by Neely Dobbs
CHAPTER 14: Cronul
The construct hovered in a region of space so devoid of stars that only faint, fuzzy smears of light could be seen, far distant from it. Had any spacefarer stumbled into the region unannounced, any accurate observations reported to any known scientific community would have confirmed— in the scientists’ minds— one of two facts: either the advanced derangement of the spacefarer, or the virtual refutation of their most cherished hypotheses concerning time, dimension, space, and their entire cosmology!
However, there was very, very little likelihood that such accurate observation would occur. In fact, the chance for such a discovery was on the close order of one in ten billion.
There were excellent reasons for that magnitude of improbability. The construct simply could not be approached without permission. Further, should anyone manage to approach uninvited, the construct would simply not be there to be seen by any prying eyes— not even the multi-spectrum sensor-eyes of the most advanced machine-intelligence.
Even invited guests who were allowed to approach and view their destination would be shocked to discover that it was not exactly a planet, but what appeared to be a fragment of a planet, with a partially curved surface. Yet, impossibly, an atmosphere could be seen above that surface. A hazy border surrounding the construct might alternately occlude or reveal the distant, fuzzy points of light as the invited visitor moved closer. If their ship was privileged enough to merit an extended stay in near space, they might discover that the object did not remain static; rather, its fragmentary section of a planet constantly changed rotation inside that hazy frame.
Specially honored guests who were allowed to actually land would find a small, rather idyllic town. Viewing the area immediately around the town, they would see surrounding fields of growing crops. However, unless they were invited to go closer, they would never recognize the towering stone wall, since its great distance from the town would make it appear to be only natural cliffs shrouded in mist. Nor could they identify that high, distant wall as a huge enclosure.
Unaided, uninvited, they could find the town and fields. Nothing more.
But there was, in fact, more.
Much more!