and closed it behind her.
She stood, breathing heavily in the sudden silence, her pupils dilated with the adrenaline-fuelled high of combat. She had automatically assumed battle stance with her laser still active and it was several seconds before she realised where she was. She was in Sol and Deira’s sitting room. She was safe. It took another few seconds to realise she was also the centre of attention. Sol, Deira, Juliette and Gary were staring at her in amazement.
‘Tao?’ It was Deira who spoke first. She got to her feet and slowly approached her, stopping a safe distance from the laser that Tao was still holding protectively in front of her. ‘Tao, whatever it was is gone now. You’re safe.’
‘Deira?’ Tao was wide-eyed and staring. ‘It worked?’ She glanced down at the laser, deactivated it, and holstered Jiao. Then she almost collapsed. Deira ran forward and caught her, then helped h
er to one of the armchairs.
‘Rest there,’ she said. ‘I’ll get you something to drink.’
Tao relaxed back into the comfort of the chair, the feeling of relief almost tangible. The others gathered round her, obviously concerned.
‘Move away, all of you.’ Deira said, returning with a scotch and a mug of hot chocolate that the automat had produced. ‘Can’t you see she’s in shock? Give the girl space.’
Tao took the scotch and knocked it back in one, then held the chocolate in both hands, savouring the warmth of the mug as a non-verbal confirmation that everything was, indeed, well. She looked blearily up at Deira, and then round at the others.
‘Sorry,’ she said.
‘I always thought I could make a good entrance, but I’ve got nothing on you,’ Sol said, looking a little bemused. ‘What’s going on, Tao?’
‘No need to go into that now,’ Deira said. ‘Tao, it looks to me as if you need a good rest. Come on upstairs and we’ll get you to bed. You can tell us all about it tomorrow.’
‘No, I need to tell you now,’ Tao took a sip of the chocolate and found she was beginning to feel better. She hadn’t been in the infra-low very long, so she shouldn’t be too tired. She was presumably experiencing a physiological shock following the combination of a trip to the infra-low, a rapid emergence with sudden physical activity, and a time-space-fold, all within a few minutes of each other. It would almost certainly settle soon, and if it didn’t, she’d make a short trip to theta-normal and do a little tweaking. It was imperative that everyone knew what they were up against as soon as possible.
Deira looked at Sol and nodded, so they all pulled chairs up and sat around Tao while she gathered her thoughts.
‘It’s like this,’ she started, and told the story of the El mutiny and the weapon that was designed to sterilise sub-quantal space, finishing up with her escape from imminent stasis. Sol, Deira and Juliette exchanged worried looks as the story unfolded, while Gary simply looked awe-struck.
‘So, we’ve got five days to get Josh and those entities out of sub-quantal space.’ Sol was looking grim. ‘I don’t think that’s possible.’
‘I’m damned sure it isn’t,’ Deira said, standing and starting to pace. ‘The problem is, we still don’t know if getting them out is the right way to go. You say you got hold of their data, Tao?’
‘Yeah, it’s all safely stored in Jiao.’
‘Then, perhaps you’d better let Gary take a look at it.’
Gary looked up, eyes wide and a look of terror on his face. ‘You’re asking me to decide how to save the universe?’
‘No.’ Deira put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. ‘We wouldn’t do that top you. Just take a look at the data and see if anything jumps out at you. We still need to get the Eich data to compare it with, and I promise it’ll be Chayka who makes the decision, not you.’
‘Oh, well in that case…’ Gary waited while Jiao downloaded the data into his wrist console then displayed it on his virtual screen. It was highly complex and dense maths and he looked up at Deira apologetically. ‘This could take some time,’ he said.
‘That’s okay,’ Deira said. ‘We’ve got other things to do.’ She turned back to Tao. ‘Whatever the outcome over the data, we need more time. That means we need to stop that weapon.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Tao said. ‘I don’t know where it’s located on the ship, and it’ll almost certainly have a guard.’ Her insides suddenly seemed to do little loop, and it was all she could do to stop herself puking. ‘Sorry, I need to use your bathroom.’ She rushed out of the room.
‘She’s been through a lot,’ Deira said. ‘I’m sure she’ll be alright.’
Sure enough, a few minutes later Tao came back in. Though she seemed much better, there was clearly something wrong. She flopped listlessly into the armchair.
‘Okay now,’ she mumbled unconvincingly.
‘Tao, what is it?’ Deira sat on the arm of the chair and put her arm round her protectively. ‘Is there something you haven’t told us?’
‘Tao looked up at her. ‘I didn’t think there was, but … yeah, there is something.’ Deira waited patiently. ‘I’ve just been down to theta-normal to re-align my physiology after the last few minutes’ exertions. I found I couldn’t completely do it.’
‘Why? Is there something wrong?’
‘Depends how you look at it, I suppose.’ Tao took Deira’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Deira … I’m pregnant.’
‘What?’
‘Whoa!’ Sol sat on the other chair arm. ‘Pregnant? You mean …?’
Tao smiled. ‘I mean you’re going to be a grandfather, Sol.’
‘How about that?’ Sol grinned from ear to ear and hugged her. ‘Good on you, girl.’
‘That’s fantastic,’ Deira said, hugging her from the other side so she ended up sandwiched between the two of them.
‘Yes!’ came from Juliette.
‘Wow!’ from Gary.
For a few minutes there was pandemonium, a welcome distraction from all the problems they were facing. It was Tao, herself, who brought the celebrations to an abrupt halt.
‘The thing is – there’s a problem,’ she said.
‘Not with the baby, surely?’ Deira’s stomach gave a sudden lurch.
‘No, it’s not that. Baby’s fine.’
Deira relaxed again. ‘Then what?’
You remember the time the Founder tried to escape through me? The problems that caused me because you can’t have three individuals in the same brain?’
‘Yes, but …’ Deira began, then suddenly saw where Tao was going. ‘Of course. Adam.’
‘Yes, Adam. I’d almost forgotten about him because he’s been so quiet lately. But now, with the baby …’
‘You’ve got three individuals,’ Deira said. ‘And if your baby’s anything like Josh was, he’ll be conscious very quickly.’
‘I think there are already early signs of that – and that, together with everything else, is causing me problems. Deira, I can’t afford any more problems. I’ve too much to get done.’
Deira felt almost physically sick at the thought of what would have to happen to Adam very soon. They were still months away from cloning him a new body, and it was clear that Tao couldn’t carry him anymore. Nor was there anybody else capable of carrying him. There didn’t seem to be any options.
‘You’ll have to jettison Adam back into sub-quantal space,’ she said. ‘It won’t be so bad for him this time because Josh is there and I’m sure he’ll look after him.’
‘That’s true.’ Tao brightened up a little. ‘Adam has no mentalics and isn’t able to form any photonic body or hard landscape, so it’d be hard for him on his own.’
Deira didn’t even bother to ask what that was all about. There were clearly things going on in sub-quantal space that she had no concept of and was never likely to have.
‘So, am I right then? Josh can make him feel more at home?’
‘Yes, you’re right.’ Tao smiled. ‘Thanks for that. I really wasn’t sure how I was going to handle that issue, but it seems relatively straightforward now.’
‘It might be even better,’ Sol chipped in, looking questioningly at Deira. ‘Think we ought to tell her what we’ve been up to, Dee?’
Tao was no slouch when it came to reading people, and the way Deira and Sol were trying to conceal a smug look of triumph told her plenty.
‘You’ve had some luck designing a body for Josh?’ she said.
‘We’ve made a start,’ Sol said. ‘Between us, we’ve put together a DNA template, and Gary’s been helping me work out which series of sub-quantal functions should be applied to it. We were just about to give it a go when you folded in.’
‘Then you could create a body for Adam too. That’d mean he needn’t be in sub-quantal space for any time at all.’
‘Yes, I think we owe it to him to sort him out first,’ Deira said. ‘We can get his DNA easily from Chayka and drop off your El data at the
same time.’
‘Sounds good,’ Tao said. ‘While you’re doing that, I’ll drop Adam off with Josh. If I make it quick, I shouldn’t need too much sleep afterwards. I’ll probably be able to catch up while the new body’s forming.’ She suddenly frowned. ‘Have you checked out all those sub-quantal functions you copied for potential real-world consequences?’
Sol looked sheepish as he realised he’d completely forgotten that aspect of things. He’d been planning to try piggy-backing Chard and go back to the infra-low, but he’d become side-tracked by his discussions with Gary.
‘No, I haven’t,’ he said. ‘I meant to, but I got distracted. I’ll get straight on it.’
‘Never mind, I’ll do it.’ Tao said. ‘I’m going to sub-quantal space anyway, so I might as well pause in the infra-low and check out those functions. Josh has already passed on all his techniques to me, so I know how to piggy-back an AI. I’ll try to keep it as short as possible.’
‘I suppose it makes sense,’ Sol mumbled. ‘Though I feel guilty about you having to do it when it was my call.’
‘No problem. I’ll almost certainly get it done faster than you anyway.’ She gazed round at them all. ‘Are we all clear what we’re doing, then?’
‘I think so,’ Deira said, ‘Gary, this changes things a little. Since I need to see Chayka to get Adam’s DNA, I may as well take him the data at the same time. You can keep a copy of it if you want. Do you want to return with me to England, or stay here and be part of the body-building experiment?’
‘I’ll stay here if that’s alright. I’d like to be in on this.’
Deira smiled and wandered over to the fireplace to fold to Cambridge. It was weird how they always did this, she thought. She and Sol could have folded from anywhere in the house, but always elected to do so from by the fireplace in the sitting room. Their own personal folding spot.
Sol joined her and, together, they folded to Chayka’s lab, where Chayka eagerly accepted the El data and referred them to the lab storage facility where they could get a sample of Adam’s stored DNA. Having collected that, they folded straight back home, the whole expedition taking perhaps twenty minutes. Tao hadn’t started out on her own job yet – she’d been busy in the bathroom again.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 24