Back on Canada Station Three, when he and Kenny performed their unauthorized experiments, Alex had been lost in some otherness that he couldn’t explain. Yaxche had called it a spirit walk, a dream state—though Alex had not been able to sleep or dream since the moment he’d been exposed to Kinemet on Macklin’s Rock.
There were so many ancient myths and legends about the nature of the universe that it was difficult to sift through all of them. One aspect penetrated them all, however: that there was a level beyond the physical plane, something to which all humanity could and should endeavor to attain.
The problem Alex had with that idea was how the star beacons played into it. Were they some kind of bridge to an alternate level of existence? He found it hard to believe that something so tangible and prevalent was the answer.
Though he only had Ah Tabai’s very brief account of the history of the galaxy, it seemed the Grace were a terrestrial species. They were not gods; they’d merely attained a significant level of scientific advancement.
If they had created the star beacons, then there had to be another explanation for how they worked. The words ‘outside light’ kept playing over and over in his head.
He knew there was some kind of physical explanation for the star beacon’s mechanism; there was no need to get into the metaphysical or mystical to find the answer.
Once Alex had completed all the calculations for the first Kinemetic conversion trial, he informed one of the guards, who immediately spoke into a communications chip on his wrist.
Within a few minutes, Alice arrived.
Behind her, several workers carted in a large container made of a transparent thermoplastic. Big enough to fit a person, it was hooked up with several electronic wires and circuits. A small tube inserted in the back of the container led to an oxygen tank. The only opening was the door, which was electromagnetically sealed.
Alex instinctively knew what the container was. “A Kinemetic damper?”
Nodding, Alice said, “Well, we want you on hand to observe the experiment, but the moment we lift the damping field in the lab, you would have the ability to thwart the experiment.”
Sourly, Alex spoke in a low voice. “We can’t have that, can we?”
Pretending not to hear him, Alice said, “Unfortunately, my father is attending other business, so we’ll postpone the trial until later this evening.”
From the small room, Sian watched on through the window. Alex could feel his despair.
Another person entered the lab. Doctor Naysmith, his perpetually good-humored smile on his face, gave Alex a nod as he passed by and headed for Sian.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked.
Alice said, “We need to be sure there’s nothing physically wrong with him. There can be nothing that will skew the results of the test.”
While the doctor performed a thorough examination of Sian, Alice ordered the guards to set up the lab for the experiment, placing chairs facing the experiment room window, and setting up monitors so everyone watching could follow the progress of the trial. Alex wondered how many people were going to be there.
Since no one seemed to be paying attention to him, Alex took a step toward the lab door, but a sharp-eyed guard spotted him and snapped his weapon up, the barrel of his rifle pointed at his head.
Alice snickered. “Perhaps you would be more comfortable waiting on the other side of the lab. Lie down on your cot and get some rest. You don’t want to miss the show.”
Feeling as helpless as he’d ever been, Alex retreated to the cot and sat down, but there was no way he was going to get any rest. Inside, he was far too frustrated and angry.
He willed himself to think about something else, and came back to that nagging sensation that had been haunting him since CS3.
How could something be ‘outside light’?
Light was simply electromagnetic radiation. Human senses could only detect a relatively small band of its wavelength.
Was Ah Tabai talking about the absence of light? If so, then how did that relate to being in a photonic state? Did the star beacons negate the effects of the quantum drive?
Alex shook his head. That didn’t explain anything. The travel between the star beacons was, as far as he knew, instantaneous.
What about the opposite end of light? Gamma rays were at the top of the spectrum. The galaxy was flooded with their bursts, whether from black holes or hypernovae. Many of the corresponding frequencies in the Song of the Stars were charted among the gamma wavelengths. It was these frequencies they were going to use on the sample of Kinemet and change its physical properties to the point where, once bombarded with hydrogen photons, it could properly irradiate a person, in turn altering their physiology where they became sensitive to light and all things in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Was there something beyond gamma rays? Some high-energy wave that had previously been undetected, which was somehow used to create the star beacons, much as a Kinemat was created? When Macklin’s Rock had traveled through Sol System at near light speeds, the readings Justine’s crew had taken of the star beacon they’d dubbed Dis Pater was off the charts.
What could possibly produce that much energy?
The thought vanished from his mind when he realized someone was standing over him, a personable smile on his face.
“Doctor Naysmith?” Alex said.
“And how are you today, young man?”
Frowning, Alex glanced over at Sian. “How can you pretend to care, when you know he could die from this experiment?”
The perpetual smile on the doctor’s face wavered for a fraction of a second. He cocked his head. “From my understanding, he could live.”
Looking up sharply, Alex stared into the doctor’s eyes.
Doctor Naysmith said, “Everyone has the right to medical treatment. Now, your checkup has been overdue. If you will permit me, I would like to scan you.”
His first impulse was to continue haranguing the doctor, but then Alex realized he would only be wasting his breath.
The doctor pressed a sensor against the side of Alex’s neck and looked at the readout on his holoslate.
“Hmm,” Doctor Naysmith said, for the first time looking concerned.
“What is it?” Alex asked, wondering if the time away from the influence of Kinemet was starting to drain him.
“Your blood pressure is a bit high.”
Laughing involuntarily, Alex shook his head. “Is that it?”
“Well,” the doctor said, reaching into a pocket of his lab coat and withdrawing a hypodermic gun. “According to my records, your diet is well within guidelines. It could just be the stress of the day, but there’s always the possibility of hypertension. I’d like to inject you with a micro-monitor. It will record your blood pressure over the next twenty-four hours and send the results to my lab.”
Without waiting for consent, the doctor pressed the tip of the gun against the inside of Alex’s wrist and pressed the trigger. Alex let out a short cry and rubbed the spot until the pain dissipated.
Putting the hypodermic gun back in his pocket, the doctor said, “If the area becomes irritated, let me know.”
Alex looked up as Alice approached. She glanced back and forth between him and the doctor. “Everything all right?” she asked.
The doctor gave her a warm smile. “Right as rain.”
“Good,” she said, and looked at Alex as she pointed to the glass cage. “My father will be here soon. It’s time to start.”
∞
When Alex realized he was pacing like a caged animal in the glass encasement, he willed himself to stand still. He watched as Alice and several technicians set up for the first trial on Sian.
Though the young programmer was in the experiment room on the other side of the laboratory, Alex could see the worry on his face. He didn’t blame him. There was an even chance that Sian would suffer an agonizing death by being subjected to the Kinemetic radiation. Going through all of his calculations in his head onc
e more, Alex could not think of any way to eliminate one or the other of the two sequences. The trial was the only way.
When Alex had been exposed to the Kinemetic radiation on Macklin’s Rock, he’d been partially shielded by the electromagnetic barriers in the TAHU, which was specifically designed to protect against the numerous radioactive waves floating through Sol System. If not for that shielding, Alex knew he would have died as his parents had, since the Kinemet had not been primed before activation. It was a cruel truth.
Absently, he scratched at the spot on his wrist where Doctor Naysmith had injected the micro-monitor. When he looked down, he saw the skin had turned a faint shade of red. It was probably caused by the rubbing and scratching.
Alice stood in front of the communication panel on one wall, her hands balled into fists and resting on her hips. She exchanged a few heated words with whomever was on the other end, but Alex couldn’t make out what she was saying through the glass.
Finally, she turned to look at Alex, and then a moment later strode over to him. There was an intercom system set up on the encasement, and she pressed the button to turn on the microphone. Her voice came through the speaker set high up on the glass wall.
“Well, it looks as if we’re going to have to start without His Highness.” She did not attempt to hide her bitterness. “We’re to record the trial for playback later. I can’t imagine what is more important right now.”
“Why not postpone?” Alex said.
She gave him an irritated glare. “No. We’ll do this now. It will only take a few more minutes to set up the recorders. I’ll have a monitor brought up here so you can follow the progress of the trial. If there is any anomaly, you will let us know right away.”
“Of course,” Alex said with a terse nod.
Alice narrowed her eyes. “Do I need to remind you that any trickery will earn you swift punishment?”
Though Alex did not want any harm to come to Sian, the logical side of him knew this trial was necessary. Once the procedure for creating a Kinemat was ascertained, they could begin creating a defensive force against the Kulsat.
“I know what’s at stake,” Alex said. “You don’t have to threaten me.”
A look of annoyance crossed Alice’s face, showing Alex that she didn’t completely believe him. Someone who had gone through what Alice had would most likely never lose that level of paranoia.
As the Emperor’s daughter walked off to oversee the last-minute details, Alex found himself scratching at his wrist again. The skin was turning bright red. He wondered if he should get the doctor back into the lab to have a look. Instead, he made a conscious effort to thrust his hands in his pockets and not scratch.
After fifteen more minutes of prep, Alice and a technician wheeled a monitoring station over to the glass cage and positioned the screen so that Alex could see the readout. The display showed a score of diagnostics, including Sian’s vital signs, the ambient temperature in the experiment room, the luminosity, gravity, air pressure and content levels. From his first summary glance, Alex couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“All right,” Alice said through the intercom after one of the technicians gave her thumbs-up sign. “Alex, we’re going to bring in the Kinemet sample now, so we’ll be turning on the damper in your encasement. The shielding will cut off all electromagnetic waves, including the speaker system. If you feel the experiment needs to be aborted before the priming, knock on the glass three times. Once I engage the priming sequence, there’s no turning back.”
Alex nodded that he understood her. She took a few steps away and sat down at a nearby workstation.
A minute later, he heard a slight hum of the electromagnetic shielding indicating the Kinemetic damper was engaged. He saw Alice press another command on her console, presumably to disengage the lab’s damper.
A technician wheeled a trolley, with a sealed container resting on top, through the main door. It must be the Kinemet. Though it was very close, Alex could not sense the radiation from the metal. Just knowing it was there sent a sensation of longing through him. It’d been days since he’d been in the presence of the Kinemetic radiation. Like a junkie, his entire body ached for it.
Pushing the trolley into the experiment room, the technician donned a radiation suit before transferring the container to the priming station. Sian, strapped onto the operating table in the middle of the room, tried to turn his head to see what was happening, but he couldn’t find the right angle. Alex could imagine the man’s fear, and he swallowed the sudden surge of guilt that coursed through him.
Exiting the room, the technician closed the door behind him. Alice hit another command key, and the window blackened. The only images those in the lab could see were on their monitors, which would blank the moment the reaction took place.
Alice programmed in the first formula sequence, and Alex watched on his monitor as the milligram of Kinemet—magnified several hundred times by the camera—was bombarded with a series of electromagnetic waves. The display indicated the Kinemet was transforming its elemental signature on a microscopic scale.
Everything was going as Alex expected, except that his wrist felt like it was on fire.
He pulled his hands out of his pockets and grew alarmed when he saw the red blotch on his skin had tripled in size. There was a large lump forming, as if he’d developed some kind of sebaceous cyst.
Was the minute amount of Kinemetic radiation in his system reacting with the micro-monitor?
Unable to help the impulse, Alex scratched at the spot, which was turning white at the top. Pressing down, he detected something hard under his skin. It felt like a metal sphere. There was a sudden flare of heat, and the capsule popped open.
The sensation that went through Alex was completely unexpected.
It was raw Kinemet inside the capsule, at least a half a gram. The doctor had not injected him with a monitor. He’d given him a strong dose of the kinetic metal—enough to power him for several months. The doctor? Alex wondered. Was he a saboteur? An agent? Whatever his motivation, had he not known that the greatest weapon against the Emperor was a fully irradiated Kinemat?
Starved from the lack of radiation, Alex could almost feel every fiber of his being soak in the effects.
The electromagnetic shielding around the cage was set to the lowest level in an effort to minimize any effect it might have on the trial. That level was more than enough to contain the trace radiation Alex previously had in his system. Now, however, with raw Kinemet surging through his system, the damper field was like a thin sheet of paper against a hammer.
Instinctively, Alex pushed against the shielding, and the damping coils burst above the glass encasement.
Alice and the other technicians jumped at the sound and spun around to see what was happening.
The door of the cage was no longer electromagnetically sealed, and Alex slammed his shoulder into it. Bursting open, the door hit a technician who had rushed over to stop Alex.
The impact sent the technician reeling backward toward Alice and her command console.
She shrieked as the man flailed about to get his balance, and threw up her arms protectively.
In the chaos, the tech must have hit the door lock command to the experiment room, and it unsealed and rolled back with an electric hum.
Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw on his monitor that the priming sequence was complete.
“No!” Alice screamed, trying to reach for the failsafe button on her console to stop the Kinemetic trigger.
Without the Kinemetic damper in the experiment room to shield them from the reaction, they would all be exposed to the Kinemetic process.
The entire lab was bathed in a blinding light as that section of Qin Station, and everyone in the area, quantized.
37
Skanse Aerie :
Gliese System :
Over the next few weeks, Justine acclimated to life on the station. During the days, she worked with the Solan Society in a diplo
matic capacity, meeting with ambassadors of hundreds of other worlds to strengthen future ties between Sol and the other systems when the day finally came that Sol System gained membership in the Collection of Worlds.
At first, encountering so many new life forms had been overwhelming, and she was certain she’d committed dozens of social faux pas, but with her increased capacity for learning, she quickly overcame her anxiety and awkwardness.
Within a short time, Yoatl was able to get the Collection to recognize Justine as the Envoy of Sol System. While this did not give her any significant power in the Collection, it did give her a voice, and increased her status in the Solan Society.
When she wasn’t establishing relationships with other worlds, Justine spent time with the Gliesan-humans, talking to them about Solan culture, history, science and politics. As Yoatl had hoped, her stories of their home system inspired several of their younger members to enlist in the Gliesan Space Force and undertake Aether training. It would be years before they were ready to become pilots, but it was a step in the right direction.
Justine also spent some time with the other human Aetherbeings in the system, and though they were restricted from discussing Gliesan Aether technology, they were allowed to help Justine learn more about her altered physiology—aspects common to all beings who had undergone the quantization process.
While in physical form, Aetherbeings were unable to sleep in the classic sense of the term, but they still required rest and time for their minds to process all the information of the day. They showed her meditation techniques that proved quite effective in giving her both requirements. During her four-year flight from Sol to Centauri, Justine had been fully conscious; there had been times she thought she was going to go mad from boredom and loneliness. When they’d learned of her extended time in Aetherspace, the others had been alarmed, and wondered that she hadn’t gone insane. Aethers rarely spent more than twelve hours at a time in the Aetherstate.
Worlds Away (The Interstellar Age Book 3) Page 26