by Neely Dobbs
CHAPTER 17: InterSpace
The ship moved silently inside the star tunnel.
The group had been discussing their impressions of this incomprehensible journey through InterSpace when ADIZ reappeared from the forward compartment. “As I earlier indicated, you are free to sleep now and during the curse of our trip, as you choose. However, in view of the current crisis, I would suggest we immediately begin the pre-conditioning which will allow more rapid removal of your masks once we reach Kepren. If this is acceptable, I can have information about this crisis brought to the view screen. Some of it may be incomprehensible now, but it will all be clear to you once the masks are removed. Admiral, I await your command.”
“View screen off.” The screen darkened and interior lighting levels gradually increased. Their eyes readjusted to the now familiar surroundings. Jason gave his assent to begin the pre- conditioning, and ADIZ resumed speaking.
“Now that we are en route, you are about to be given a great deal of background information, which is valuable in its own right. However, by also re-introducing you to specific fragments of special information and personal experience which once were especially meaningful to you, it will accelerate the process and minimize the risks involved with the later removal of your masks.
“Accordingly, the first step in that process is to inform each of you of your true names.” Raised eyebrows and wide-eyed looks were shared before the robot continued. “You were assigned given names common to Earth that would be very closely approximate the sound of your true names. Admiral Ozier, your given name is actually Jazon. Vice-Admiral Ozier, your true first name is Sabanda. Commodore, your given name is Kyell."
Before they could even comment, ADIZ stepped to the side of the cabin. The front compartment wall became milky, then cleared, apparently creating an opening into a very large room. All three passengers started involuntarily at the seeming expansion of their space. Within that holographic space was what appeared to be a large professional stage with a massive lectern. Next to it stood the life-like image of a man facing them, preparing to speak. It was not Jason as he looked while watching himself, but Jazon, somehow both older and younger at the same time. The chestnut hair had not yet been bleached to a mottled sandy brown by three years of outdoor labor under the Earth’s sun. Trim and obviously fit, the striking black and silver uniform he wore could not hide the lesser muscle mass and definition that years of hard farm work would later develop. Although not tanned and weathered by years of outside exposure, the image wearing Jazon's face was more haggard and lined. The image also seemed somehow shorter than Jason’s 5’11” stature, as if he bore the burden an almost unbearable weight.
Still, despite showing the effects of having pushed himself to his mental and physical limits, the strength radiating from his deep brown eyes enhanced his distinctly imposing aura of power and presence. He began to move briskly toward the lectern when the image froze in mid-step.
ADIZ continued, “The images and scenes you are about to see were prepared almost four Earth years ago, prior to your masking. Each of you participated in the recordings you will now see.”
As the robot ceased speaking, Jazon’s image reanimated, moved behind the lectern. and spoke with the wry hint of a grin. “I never realized how odd it would feel to….” He rubbed his temple. “Well, to be speaking to myself. Still, I hope that my wife, Commodore Trandic and I have survived to hear this…” He paused as a small shudder passed, then continued. “This is difficult, but I must presume all three of us still survive, and I will speak accordingly. If I am wrong…if who I am speaking to numbers less than three…I am deeply sorry.”
Jazon took a another deep breath, raised and squared his shoulders, and proceeded more firmly. “The fact that you are hearing and seeing this recording indicates that you are needed to assist in some crisis. That is, you are needed to assist in a new and unforeseen problem, or to assist in some additional aspect of our original dilemma. I find it almost impossible to believe that I could ever forget the cause of our crisis and the events that have brought us to this point.” He shook his head, mystified. “However, I must trust that the mask will work as designed.
“The first and primary purpose of this session is to pre-condition each of you for the new reality you will face when your masks are removed. At the outset, I must caution you that this is a vastly different reality than your rural existence on Earth.
“Your lack of knowledge of your true past is a direct result of a desperate plan which we devised, in close cooperation with the Alliance Council, to counter a menace as relentless and implacable as it is unfathomable.” Any hint of a smile had faded. “Because you are still ‘in mask,’ time sequences will seem distorted to you. Nevertheless, starting almost eight years ago…eight years before the time I am recording this message…a series of critical events occurred. You are about to see a re-creation of one of those events, which forever altered our lives and forced us onto our current path.”
The speaker’s rostrum and the stage faded, to be replaced by an image now familiar to the trio.
A ship sailed smoothly through the ephemeral green radiance of its corridor between the stars. The darker green bands slowed their rate of pulsing over and ahead of the ship, coming almost to a stop. The ship rapidly decelerated, preparing to leave the artificial cocoon of InterSpace. A distant fore-point irised into an opening. The craft quickly slipped through it and passed back into normal space.
The vessel’s robotic crew immediately initiated standard communication and astrogation routines. It required less than a minute to recognize that this standard supply mission had become anything but routine. All recognition and response transmissions, including requests for docking at their destination planet’s orbital facility, went unanswered. The ship’s guidance computers and proximity detectors received none of the expected system–recognition signals. Astrogation could not determine the craft’s spatial coordinates using the position of the planetary system’s sun, for no hint of that primary star could be found.
After repeated checks for malfunction, astrogation sensors were redirected to nearby stars. Their findings indicated the ship had undeniably arrived at the desired spatial coordinates, but the planetary system—including its sun—had disappeared, leaving only one significant sign it had ever existed.
Although no other detectable rubble or radiation traces could be found, wide–field sensors revealed a single large object in the near vicinity: a rapidly receding, massive, violently truncated portion of an orb 12.6 million miles from their position.
Sensitive scanners revealed that, had the full orb been present, it would have precisely matched the size and mass of the missing system’s uninhabited seventh planet. The neatly sheared, lens–shaped remnant was less than a third of the original mass, perfectly flat on one side, and stripped of atmosphere. Part of a once a living planet, it had been reduced to a frigid rock, barren and devoid of life, tumbling through space.
“That was the aftermath of having a complete solar system— the primary, together with its planets— simply vanish,” Jazon explained as the re-creation faded. “Its disappearance was discovered when one of our interstellar transports entered the area shortly after the system had disappeared. However, it was not the first such tragedy we experienced.”
The image of Jazon on the stage faded, only to be replaced by Sabanda. The three watchers blinked.
Again, the image differed from that to which the audience was accustomed. Although no more beautiful than the homespun Samantha, this was a regal figure attired in full military regalia. The hair was the familiar rich auburn, but shorter, framing the sculpted, elegant face of a commanding woman in her early thirties. The elegantly tailored, gleaming white uniform suggested a form which— while a shade less full-figured than the farmer’s wife— was most pleasing. The sparkling blue eyes were exactly the same, as was the warm and sunny smile so lov
ed by all who knew her.
This image of Sabanda spoke quietly. “While this presentation is being recorded, all three of us are together.” She smiled across time, both her voice and her demeanor gaining authority and somehow assuring her audience that all would be well. “This is how I continue to see us, and how I am able to continue with the account all of you are now hearing.”
“The disturbing images you have just seen was a ship's recording of the scenes it came upon in the aftermath of the third system disappearance from the Kepren Cluster. The first disappearance happened two and a half years before. A second followed the first, less than a year later. Shortly after that second event, a plan to protect the citizens was developed and proposed. It was, admittedly, desperate and was met with strong and determined opposition. So much opposition that implementation was deferred and— at the time— thought to be permanently laid to rest.”
“Then, just over a year after the second system vanished, came this third disappearance—the one whose results you have just observed. However, a deep-space sentinel recorded much of that actual event in real-time, which will now be displayed.”
Sabanda’s image faded and was replaced with a view of space— an unexceptional starry background, with a nearby star and several planets. Then a purple haze developed in one quadrant, undulating, alternately wavering and developing hard borders. As it moved inexorably toward the system’s sun, tantalizing hints of unknown constellations were alternately revealed and obscured within the haze’s borders. As this violet specter relentlessly expanded, it gradually engulfed the system. Its borders became sharply fixed, framing the sun and six of its planets— and nearly the seventh. When the haze faded, the sun and six planets had vanished. Most of the seventh planet had also disappeared, leaving behind only a lens-shaped slice, writhing in its death throes.
The scene was not centered, obviously had not tracked the specific flow of the action. Still, it caught enough of the catastrophe to horrify its watchers.
The image of Sabanda returned. “That is our best recording of any of the System Disappearances, which we usually refer to as ‘SDs.’ It was recorded by an artificial satellite designed to study solar flares.
“With those three vanished systems, a total of over six and a half billion people had been lost. The entire surviving population of the Kepren Cluster Alliance, more than ninety-four billion people, remained at risk. This dramatic recording of the third SD horrified our citizens and galvanized support for the previously rejected plan. Opposition crumbled as even formerly adamant opponents, who had denounced the plan bitterly, conceded the desperate need for action and called for the plan’s immediate enactment.”
Her image slowly faded. Then the tall, rangy figure of Kyell appeared. He appeared somewhat younger than either of the two who had preceded him. Except for his olive skin being a shade or two lighter than Kyle’s familiar deep tan and the ribbon-bedecked blue Commodore’s uniform, this figure was virtually unchanged from the farmer who watched his image speak.
“The plan involved a two part program. First, a race to develop a personal cloaking system that would effectively disguise or block those mental processes we believe may attract the intrusion…or Intruder. ‘Intruder’ is the name we have given to the power behind the system disappearances, although it is unknown if the SDs actually are directed by some malevolent force or intelligence.”
Kyell raked his long fingers through his jet-black hair, and continued cautiously. “You should know that the mask entails... some element of danger. Possible side effects range from minor disorientation to serious instability... with the worst being complete derangement. Any of these effects may be either temporary or permanent."
He took a calming breath and continued. “Accordingly, the risks of the masking process were deemed unacceptable for general use on the Alliance's citizens. Still, it was decided that taking these risks with a small percentage of our population was necessary, in light of one overriding need: trained leaders who could be made available quickly to deal with any sudden crisis. We— you, as well as the others now assembled in this room— have agreed to assume the responsibilities and risks of being masked.”
The audience of three was startled when ADIZ again paused the display. “I have been instructed to interrupt the presentation at this point to clarify the specific cause of the current crisis. The reason for your retrieval is as follows:
“Another event occurred recently—the first disappearance that directly threatens Kepren and the heart of the cluster. A planet has vanished from within the Syzygy system— the solar system of which the planet Kepren is a part—without otherwise disturbing the system’s star or any of its other planets. Fortunately, the inhabited artificial satellite— called the Wasp— that was orbiting the vanished planet was also spared. However, the orphaned satellite’s new trajectory will bring it dangerously close to Kepren. The entire planet could be at risk unless certain action— requiring your presence— is taken quickly.”
ADIZ stepped back and Kyell's presentation resumed.
“Since it was decided that masking was too dangerous for the general population, the second part of the plan was developed. The well-perfected medical technology of hibernation-sleep would be used for the vast majority of the Alliance’s population. They then would be evacuated to newly constructed hibernation-sanctuaries, on planets in systems well outside the Cluster’s borders, until the crisis passed."
The image of Kyell faded and Jazon returned. “The plan’s complete implementation has required roughly seven years. The construction of the hibernation-sanctuaries and the phased relocation of the Alliance’s population to these facilities— with only a few exceptions— is now complete. The Wasp's small crew and those who will undergo the masking process remain awake.”
The scene widened to reveal the entire stage, occupied by a few dozen people seated behind him. Most were in military uniform. Jazon turned and gestured toward the entire group. “We are the honored volunteers who have been chosen to be masked. We will undergo that process very shortly. We will then be transported— in small, separate teams— to the various remote, less technologically advanced planets selected for us to live on until we are needed."
He looked directly at his audience and smiled broadly as he concluded, “Never have I more sincerely meant anything than when I now say to all of us, ‘Good luck’!”
ADIZ reappeared as the scene faded, saying, “This concludes the part of the pre-recorded presentation which has been prepared by each of you and stored for use when needed.” He waited patiently as Jason, Samantha and Kyle huddled together discussing what they had seen. When they seemed to have recovered a measure of equanimity, ADIZ continued. "The guidelines for your pre-programming require that you be given a break at this time in order to allow you to process the information you have received." A door panel opened in a side wall. "You may use the facilities through that doorway to refresh yourselves prior to eating. Food will be brought to you in this cabin. Your meal will be ready in ten minutes. After your meal, an additional ten-hour break period will be taken. You may use that time for discussion, quiet rest or sleep. "
ADIZ turned and left the cabin.
All three stood up. Kyle stretched and twisted, letting out a loud groan. "Ow! I may not be sure what world I'm from, but I know I've never been big on classroom time. Long stretches like that make my brain hurt! Am I ever glad the tin man finally decided it was time to eat!"