by Pam Uphoff
"Nor dimensional research. Well, high energy physics, particle accelerators, that history goes back a century and a half.. I can see the lure. Another world . . . well, how much is a world worth? Biota untouched, minerals un-mined?"
Mike nodded. "Just the land, for colonization is incredibly valuable. But how did Chou know it would work? I want to find out where it all started."
Chapter Twenty-one
NewGene Experimental Facilities
Wisconsin, North American Union
1 October 2115
Rebeccah held the magnetic containment carefully, and AK felt her way across the branches, identifying them, counting in carefully, then finding the world they wanted by the bright spot of the magnetic locator. She looked for the crimp where they'd attached before. Mercy let the smoking torrent of the gate follow and it snapped open immediately.
Whoops from the next room barely registered. There were a series of power surges as people and equipment passed through the gate. Coming home this time. After a full week across.
They had focused most of their efforts on AK's favorite branch of worlds, where human-kind had not evolved. Perfect for colonization, for mining, lumbering . . . the exact fauna varied from world to world. On this one the Pleistocene mega fauna was still alive and well and hungry. It wasn't as dangerous as the Dinosaur worlds, but they were sending armed guards with every expedition.
The Orange Team was still missing. They had not been able to find the same world—or at any rate an identifiable spot. The general consensus was that they were either dead or had figured out how to live primitively on their world. All the Telies were confident of survival.
"They've got shields, fireballs, and slice." Jason had pointed out. "They're probably sitting around on their saber toothed cat skin rugs munching mammoth steaks."
"Making babies." Barry had licked his lips. "Wanna give it a try, AK?"
AK's response had included terms Rebeccah had to guess the meanings of.
Jason's new team had been in high demand. Universities that wanted to examine dino worlds vied with zoos that wanted to add the herbivores to their exhibits. Congress had decided that they should be in that decision chain. The President strongly urged in a public address that Congress forbid the importation of carnivores, and he'd sounded quite dubious about the rest.
Another brief survey of a dino world was set for the afternoon run.
Wolfgang had been swapped back into being an explorer, as the company tried to figure out how to hire a bunch of people for what had to be considered a very high risk job. A few of the security guards were willing, but didn't have the education the company rather wistfully contemplated when designing the ideal explorer teams. Zoologists, botanists, geologists . . . Wolfgang had enough science classes, and had hidden his dimensional abilities well enough to be included. Rudy and Malcolm from the Green team. Dr. Verity. The poor man was middle management, despite his PhD in Biology. Like it or not, his job description had expanded to exploration team management. The guards, Max, Lonnie, Kurt, and Julio, were looking for adventure. Wolfgang had worked with other two telies and the guards. The telies had bubbles loaded with survival equipment and food. The guards had small backpacks, augmenting their collection bags. Dr. Verity had a bad case of nerves.
"Sir?" Wolfgang didn't know the man well enough to know how to manipulate him, but he figured this was the time to find out. "Since this is just a five minute survey to set up an anchor, we'll need someone to watch the clock and yell for us to run for the gate at four and a half minutes in. I'll be too busy getting the beacon set up. Do you want one of the guards to mind the time, or should they be helping with the sample collection?"
"Hmm." He wiped his forehead.
"Personally, I'd rather you did that, and just pointed out anything you wanted us to collect."
"Yeeess. Let's tentatively do it that way, but I think an alarm function on everyone's watches would give us backup on that."
"Oh." Wolfgang bobbed his head as if abashed to have not thought of that. "Of course."
So Max and Lonnie led the charge through the gate.
Wolfgang, beacon slung awkwardly, was next. Mud squished underfoot. Lake to the right, rising ground to the left. Nothing moving. He turned left and spotted a nice sunny slope, a pine tree that could serve as additional support and unslung the beacon. Some small critters rattled away through the ferns. He caught a glimpse of brownish feathers. At what point do you stop calling them dinosaurs and start calling them birds? Rudy stepped cautiously after them.
Wolfgang set down the beacon, oriented it to the south, pressed in three spikes, and wrapped a belt around beacon and tree trunk. Flipped open the solar panels.
All done.
"Hey, look, real dinosaur eggs!" Someone down by the lake yelled up at Verity.
"Maiasaurs, or something similar. Don't disturb them . . . wait. Take one. Are there many?" Dr. Verity sounded suddenly excited, and trotted forward for a better view. "One from each nest."
"I've got some bird eggs back here." Rudy called.
"Probably small dinosaurs, grab a few and get back here. One minute to go . . . oh crap!"
A honking sound like a goose. Lots of geese. Large ones.
Wolfgang dodged out to look around his hillock of ferns and pines. Probably a quarter of a mile away, a large form, moving fast enough to be raising dust. "Run!" He waited for Rudy to skid down the hill, hands full, then galloped after him. There were more solid shapes in the dust. The three guys, arms full of looted eggs, turned tail and ran. A rumbling noise and more honking from the visible creatures. Thumping noises, as of heavy galloping footsteps coming down the hill.
Something about the size of an elephant charged between trees and took aim at them. Long head on short neck, broad nose and curved crest. Shorter front legs than back.
Malcolm and Julio came trotting from the other direction. Stopped and gawked.
Wolfgang raised his voice to carry. "Get through, right now, don't wait about." Wolfgang watched the dinosaur picking up speed. Rudy got to the gate and jumped through. Malcolm and Julio hustled through. Verity hesitated then jumped through. Wolfgang angled toward the egg thieves' path, and turned to watch the dinos closing in on them. Back peddling.
I'm not sure what to do about a dinosaur. He threw a sleep spell, the dino coming down the hill was nearly close enough for that to work . . . If dinosaurs reacted the same way as humans . . .
The dinosaur from the hill slowed, stopped. It reared up on its hind legs and shook its head. Wolfgang turned and ran with the others, bringing up the rear with one eye on the herd of dinosaurs.
Max jumped through the gate; Lonnie, then Kurt with Wolfgang on his heels.
That's all of us. He spun to see the white fog of the gate. A glance at the screen showed a herd of dinos sweeping around the standing one and taking aim at the gate.
"Now! Close the gate now!" someone was yelling. Several someones.
Wolfgang hit his wrist. He'd set up the stop watch function before they left . . . He backed hastily away from the gate. If a dino came through while the gate was closing, what would happen? The screen showed the gate irising closed. The fog disappeared and he could see through the rings to the equipment against the far wall. Click. He checked the time. Less than a second between orders to close the gate and it actually closing. Not much, but perhaps enough lag for an escape.
He took a deep breath, surprised to find himself quivering with exhaustion. That was only five minutes? And me without the faintest idea if I can shield hard enough to block something that size, even if I anchored it to the ground. He pictured himself knocked flat and squished, as the dinosaur slipped and slid across the slick shield surface. He stifled a snicker. At least the sleep spell had some sort of effect.
In a better mood, he turned back to enjoy the circus, as various people tried to decide whether this trove of at least two types of eggs was good or bad. He edged over to Dr. Heath. "Better get the eggs out of this freezing
cold room and into incubators, or the point will be moot."
"Oh." She stepped forward and raised her voice. "Quarantine! Every single one of you, and those eggs as well. Right now! Move!"
Wolfgang spent a boring week in quarantine, thinking about how to explore around dinosaurs and live to tell about it. Then the doctors kicked them out. The thirteen eggs had been appropriated by the government, and they'd wound up on exhibit at the National Zoo. Dinosaur fanatics from around the world were flocking in, hoping to witness them hatching. And to analyze the vid. Two different types of hadrosaurs, they thought. There was much argument about a night time visit, to take quick scans of the stars, and find out if they'd gone back in time or if the dinosaurs had never gone extinct, and changed very little from the Cretaceous, on that world. Wolf rather hoped that if they went, the telies could shift the attachment point a bit. Those Mamasaurs had looked pretty pissed.
He knew he'd volunteer to go. Nothing quite like being chased by a dinosaur to get the heart rate up.
***
The lumbering demonstration involved a mid-sized truck cab, with a few top corners bashed in so it would fit through the rings, a flat bed with a swivel on the fifth wheel, pulling an extra set of wheels which would support the end of the logs, on the return trip.
Wolfgang volunteered to drive it, and was turned down.
Jack had said something rude about him not knowing how to drive. Pax had suggested that he'd more likely drive off into the wilderness. They strapped down a load of prefab sections for a sturdy camp building, as well as more ordinary tents, lots of food and tools. Suggestions that they employ an actual lumberjack were reluctantly taken, and a jeep and lots more gear were added.
It was a marvelous week. Wolfgang worked with the still-nervy Dr. Verity collecting specimens of everything from butterflies to a pair of grizzly bear cubs after their mother attacked the camp one night. Verity gazed wistfully at the herds of wild cattle and horses. The bovines were huge, the horses small and heavy necked.
"Maybe next trip we could bring a stock trailer through." Wolfgang suggested.
Verity insisted on "samples" immediately. The guards promptly organized a hunt, which had the side effect of a major barbeque the night before they lined up to leave.
Their head count was two short. Neil and Clayton, telies from the green team, were missing. Their sleeping gear and two tents were gone as well.
Verity was cussing as Lonnie drove the jeep through the rings and out the door. They'd cut the door in the side of the building and turned the rings to angle toward them as they realized that entire worlds couldn't be explored on foot. Lonnie swung the jeep to the side, to be out of the timber truck's way. They jerked to a halt at the crash and shriek of skidding tires. The cab of the timber truck shot past them, turning, jackknifing, and rocking to a stop, leaning precariously.
Wolfgang ran for the cab. The door was jammed, crumpled as if the truck had been squashed, front to back. The bloody ruins in the cab appeared to have been squashed as well. One glance was enough, Wolfgang stepped back and let the doctors confirm that all four men were dead.
He examined the trees that had been returned. They too were crunched. He looked over at Dr. Brent, one of the physicists on the staff. "At first glance, I'd guess that there is a maximum length that can go through the gate at once, and anything longer going in, is that length coming out."
Brent pulled his eyes away from the cab, and looked at the wood. Then he stood back and looked at the whole wreck. He pulled out a pad and started scribbling.
Kennedy reluctantly summoned the police, Kurt and Julio had been normal people, after all. The Sheriff looked uncomfortable when Malcolm and Jamie's deaths were treated cavalierly by the company.
Very much later, Rebeccah told him that Samantha and Debby had been missing since the lumbering expedition had gone across. "We've . . . failed to report that we haven't seen them for days."
Wolfgang sighed. "Well. I hope the four of them enjoy the wilderness."
"We'll go back. The company won't let them get away."
Wolfgang shook his head. "Neil and Clayton's first priority will have been turning off the beacon. They don't even have to make it permanent, they could hedge their bets by simply folding up the solar panels. I think they're gone, and good luck to them." Four escaped, two of us died. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Cry, I think, because only the few of us even care. Three hundred eighty-six of us left.
Two days later a Grand Jury ruled the deaths the result of an industrial accident, and turned further investigation over to federal worker's safety inspectors. Timbering was removed from all future activities until the length or mass problems were understood. The telies' bodies were cremated, and the coroner was sued when he got stubborn about destroying all samples.
Chapter Twenty-two
NewGene Experimental Facilities
Wisconsin, North American Union
1 November 2115
Teams definitely tended to reach the same type of world each time they tried. The "pusher" had the most influence, but swapping out even a single team member could change the "closest" and "easiest" destination. They switched people around, and slowly compiled a list of which mixes of telies connected to which "branch" of worlds. Wolfgang slowly spread the news that telies could fight their inclinations, and go to other branches. So far, no one had passed that on to management. Over the last months they'd gotten a feel for worlds already visited, and Rebeccah rather thought they'd be able to find the more frequently visited worlds even without the beacons.
The branches with no human presence were preferred. The near worlds they'd found, with civilizations similar to theirs, were shunned.
Except for a few unrecorded sessions. Where apparently the goal was to find civilizations more advanced than their own.
"That's so strange." Rebeccah bit her lip. "Why? What do they think they can do there?"
Charlie grinned. "Medicine, I'll bet. Watch, when we, or rather you, Heidi, and Isobel find one, they'll pop through and try for some sort of life extension therapy."
Jason shook his head. "Kathy says that's what the Salt Lake City lab is working on. We've all got experimental genes from there, you know?"
"I though Happy Kids did their own?"
Jason shook his head. "They bought a license for those genes. Happy Kids mostly researched the immune system improvements, and replacements for known detrimental genes. And that infuriating blue gene."
Wolfgang scratched his chin. "I wonder if we can find something for them. Strange, if all this incredible work comes down to just another old man who wants to live forever." He looked over at Rebeccah. "The next time they call you out for one of these, let me know. I think I'll sit in, unofficially, and see how this near-by stuff works."
She looked over and nodded. "It'll be tonight. I spotted that special team of Chou's people, that he sent from San Francisco and had ready, the last two times we tried."
Wolfgang grinned. "Well, well. I wonder if they have a beacon?"
They did. And for transport, a truck that looked like every third truck for the last century. No doubt they hoped to blend in, wherever they went.
Wolfgang warped light around himself, and stuck on the electrodes. Settled the wireless hood over his head and waited, half hidden beside the tables full of electronics, with an unused chair "shoved out of the way" interfering with a clear look at the corner. Unfortunately the wireless connectors wouldn't work through the light warp. But once the girls circled up, everyone's attention would be on the rings, and a simple "unnoticeable" spell should be enough to hide him. He didn't like the eagle eyes of Chairman Fu Chou's bodyguards. He relaxed a bit when the last of them withdrew to guard access to the observation room. High stakes, with Chou here, himself. Grandson of JaeJong, but he's still more than fifty years old. All the Chous must have a stake in this.
He heard the rings sing, and everyone's attention switched to the screens. He let the light warp go and sank into the
fizzing blue. Isobel was being amazingly cautious, compared to AK or Pax. Were they pushed brazenly through, Isobel barely touched. Wolfgang held back, not wanting to disturb whatever she was doing. He slowly became aware of a few wispy things, pale not dark, close, very, very close. Now that he looked for them, they crowded around. He could almost see . . . yes. A world so familiar it might have been theirs. And another and another. He dared to lean a bit on the whirlpool, they needed something just slightly different . . . there. Those cars, that soaring overpass looked futuristic to him. He pushed close, forced the gate into contact. It didn't grab on, stick, like usual. He leaned and held it. Felt the movement of mass through the rings. Isobel was relaxing, Wolfgang let the gate retreat, not that it was going far, and once again warped light around himself. He swept the hood off, and pulled the electrodes off quickly.
He caught Chou's smug smile as the man left, saying only, "We will pick them up in three days."
Wolfgang slipped out behind another group and headed home, wondering if he'd made a strategic error. If Chou found what he was looking for, how would that change the running of the company?
Three nights later, he was careful to find the same world. The leader of the scouting team looked over at the Chairman and shook his head. Chou cursed and set a date for the next try.
***
"All right Mercy, close the gate." Harry's voice, firm and confident of their ability to do it slowly and carefully. Rebeccah felt the ebb in the power draw, and slowed the reverse flow to the rings. The smoky tunnel collapsed, the power dropped further, and she shut off the flow to the rings altogether. She waited until the last of the sparkle was gone from her snake, then released the bottle. It destabilized quickly and the techs shut it down.