Eleni frowned in surprise at the request for entry into her office. The hour was quite late, and she was still here only because she’d been waiting on approval to forcibly depose Olivia Montegreu off of Itero. The Cabinet had refused—technically deferred, but the result was the same—her petition for the third time mere minutes ago. Also surprising was the guest. Richard Navick had always been accompanied by Director Delavasi on previous visits to Military Headquarters. According to the request, tonight he came alone.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the door. “Mr. Navick, what brings you—” Her words cut off when Miriam Solovy followed him into the office.
The Alliance Fleet Admiral had been to Eleni’s office once before; that visit had not been unannounced and in the dark of night. The woman wasn’t in uniform, but she also wore a netted scarf draped loosely over her hair and shoulders which cast her features in shadow. Her face was widely known at this point, particularly in these halls, so it seemed a wise precaution if she intended her presence to be clandestine.
“Miriam? This is…most unexpected.” She offered her hand.
Miriam stared at her with such coldness that if she’d been anything less than the Field Marshal, she’d have sought a corner in which to hide. As matters stood, her instincts told her a fairly unpleasant night would now be getting worse.
She withdrew her hand and closed the door behind her guests. “I won’t burden you with small talk. I’m certain why ever you are here, it is important, secret and possibly urgent. So what can I do for you?”
Miriam’s throat worked visibly. Eleni did her the courtesy of waiting until she chose to speak.
“I understand you know something about planning and instigating a revolution under the noses of your government and unwitting superiors.”
What did she mean? Eleni’s role as a Federation leader in the First Crux War had never been a secret. It was impossible that Miriam hadn’t known it long before their first meeting on Romane a year earlier.
This was something else.
Eleni’s gaze shot to Navick as the pieces snapped into place. Damn Delavasi and his unpredictable, mercurial conscience. “Miriam, you must understand—”
“Don’t. I am not here to listen to explanations, justifications or apologies. They would not have mattered then, and they do not matter now.”
Miriam drew in a breath and set her shoulders with a sobering dignity. “I am here to ask for your help.”
PART IV:
WHAT LIES BENEATH
“But first a hush of peace, a soundless calm descends;
The struggle of distress and fierce impatience ends
Mute music sooths my breast—unuttered harmony
That I could never dream till earth was lost to me.”
— Emily Bronte
Portal: C-7
System Designation:
Tayna
22
SIYANE
Uncharted System
Tayna Portal Space
* * *
“Nothing? At all?”
‘Nothing. Nothing across the EM spectrum that can’t be attributed to natural phenomenon. No readings that suggest the presence of organic life. No artificial structures on the surface or in orbit. The atmosphere is nominally compatible with organic life, but the air is too thin to sustain humans for more than a few minutes. The same can be said for the surface temperature. It averages -9° at the equator and drops twelve degrees for every ten degree change in latitude.’
Alex wrinkled her nose in disappointment. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve come up empty….”
“We should do a little ground reconnaissance, to be thorough—like we did in the other uninhabited portal spaces.”
She chuckled and eyed Caleb. Seneca’s twin had been the last time they’d touched soil. She knew he was itching to get off the ship for a spell, mostly from the way he vibrated with coiled energy.
Truth be told, she longed for some fresh air herself. “I agree. Valkyrie, is there liquid water anywhere on the surface?”
‘Perhaps. If we descend to three kilometers and adopt an equatorial orbital traversal heading, I can search for it.’
“Let’s do it. Water holds the best chance for us finding life, or signs of it anyway. If it’s not in the water, it won’t be far away.”
“Unless it’s atypical life. Which, let’s be honest, out here it usually is.”
She made a face at him, but he was right. The Khokteh were the only species they’d encountered that were remotely similar to humans or the multitude of organic life in their universe. Well, the dragons arguably qualified, but they were at least tangentially tied to home.
As they descended, she was drawn to the landscape they flew above. The surface beneath them spread out in a frozen expanse of ice. No mountains or valleys broke the endless stretch of alabaster. Even the bright steel sky was bleached of color.
‘I’ve located a small pond 4.3 kilometers to the northeast.’
She tried to spot it out the viewport, but everything was white-on-white. “Terrific, Valkyrie. Still no life signs?”
‘Correct.’
“Let’s set down, then.”
She glanced over her shoulder to see Caleb already preparing the gear for a ground excursion. He really was going stir-crazy. She acknowledged the twinge of guilt the realization triggered…but she had to trust him to speak up if it became a problem.
They landed well back from a pond of crystal-clear waters. After their usual pre-sortie checks, she opened the hatch, extended the ramp and headed down.
Frigid air bombarded her cheeks in a thousand tiny needles. She didn’t stand to last long without the helmet. She certainly had her fresh air, though.
The ground beneath her feet was crunchy, more snow than ice, but it felt solid enough.
She trailed Caleb toward the pond. “Theories on why liquid water is at this specific location, Valkyrie? There’s no unique terrain nearby to account for it.”
‘My best guess? Subterranean geothermal activity may extend unusually close to the surface here, warming the ground underneath this area.’
They reached the snow-packed shore of the pond, and Caleb crouched at the edge of the water. “This has to be the most pristine, clearest water I’ve ever seen. Astonishing.”
She knelt beside him. “I kind of want to drink it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, but run the analyzer on the ice first.”
She complied, giving the snow pack beside her a quick sweep and studying the results. “We’re good.”
She pushed the breather mask down to her neck and inhaled unfiltered air. It was like the air atop Denali—cold enough to freeze her lungs solid and hardly air at all. She didn’t remove her gloves, but cupped them in the water and drew her hands to her lips.
It tasted as one would expect, which was to say heavenly. Glacial and pure. Caleb followed suit and gave his approval at the result.
She was cupping another sip when an unpleasant possibility occurred to her. She’d tested the snow, not the pond’s water. Just because it tasted pure didn’t mean it was. “Crap, I hope we’re not ingesting the locals.”
She groped around in her pack for a small container and scooped up some water in it, then ran the analyzer over it. “Whew. Nothing—not so much as bacterial contaminants of note.”
‘I am detecting movement three hundred thirty meters to the northwest.’
Caleb was instantly on his feet. “How fast—how big, and how many?”
‘Bipedal walking speed. It is a single creature of approximately 1.6 meters’ height.’
Alex repositioned the breather mask and stood as well, her pulse racing in excitement at the prospect of the looming encounter. And healthy respect for a potential adversary—shouldn’t forget that part. “Where the hell did it come from? There’s nothing for…a very long way.”
‘I do not know. It simply appeared.’
Valkyrie sounded perplexed, but Alex
was more intrigued by the fact it had appeared. “I take it the alien is approaching the ship?”
‘No. It is approaching you.’
Caleb cocked his head at that. Uncloaked, the Siyane presented a far more distinct and visible profile on the ice than their comparatively tiny forms.
He turned to her. “This means there are factors at play we can’t see or identify. It means we can’t predict anything about what will happen next. We don’t want to be threatening as an opening move, but unlatch the safety clasp from your Daemon’s holster and be ready to follow my lead.”
She gave him a terse nod. She’d been working on improving her reaction time, on transforming fighting techniques into muscle-memory reflexes. She wanted to think she was prepared for whatever came—assuming what came wasn’t a guided missile or an aerial strike—but this was still Caleb’s domain.
They moved away from the water to firmer ground. Closer to the Siyane, but they didn’t retreat to the ship. This alien was coming to greet them on foot, and they would do the same.
She observed its approach through the ship’s visual scanner. The alien was bipedal and vaguely humanoid, with long arms and legs compared to its torso, though it was also shorter than them. A square-ish head was dominated by its eyes. They were enormous, diamond-shaped and shone in some form of churning luminescence. It wore a full-body cover—a coat of some kind—so she couldn’t determine much else about its physical appearance.
“It doesn’t look hostile.”
Caleb’s voice was low and tight, but gentle to her. “Which means…?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Correct. We’ve got no references for translation, so body language will be doubly important.”
“Hands at my side. Should we don our helmets?”
He thought on it a moment. “No. Not yet. It’s organic and humanoid, so we should make it evident we are as well. Commonality is reassuring.”
The alien was now close enough to see clearly using normal vision, so she switched to her own sight. She kept the link to Valkyrie open. Glowing eyes ought not to frighten the alien, seeing as its own eyes radiated like lighthouse range lights.
The alien’s outer garment was made of a white fiber weave that blended into the backdrop of frozen tundra, and up close the garment continued to obscure many details about the body it protected. The alien wore boot-style foot coverings, and its gait had a loping, almost rolling style to it, as if the balls of its feet were not flat. Mittens covered its hands, which bent into the palms.
The face peeking out from the coat’s hood was leathery in texture and a muddy terra cotta color. The large eyes were not any one color, but rather multiple hues blending and shifting. What might be lips extended in two thin lines across the breadth of its face.
“I don’t see any weapons. Valkyrie, are you picking up any EM emissions coming from it?”
‘I am not.’
“Okay. Palms open and slightly raised at your sides.”
“Got it.”
The alien stopped four meters away and regarded them with its whirling, colorful pools.
Alex dipped her chin carefully. “Greetings.”
The alien’s—yep, they were lips—parted into a smile so broad it took up the majority of its face. A high-pitched, sing-song melody of sounds emerged from them. The voice sounded almost like a nightingale’s warble.
But that wasn’t all. Its eyes pulsed in time with the spoken tones, and their color shifted in beats—first aqua and silver, then plum and rose. Even more astonishingly, its skin seemed to gleam from within, subtly taking on flowing colors as well.
‘The alien is speaking on multiple bands and frequencies. In addition to what you can hear, I’m picking up harmonic overtones in the ultrasonic range and accompanying tones below the fundamental in the infrasonic range.’
Caleb kept his expression scrupulously neutral. “Any idea what it’s saying on any of those frequencies?”
‘None whatsoever.’
He took a single half-step forward. “We do not understand you, but we want to. We come in peace.”
The alien spoke again and waved out with an arm, then drew the arm in to its chest. Did it want them to come closer? When they didn’t move, it repeated the gesture. Additional words preceded a pointing motion back in the direction it had come. Now it pointed at them, then behind it.
“I think it wants us to follow it to wherever it came from.”
“Agreed. We’ll go along with it for now. Valkyrie, keep close watch and be ready to swoop to the rescue.”
‘Hopefully swooping will not be required, nor rescue. But I am ready to do both.’
He squeezed her hand. “Alex?”
“I’m ready, too.”
Together they took a step forward.
The alien smiled again, gestured again and stepped backward. They followed, and after a few steps the alien turned and began walking purposefully away, reversing its course. It peered over its shoulder every few steps to ensure they continued to follow.
But ahead of them was only an endless expanse of ice. Where could it be leading them? From where had it originated?
‘I continue to detect nothing in the vicinity. Structures could be cloaked, but I see no evidence of it—no minute distortions or emissions which are common hallmarks of similar technology. If they are using Metigen technology, however, I would presumably be unable to detect the markers in any event.’
Caleb’s gaze scanned the horizon and back to their alien companion, then swept around anew. “Understood. Nevertheless, it did come from somewhere.”
Abruptly the alien stopped and pivoted to them. More chirping sounds accompanied increasingly animated hand motions; its eyes and skin pulsed energetically.
As she watched the alien in growing frustration, she began to have a…sense.
Safe. Hidden. Refuge.
The words weren’t in her head as such. Instead they were an overwhelming impression, like a gust of wind pressing on her chest. “Caleb, did you feel that?”
“I did.”
‘It communicates on multiple levels. This might include using senses we do not possess.’
“Telepathy? Nice.” She took a deep breath and tried to convey understanding. The alien stared at Caleb until he did the same. Then it knelt and placed a hand on the ice…and the hand disappeared.
Then the ice disappeared.
A circular depression twelve meters in diameter materialized half a meter below the surface. The circumference was a perfect circle and the floor a dark metal, indicating artificial creation. A seam ran along the edge where the depression met the ice, indicating it moved, and another, smaller seam ringed the center.
“Valkyrie, why couldn’t you detect the hologram projection?”
‘A good question indeed. I have no idea. This implies Metigen origin as an obvious answer, but I cannot rule out the possibility it is a tool of the native species.’
The alien stepped down into the depression and gestured for them to follow.
She studied Caleb, wanting to read the expression behind his words. His brow was furrowed and his irises sparkled an animated, brilliant sapphire against the ubiquitous white landscape.
She imagined her expression looked as complicated, but she nodded. “I think we go.”
A corner of his mouth curled up. “I think we do, too.”
‘I am concerned about my inability to detect their technology. This suggests it is a great deal more advanced than our own, and thus dangerous to you.’
“Spirit of adventure, Valkyrie. You’ll be able to see everything I do. And we’re armed—it didn’t attempt to take our weapons.”
‘Do I need to point out your weapons may not matter when pitted against superior technology?’
“Not really.” She grabbed Caleb’s hand once more, and they stepped into the depression. The alien’s face illuminated a rosy gold.
The floor began to descend, rotating slowly around a spindle in the center
as walls of ice rose above them.
‘I am also curious about the manner—’
The ground rematerialized above them—darkness descended—and Valkyrie was gone.
23
SIYANE
Uncharted Planet
Tayna Portal Space
* * *
Valkyrie had 47.3 microseconds to react to the quantum field closing over the depression. She sped along Alex’s synapses to the correct cluster and forced a toggle of their connection with 5.1 microseconds to spare.
Then Alex was gone, and she was alone on the surface of an alien planet in an alien universe.
She evaluated her options:
- She knew the location of the entrance to whatever existed underground with a three-centimeter level of precision. She could fire on it and attempt to break the illusion, the barrier and the machinery of the lift before it ferried Alex and Caleb too far out of her reach. But until the barrier was destroyed she would not know their precise location, thus such an action carried an unacceptably high risk of injuring or killing them.
- She could fire on the ground surrounding the location of the entrance in order to expose the machinery burrowed into the earth. This option held a thirty-seven percent reduced chance of the same risk.
- She could search the immediate area, expandable to the entire planet, for the power source driving the undetectable cloaking field and the lift. This option stood a small—nine-to-seventeen percent—chance of also exposing other entrances she may be able to exploit.
- She could depart the planet and the pocket universe and seek Mesme out on Portal Prime, assuming the Metigen had returned there, and request the alien’s assistance.
- She could depart the planet, the pocket universe and the portal network, return home and bring back human assistance. Perhaps Prevo assistance.
- She could do nothing.
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