Minerva's Soul (The Harry Irons Trilogy)

by Thomas Stone

  Jennings sighed and shifted in his seat. “It’s the kitzloc, Major.”

  Denforth straightened up. “Those mythical creatures Cross keeps talking about…”

  “They aren’t mythical. They’re as real as you and me and this is their territory. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, I’m sure whatever it is, we can handle it. Meanwhile, since we’ve got no comms either on the ground or with our sky eyes, it would be to your advantage to cooperate and take us to Fagen.”

  Jennings eyed the Major but said nothing.

  “Come on,” said Denforth, lowering his voice and taking on a more personable tone, “it would be good for you to help me. This fellow Cross…” Denforth looked to Luther who was watching the conversation with his arms crossed ten meters away. “He says you’ve gotten yourself into a bit of a quandary with your colonists. Am I reading things correctly?”

  Jennings shrugged. “I can handle my people.”

  “Well, Cross says otherwise. Look, I can find Fagen on my own. It would simply make things easier if you were to guide us. If you do, I can guarantee your safety and turn around this little rebellion you’ve got. Turn it back to your advantage. Look around you. I’ve got twenty hardcore troopers with me, armed to the teeth, capable of leveling any settlement you’ve established. Nobody’s going to argue with us.”

  Jennings twisted in the seat again. “Can you take these restraints off? I’m not going anywhere.”

  Denforth looked to Jennings’ guard who stood watching from the front of the vehicle. “Ramey, remove his restraints.”

  The soldier moved around the car, reached behind Jennings, and clipped the plastic tie binding Jennings’ wrists. Jennings rubbed his wrists and stuck his long legs out the door.

  “So,” asked Denforth, “do we have a deal?”

  Jennings climbed out of the car and stretched his six foot four frame. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

  Denforth nodded. “Good. On to business.” He pulled out a folded map and spread it out over the hood of the desert car. He flicked on a small flashlight and leaned over the map as Jennings looked on. “The best I can figure is that our position is here.” Denforth pointed to a point on the map. The map was a topological blowup showing dunes and valleys for thousands of square kilometers.

  “Where do we go from here?”

  Jennings studied the map for a moment before finally pointing a long finger to a spot not far from their current location. “Three hours,” he said, “more or less. Just follow my tracks.”

  “All right.” Denforth began folding the map and barked an order to a nearby soldier. “Move out in two minutes.” The soldier spread the word and engines coughed to life. The desert sands were illuminated by crisscrossed beams of light from the headlamps of the vehicles.

  The Major ordered Jennings into the command car and told Luther to get in the back. Wordlessly, Luther brushed by Jennings and climbed into the rear seat beside another soldier who glared at him. Denforth commandeered the vehicle himself and climbed into the driver’s seat as Jennings took his place in the passenger seat. Denforth pulled the car in line as the second vehicle and, in convoy fashion, drove on into the desert over the tracks Jennings had made a short time before.

  *

  Ellis entered the locker-room first. He fidgeted as it dawned on him that he was alone with three strangers, two of which were infected, and the other an alien that, frankly, made him uneasy to be with in the same room. He was in kitzloc country with no way out but that offered by the same strangers.

  Harry noticed. “You regret your decision now, don’t you?”

  Young Ellis looked at Harry but said nothing.

  Penbrook entered and went directly to a bench where he reclined face up. Fagen followed. “Why did you drug us? Lock us up?”

  Penbrook ran his hands over his face. “Because that’s what they wanted me to do.”

  “Why?”

  “Isn’t that evident? To keep you here.”

  “Are they communicating with you now, telling you what to say?”

  “No, no, it doesn’t work that way.”

  “Why do they want to keep us here?”

  Penbrook shook his head. “I don’t know. But it has something to do with him.” Penbrook nodded toward Harry.

  “How do you know this? How do you get your information?”

  The old man sat up. “Sometimes when I sleep I’ll have a dream and I’ll remember it. Sometimes when I listen to the wind, I get a mental picture; sometimes a memory will move me to do something.”

  “That’s it?” asked Ellis. “That’s the extent of your infection? Bad dreams?”

  “I didn’t say they were bad dreams. Quite the contrary. In those dreams I’m with Anita again and it’s so real I never realize I’m asleep. What is wrong with Mr. Irons is another thing altogether. Oh, they’ve got plans -- big plans -- for Commander Irons. And you can ask me all you want. Concerning this course of history, what we’re doing here, what our roles are, I know about as much as you. Which, it seems to me, is nil. But I know what I know.”

  *

  Dr. Blane had lost his appetite: a rare occurrence. “Will you at least give me some information about our status? You know, I am worried about our mission and the lives of my people.”

  “Our people,” corrected Minerva. “Everything’s under control. If Arai needs us, he’ll call. Harry got through. They’re at the Braithwaite base trying to figure out what to do.”

  “I should have taken that call but I was too preoccupied at the time because others were taking over my ship.”

  “Now see, there you go. I’m not your ship and neither is this,” she spread her arms, offering Bart the walls and bulkheads. “From now on, if you want to plug in, I suggest you be nice to Arai. If you want to plug into something else, like I said, you’ll have to shave that beard and lose some weight.”

  “This changes everything.”

  “Yeh. You said that already.”

  *

  Harry and Tringl stood against a locker, leaning on each other, listening until Penbrook paused in his narrative. Harry leaned forward. “If I may break in, this is all fascinating, but we need to explore the garage further. There’s an electromagnetic anomaly I detected earlier. It might lead to something. Perhaps the trace we’re looking for.”

  Penbrook lifted his head as if a thought had dawned on him. “Yes,” he said, “Yes, that’s the place to begin the search.” He was an odd bird.

  “Can I go with you?” asked Ellis, afraid he might be left alone with the crazy old man.

  “Maybe we’d all better go,” suggested Fagen.

  “The more the merrier,” said Harry. “Just don’t get trigger happy.”

  “Well,” intoned Penbrook, “you don’t really need me. I’ll just lag behind and catch up on my rest.”

  “No,” said Fagen. “You’re coming with us. I want to keep you in sight.”

  Grumbling, Penbrook got up and began donning his gear as did the others. Water, packs, utility belts, assorted tools, and weapons were gathered and hung on their frames.

  Ellis commented it was a lot of trouble to go to in order to walk out to the garage. “Better to keep what you need with you,” suggested Penbrook. “You never know...”

  Fagen announced they were ready and led the way with Penbrook walking second. They passed through the airlock and entered the garage wordlessly.

  The air was still and cold. The men could see their breath and the pavement crunched beneath each step. It smelled like an old garage, with oil and trash permeating the air. Minerva-Too sat parked in an area adjacent to the loading dock. Fagen took a remote from a utility pocket and punched a code. The truck’s exterior lights blazed on, lighting up a sizeable portion of the surrounding space. Harry pointed in the direction of the largest pile of refuse. “Over there,” he said, “can you see that?”

  Fagen looked, but saw nothing except the heap of trash. Harry walked to
ward the pile then over to one side like he was watching something. Looking up, he stopped. Fagen followed his gaze. There were shadows thrown by the mound and it was in those shadows Harry probed. “There,” he said, “did you see that?”

  Fagen shook his head. “Did you see something, Ellis?”

  “Not a thing,” came the boy’s reply.

  “Watch,” said Harry. “It’ll happen again. Look at those shadows.”

  In an instant, the entire area rippled in a wave passing from right to left.

  “Whoa, I saw that,” said Ellis.

  Fagen nodded. “What is it? Looks like a hologram, maybe?”

  “Yes,” said Harry, “it looks like a hologram but it’s not. It’s an echo of an energy signature and maybe more.” Harry stepped closer.

  “Hang on, Harry. Do you know exactly what you’re doing?”

  Harry paused. “No, not really.”

  “Penbrook,” said Fagen, “have you ever seen anything like this before?”

  As they watched, another ripple passed through the space. Emory said nothing, but Fagen pressed him. “Well?”

  “Maybe I’ve seen something like this before.”

  “Well, what is it?”

  The old man shook his head. He didn’t want to say.

  They all faced him. He looked weary. “If I tell you, will you leave me here?”

  “That’s what I suspected,” said Harry.

  “What?” said Penbrook, “I didn’t say anything.”

  “It’s how they travel isn’t it?”

  Penbrook fell silent again.

  Harry faced the space as another ripple passed through an invisible sphere six meters across at its equator. Harry put up a hand as if preparing to step closer. “It’s still active, isn’t it?”

  Penbrook looked on but said nothing.

  Harry turned to face Fagen and Ellis. “It’s still active. We can follow them.”

  “Like stepping off a cliff,” said Penbrook suddenly, “you don’t know where you’ll land.”

  “Exactly,” said Harry.

  “Wait a minute. If that’s so, why would they leave an open portal?”

  “So they can come back,” said Penbrook. “It takes a lot of mental energy to manipulate space. But there’s no guarantee how long it’ll be there. You should know these portals don’t remain indefinitely. It will close. Otherwise, they’d be all over the place.”

  “It’s a trap,” said Ellis.

  “Maybe it’s the way to your father.”

  “All right then,” said Penbrook, “now you know. You don’t need me anymore. You should let me go. I don’t want to walk into that. Yes, I’ve seen them before but I don’t use them because I don’t want to end up kilometers from nowhere. I have an inherent fear of...”

  Harry faced Fagen. “Let him stay but Ellis must remain with him. You and I should do this alone.” Harry shrugged. “Come on, Edward. Your sense of adventure left you? Don’t you want to see how it feels to go through there and find out what’s on the other side?”

  Fagen considered it for a moment only, then told Penbrook he could stay, adding that Ellis should stay as well. He could see Ellis’ discomfort at the thought of remaining with Penbrook, but the young man didn’t argue.

  Harry stepped to Tringl and spoke in the Malaaz tongue. “I’ve got to go after Kathleen.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, stay here.”

  “But I want to come. You need me. Kathleen may need me.”

  “Wait here. I’ll be fine. I’ll find Kathleen.”

  Tringl reluctantly agreed and Harry informed the others that Tringl would remain at the complex.

  Ellis, Tringl, and Penbrook stood back as Harry and Fagen stepped closer to the portal. They paused but a moment and when Fagen nodded to Harry, they stepped forward together and then they were gone. There was a faint puff of smoke in the air and a passing acrid smell, but nothing else.

  Penbrook looked to Ellis and the boy wordlessly returned his gaze. In the cold stillness, they turned and walked back to the imagined safety of the complex.

  Without looking at Ellis, Penbrook said, “You’ve got sense not to go.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe my father was on the other side.”

  “And maybe not.” Penbrook stopped and looked back at Tringl. “Come on, Tringl. I’m glad you’re staying with me. It’s more comfortable inside.”

  Tringl looked at Penbrook as if he understood every word and followed the old man into the complex.

  *

  Blane pushed his bulk from the table. “Harry did all this, didn’t he? How could he do this to me?”

  “It won’t be so bad.”

  “I should have paid more attention to that program he was writing. You should have paid more attention. What does the kitzloc simulator do exactly?”

  “Well, I don’t know a fraction of what it’s capable of but Harry did say that it focuses and amplifies intended thought. It brings good things to life. Like me, for instance.”

  “A wishing machine?”

  “Something like that.”

  Blane heaved a great sigh. “Well, I still don’t believe Arai can handle everything alone. He’ll need help. I don’t care how smart he is now. Let me at least go to him and try to work together. Fagen and Harry’s lives depend on it.”

  Minerva jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “Oh, I knew you’d come around!”

  *

  Dark as pitch. It was the phrase that leapt to mind as Fagen regained his balance. He reached and gripped Harry by the arm. “Is that you?”

  “I hope so.” Harry flicked on a penlight, catching floating dust in its beam as it swept the room. Walls constructed of massive rock slabs surrounded the two, overhead a rock ceiling was held up by thick, granite columns.

  “Where are we?”

  “I have no idea,” said Harry. “Kitzloc didn’t build this place. Wrong style.”

  “You said the kitzloc had no style.”

  “Exactly.”

  Fagen switched on another light and together they cautiously explored the space, some thirty meters long by twenty wide. The two central columns cast fat shadows as Harry panned his light.

  “Anything look like a door? Any way out?”

  Harry shook his head. “Can you feel it?”

  “What?”

  “There’s another portal here.”

  Chapter 11

  Harry and Fagen walked from one end of the chamber to the other, shining their lights on the floor and walls, looking for visual distortions that would indicate another portal, but they found nothing. Fagen looked along the walls, inspecting the monstrous cut stones and the seams between. Dust was thick everywhere. He ran his fingers along the straight cut fissures and pushed here and there, hoping to find a mechanism that might activate a hidden series of levers and counterweights, that in turn would lift, push, or drop a stone out of the way to expose an exit. Harry shined his light on the dusty floor. The beam played over a floor unswept for millennia.

  “We could be anywhere,” muttered Fagen as he felt along the wall. “I hope you’ve got an idea because if you don’t we are S-O-L.”

  Harry said nothing so Fagen shifted his light until it rested upon Harry studying the floor. “Got something?”

  “Maybe,” said Harry pointing. “Tracks. Not our own. Drag marks?”

  Fagen took a look. “Yeh. They came through here. But where do they go?” Fagen and Harry shined their lights along the drag marks.

  “They end in the middle of the room. Nowhere.” Still peering at the tracks, Fagen walked to where the tracks suddenly ended. He shined his light in a circle. Harry did likewise.

  “You see anything?” asked Fagen.

  Harry shook his head, then looked up. “There it is.”

  Fagen craned his neck and pointed his flashlight. Three meters over their heads, the portal shimmered once before reacquiring its invisibility. “How do we get up there?”

  “
The question is, how do you get up there? I can jump.”

  “You can’t jump that high.”

  “Watch.” Harry backed away from the center of the room, checked the height of the vaulted ceiling over him, and bent his knees. He swung his arms and jumped out of Fagen’s light. It was very fast. When Fagen shined his beam directly on Harry again, Harry clung upside-down to the slanted portion of the vault, hanging on like a bat. His fingertips traced the masonry’s cut stone fissures, wedged on a line. Somehow, impossible as it looked, the soles of his boots had found equal footing. “Get the light out of my eyes. This is as hard as it looks.”

  Fagen shifted his light and Harry dropped to the ground, landing like a cat from an eighteen foot drop. “How’d you do that?”

  Harry shrugged. “You can’t jump that high. I can. I’ll go on through and come back for you.”

  “No. We don’t know where we are. The portal may close for good, probably will. Maybe I can stand on your shoulders.”

  “Maybe I could throw you through.”

  “You think you can pick me up and throw me three, maybe four meters, over your head?”

  Harry looked at him. “I’ll give it a shot if you will.”

  Fagen was amenable and Harry hoisted Fagen aloft, holding him by shoulder and hip. With a mighty heave, Harry tossed Fagen upward toward the rippling portal. Fagen reached out but fell centimeters short. His return to the floor would have been traumatic had not Harry broken the fall. All the same, Fagen hit the floor with a resounding thud. A cloud of dust rose.

  Harry helped him up. “You all right?”

  “Yeh, but I don’t want to have to do that more than once. Let’s try a different approach.”

  “Okay.”

  “All right. Just to be sure, you can’t levitate me out of here, can you? Any other newfound talents that might come in handy?”

  Harry smiled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I was just thinking about the powerball game we played back on Earth. Remember?”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  Harry shook his finger. “I had you, but you were more acrobatic, more nimble in the air than I was.”