by C. A. Farlow
Lauren pulled solar panels and a battery pack from the lid of the case. She could recharge all her electronic gear with just a couple of doses of sunlight. Of course given the storm’s cloud cover, it would take quite a while to store enough energy for a full charge. Lauren headed for the cave entrance. “Can’t help that. I’ll just set it up and store as much energy as I can before nightfall.”
A boulder with a sloping face stood a few meters from the cave entrance. This proved to be the perfect spot to set out the five flexible solar panels. Lauren placed some small rocks on the corners of the panels to hold them in place should a gust of wind try to blow them off the boulder. Stepping back, she attached the battery pack and watched as the indicator lights began to glow faintly. “Not a lot, but enough to start charging the pack.”
“What is all this?” Alex peered over her shoulder.
Startled by Alex’s sudden appearance, Lauren fell backward, landing on her butt. “Stop that, it’s not nice to sneak up on people.”
“I called out from the tunnel. But you were concentrating so hard on all this tech,” Alex waved her hands across the solar array, “you did not hear me. What is this contraption?”
“These are solar panels. They gather energy from the sun and store it in this battery pack. When the pack is fully charged, I can then transfer the stored energy into my other electronic devices.”
“Interesting.” Looking closely at the panels, Alex ran her finger lightly over the outer coating. “These look like the panels we have in Fuar Ćala. But ours are not charged by the sun. We circulate hot water from the earth, storing thermal energy to heat water and spin turbines to make energy for devices and to heat the Keep.”
“Geothermal energy is very efficient.” Lauren continued to watch the faint flicker of the charge indicators. “This is going to take a while. At least my eReader holds a charge for about three weeks. I’ll be able to read as much as I want before it needs a boost. But my computer needs a charge, now.”
Looking up at Alex, Lauren noticed she didn’t have a jacket on. “Where’s your coat? It’s cold out here. Don’t want you getting chilled.”
“I am fine. I am more interested in this eReader. What do you mean you can read as much as you wish?”
“I’ll show you. I’ve whiled away many a rainy afternoon in the jungle reading on my eReader.”
Settling on the nest of blankets they had created last night, Lauren pulled her eReader from its shock-proof case and gave it to Alex. “This is a digital storage device that holds books, documents, newspapers, and journals. It allows you to read them on this screen.” Flipping the on-switch, she waited for it to power up. “I’ve stored over a thousand books and such on this—a combination of reference texts for work, journals I subscribe to, and reading materials for pleasure. I can also upload documents from the web.”
Perplexed Alex looked up. “How does a spider’s web store information?”
Lauren laughed at another disconnect between their realities. “Not a spider’s web, a web of interconnected computers. Like a huge reference library, with information easily accessible in digital format.”
Alex held the eReader in her hands as if it might explode. Reaching across, Lauren pointed. “This first screen is a listing of all the stuff stored on this device. Use this little button to move up, down, right, or left.” Lauren demonstrated the mouse button. “If you find something you want to read, move the line down to it, and when it’s highlighted, depress this button to open it.” She scrolled down the list and stopped at a document titled Lost Treasures. Depressing the mouse button, the screen filled with the text of the document.
“This is a great one. It’s by one of my favorite authors.”
Alex scanned the page. Lauren reached over and depressed another button, turning the page for Alex.
“These devices have been a godsend to field work. I used to carry several large containers of books and reference materials. That was a pain, and the books deteriorated rapidly in changing climates.”
But it seemed like Alex didn’t hear anything Lauren said. She was intently focused on the eReader screen, quickly flipping pages, as her eyes rapidly scanned through the document.
“All right, then.” Lauren turned back to the pile of dirty clothes. “Do you need anything washed?”
No answer. Terrific. I’ve lost something else. First my bedding and now my eReader.
Chapter Fourteen
ONCE ALL THE LAUNDRY was done, Lauren reentered the main cavern with her armload of wet clothes. No one stirred. Snow and Ice were still sleeping soundly, quiet wolfy whiffles the only sounds they made. Ffrwyn eyed her from her reclining position on the hay pile. “I do not know what you have done, but I have never seen Alex this still, for this long. This is good for her. Thank you, Lauren.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad she’s enjoying the reading.” Alex never looked up as Lauren strung nylon cord across the side of the cavern and hung her wet clothes to dry. Lauren glanced at her chronometer, the barometric pressure was even lower. Better check the entrance. She glanced at the horse. “Ffrwyn, how are you feeling?”
“I am fine for now, Lauren. I would like some more hay and perhaps some oats. The oats are in the blue containers.’
“You got it. I’ll be back in a bit.” Lauren moved down the tunnel.
It was just after four o’clock in the afternoon, but between the snow and their latitude, it was dark outside. Lauren stepped out of the cave entrance, and snow continued to stream past. The drift was now about ten meters high, its sparkling face dipped towards Lauren. Glad I’m in here and not out there. If anything it’s blowing harder than it was. But with the pressure still falling, the center of storm hasn’t reached us yet. Lauren gathered up her solar array. She headed back in to feed Ffrwyn and find a snack for herself.
Pulling a blue container from the pile, Lauren dug out a bag of oats and brought it over to the horse. “Here you go, kiddo. Enjoy. Let me know when you want some hay, and I’ll pull a bale out of stasis.”
“Thank you.” Ffrwyn crunched on her food.
“Ffrwyn, stop it, I cannot hold the screen steady with you moving around.”
“Alex, she’s hungry. Just move over here. Let her eat in peace.” Lauren gestured to their blanket nest that she sat in.
Alex got up slowly, awkwardly almost. “I have a better idea. How about a soak? I would like to loosen up these stiff muscles.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let me get Ffrwyn her hay, and I’ll meet you there.”
Lauren found Alex fully clothed standing beside the pool. “Something wrong?”
“Hmmm…no, nothing except I am tired of being unable to handle simple tasks by myself. I cannot unwrap my shoulder or take off my tunic without help. I do not like to need help.”
“No worries, I’m here. We’ll get you settled, and you can relax.”
The water was warm and soothing, and both women again enjoyed the pool. Lauren was up to her nose in the deepest part of the pool, while Alex relaxed on one of the natural shelves near the edge. “Did you find something enjoyable to read?”
“Yes, I most enjoyed the stories. I am surprised to find that your literature has such strong female characters, especially after some of the things you shared about your world.”
“There is a large community of strong, independent women who wish to read about characters like themselves, so they write stories and share them on the web. There are some amazing authors out there. I always hoped some of the stories would provide role models for younger women who are searching for an identity.”
“On my world things are different. Women tend to hold positions of power. I am the fourteenth female in my family to be named ruler. I cannot imagine some of things the characters faced in those stories. Especially those who must answer to misogynistic males.”
Lauren nodded. “Men in power are a fact of life. When I was in school, I had to deal with male students who wanted my answers or would sabotage my work.
And at Geodynamics, I worked for a guy who was so afraid of being shown up by women that he went out of his way to treat us as second-class employees. He would construct situations where a woman would easily fail. I think he felt insecure about his position and abilities. In fact, I don’t think he ever left New York City. But his uncle owned the company, so that’s all Peter needed to justify his position.”
Alex grinned. “I think you will enjoy our society. Everyone holds their position by being the best for the task. Our only exception is that the ruler is female.”
“Has your family always ruled?” Lauren flipped over in the water.
“No, each ruler is chosen from several candidates based on their competence and ability to rule. It is fortuitous that my clan has ruled for so many generations. I almost was not chosen after the Comin attack. A number of other clans thought my Great Grand’Mere’s failure to prevent the attack, or to at least recognize the Comin’s weapon, was an indicator that future women in her family would also fail to rule.”
“You never told me the details of how you survived.” Lauren swam over to sit beside Alex.
“The Comin probes bypassed the small planet on the outskirts of the solar system where my cousins and I were in school. We were overlooked in the initial attack.”
“How old were you?”
“Nineteen, just completing my education.” Alex’s eyes lost focus as she was pulled back to that tragic time. “After we received an initial message from my mother of the attack, we waited for instructions from the Homeworld. When these did not come, I took charge and began planning our exodus from the system. The instructors and technicians in the school had transports and supplies. And most fortunate, a copy of the central database core node.”
Lauren hugged herself. “You were so young to take on that much responsibility.”
“Leading is a trait my family seemed to always have. As we traveled out of the solar system toward our interstellar shipping docks, we sent probes back to the Homeworld. We needed information and didn’t want to risk sending anything larger for fear of detection. One of our probes made it into the inner planets and returned the images Ice shared with you. When we received those, we knew we must leave.” Alex’s lip trembled.
“How did you find this planet?” Lauren felt herself being pulled along by Alex’s roiling emotions.
“During the journey, our technicians were mapping gaseous anomalies and discovered this small system of planets, hidden in another arm of our spiral galaxy. It was in the opposite direction of the Comin Homeworld. Going there, we hoped we could escape detection. When we arrived in this system, we didn't detect any signs of established civilization, and thought it would be a place to start over.”
“I know you traveled from Terra Prime in spacecraft, but how did you travel to the Comin world? And how did I get here?”
“You do not ask easy questions.” Alex smiled down at Lauren. “I do not understand your presence in this world, but I traveled to the Comin world easily. Several thousand years ago when we were developing faster-than-light travel, one of our prototype ships disappeared during a test flight. Years later, the prototype was found floating derelict on the edge of our solar system. No one was on board, but the computer logs recorded that the ship had encountered a nexus membrane and crossed into another universe.”
“Wormholes?” Lauren’s curiosity spiked, and she scooted closer to Alex.
“No.” Alex shook her head. “Quantum tunnels, connections between different realities.”
“Parallel universes?”
“So it would seem.” Alex stared into the warm waters. “After the prototype was discovered, our technicians hypothesized that many universes co-exist in different dimensions. Our technicians now call this the infinite stratified universe. The connection point between universes is a nexus, the travel pathway is a quantum tunnel, and the transition boundary is a membrane. The trick is finding the proper connection point between the universe you are in and the one you want to travel to. Some of my race are able to identify these and can then transit between the many universes. I am one of the few still able to find and cross the membranes.”
Alex slid her hand along the top of the water pushing ripples across the pool. “The technicians have many analogies to explain this. The one I like best is the quilt analogy—one universe is the top layer of fabric and the other is the bottom layer. Where the two layers are stitched together are the nexus points. The thread is the quantum tunnel from one layer to the next. The fibers of filling would be the many possible combinations of pathways that could be caught up in the nexus ‘stitch’.”
Lauren laughed, but she understood this apt analogy for such a complex theory.
Alex lifted her gaze and stared at Lauren. “Your being here creates a quandary. The five of us are now living in a quantum convergence…the merging of two realities in a single time-slice. To my knowledge this has never happened before. I am sure that others would explain it better.”
Lauren frowned. “How was I able to cross the membrane from my world to yours?”
“While we have traveled, that question has been what has occupied my thoughts the most. We have not had visitors from other worlds before, so you would be the first. The technicians will be thrilled to have you to study.”
Lauren’s frown deepened, and she started to move away, physically distancing herself. “Alex, I don’t mean to offend you, but I’m not going to be anyone’s lab rat. I just want to get you home and find the way back to my world.”
“I understand. I would not want to be subjected to an examination either. I was just trying to say you were unique…unique to be here and unique as an individual.”
Unique, huh? Great. “If we are going to have a friendship, you’ve got to understand something about me. I’ve always been different. It started when I skipped a number of years in school, and was younger than my classmates. I was always the weirdo. I didn’t fit in anywhere or with anyone.” Alex moved closer to where Lauren sat on the pool edge. “The only thing I could do was carry on. In school, I just studied by myself, which only made the problem worse. The more I studied, the faster I moved ahead in school, and the bigger the gap became between my classmates and I.” Lauren felt tears leak from her eyes. Alex hugged her and rocked her slowly, pulling her against her chest.
“Please calm down, I did not mean to upset you so.” Alex placed a soft kiss on the top of Lauren’s head.
But the dam had broken. Lauren sobbed into the soft shoulder. A small part of her noted that she was acting like a spoiled child, but she couldn’t stop the tears. Everything—her past, her present, and the unknowns of her future—catalyzed into this one moment of anguish. “I don’t want to be unique. I just want to be me. Get along. Be accepted.”
The two huddled together at the edge of the warm pool, steam rising around them in soft clouds. Lauren’s tears eventually dried, and she raised her head only to get lost in an ice-blue gaze. Alex smiled down at her. “All right now?”
“Yes, I think so.” Lauren wiped her cheeks. “You’ve got the most amazing eyes. It’s like looking into the heart of a glacier.” Gawd, did I say that out loud?
“Oh really, you are comparing me to a pile of old ice and snow? Is this pay back for the ‘unique’ comments?”
“I’m not comparing you to the glacier’s age. It’s the color. Bottomless and blue. Really, I mean, they are a truly an amazing color.” Lauren ducked her head. “Babbling here, sorry.”
Alex tilted her head up with a finger on her chin. “You must not apologize for such a compliment. I am honored you think this. Some are frightened of my eyes. Others think my bonding with Ice and Snow gave me the eyes of a wolf. Still others think they are inhuman, and therefore do not trust me. Your compliment is the most wonderful one I have ever received. Thank you.”
Lauren nodded, trying to calm her quickening heartbeat. She relaxed back into Alex’s shoulder and enjoyed the moment and the closeness they shared.
Chapter Fifteen
NEITHER OF THE WOMEN seemed to notice how close they were becoming during this time. But the animal companions noticed. The three watched with sly expressions as Lauren and Alex did everything together—from bathing to cooking to reading to sleeping. It was during the sleep-time that the animals noticed the most change. Each of their souls would unconsciously reach out and hold the other.
“If they do not do something with all this energy they are emitting, we are going to have to tell them to get over themselves and release some of it,” Ice huffed into her tail from her vantage point curled up on Lauren’s thermo-pad.
“Ice, you will not say or do anything to hurry them along. They will find each other when they are supposed to.” Snow’s usually calm voice burred with annoyance at her companion.
“That is what I am worried about. They will not find themselves. And we will have to continue to put up with all these pheromones they are releasing in this small space.”
Ffrywn couldn’t contain her internal laughter. The snort she released did not go unnoticed though, and Alex turned toward the three. She tilted her head, listening. “What are you three up to now?”
“Nothing, Alex, we were just talking about how comfortable this pad is for sleep.” Snow pasted her best innocent grin on her face.
“You know it is rude to talk about people behind their backs. What did Ice just say Snow? Ffrwyn?”
“Nothing, Alex.”
“Not a thing.” These two responses did not seem to quell Alex’s curiosity, the animals felt her mental questioning and felt her intent gaze. But soon they were released from her scrutiny and settled back down to sleep.
Lauren’s chronometer sounded a shrill alarm that shattered the silence of an afternoon of reading and napping.