“You don’t have to ask me twice,” said Valja.
She was wearing a swimsuit that was closed at the front up to her neck, but had a full cut-out at the back. It suited her very well.
“I’ve already read the report,” said the Secretary. “I’d be interested to know what you think about it.”
Ada sat up straight. “The case seems clear to me,” she said. “We have two offenders, of relatively meager means, who are operating under contract to an unknown but powerful third party. The two of them have been arrested. I even believe them when they say they don’t know anything about the third party. It would be too dangerous for everyone if they had any knowledge of this.”
“Does that mean my task begins with finding the person who passed on the codes?” asked Maria.
“It’s certainly more than just an informant you’re looking for,” said Zhenyi. “Whoever gave the codes to the two thieves must have also come up with the whole plan.”
“And that’s the crux of it,” said Kepler. “This plan Zhenyi mentions—I don’t believe we understand it at all yet. All that effort just to steal a bit of fuel? The person behind it must have another purpose. So, I’m in favor of us continuing our work on the sphere.”
“I understand,” said the Secretary. “But I have the feeling you’re alone in that opinion.”
“That’s right,” said Valja. “Johannes has a few interesting ideas, but they don’t have anything to do with the Gigadyson. I suspect it’s more likely to be a conspiracy within the Convention. At any rate, there was no shortage of those under the old secretary. Everyone knew it. And that won’t have changed just because there’s a new secretary at the helm. I don’t mean that as a criticism, Maria.”
“Of course not. I want you to speak completely freely. That’s the only way I’ll be able to form an opinion. It’s true that there are still certain elements in the Convention that are dancing to their own tune. For example, there are people who believe we’re not doing enough for the survival of humanity. There are new plans to migrate the Virgo Supercluster before the expansion of the universe increases too much and the neighboring galaxies disappear behind the time horizon.”
“But the conditions there basically aren’t any different,” said Kepler. “Energy is becoming scarce everywhere.”
“I know, Johannes. The argument is that perhaps we can create a much more powerful quasar there. But I agree with you, we don’t know what the conditions are like. We’d have to leave our home, and it would require an enormous investment that would definitely reduce the chance of survival for the people who remained in the Milky Way.”
“Yes, that would be insane,” said Kepler.
“Is there anything else I need to take into account?” asked Maria.
“Maybe you could perform a consciousness analysis on Störtebeker and Mason. Then we’ll know for sure if they’re lying,” said Ada.
Maria shook her head slowly. “That would be difficult. The analysis isn’t entirely risk-free. Article 1 guarantees the inviolability of the consciousness. We would need more concrete grounds. Maybe if the existence of the universe was at stake... But I can’t justify it for mere theft.”
“To be honest, I don’t believe the two of them are consciously lying,” said Ada. “They’re small fish. I just wanted to be on the safe side.”
“I thank you for that. Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll have the fee transferred to your accounts. You’re welcome to visit me any time.”
Maria stood up and left the platform. Further out on the ring was a roofed building, which she was now walking toward. Kepler watched her go. He would have liked to have exchanged a few words in private with her.
Water sprayed across his back. Kepler turned around. Valja had jumped into the pool. Ada jumped in after her. Zhenyi was still sitting on the edge with her legs in the water. She seemed to be submerged in thought. Then Valja resurfaced.
“You have to come down here,” she said breathlessly.
Kepler was curious. He lowered himself into the warm water. It seemed to be carbonated. Small bubbles tickled his skin. He held his breath and sank down with his eyes open.
Valentina was right. What looked like a pool from above was really a big glass bubble on the underside of the ring. He swam down to the deepest point and pressed his hands against the glass. He was only a few millimeters away from nothingness, and in the middle of it twinkled the crystal planet that wasn’t a planet. Not only did the Secretary have an imagination, but she was able to put it into practice. He was impressed.
Kepler had run out of air, so he came back up. The butler was beckoning him.
“What is it?”
“The Secretary would like to speak with you.”
The butler came closer and passed him a large, white towel. Kepler climbed out of the pool and dried himself off. The towel was wonderfully soft, almost as soft as his girlfriend’s skin.
“Where?” he asked.
The butler pointed toward the building. So she wasn’t coming here. A conversation in private? He looked at Zhenyi. She was dozing on her lounger with her eyes closed. Afterward, he would definitely have to show her the panorama at the bottom of the pool. Barefoot and still wearing only his swimming trunks, he made his way to the Secretary’s office. The butler didn’t object, so it must be okay.
Maria Sybille Merian was waiting for him at the door. She was holding something in her hand that looked like a spacesuit. He must have looked confused, because she laughed. “You wanted to see the crystal up close,” she said.
Kepler couldn’t remember having expressed that wish. But it was true, and he nodded.
“Then you’ll have to put this on. It protects you from air pressure fluctuations and has an exoskeleton that compensates for the high gravity.”
He got into the suit. It was a special model, probably designed especially for visitors to the Convention. “And you?”
“I don’t need a custom-built model, my body itself is one.” She took him by the hand. He looked at her in irritation.
“I don’t mean it like that,” she said. “I’m your guide. Trust me.”
She jumped. He had to leap, too. Otherwise his resistance would cause them both to crash into the wall. They approached the crystal at an alarming pace. His muscles tensed and his hand gripped hers harder.
“Relax. Your suit will follow me automatically. You don’t have to do anything, just enjoy.”
Enjoy. Yes, he could do that. But not if he fell into the abyss. But no, there was the ground. He was falling toward a diamond-hard crystal covered in points and sharp edges. So, no need to worry. He tried to enjoy it. If only it was that easy! Why had he ever wished to see this thing up close?
Because it was beautiful. They came to a stop a few centimeters above the surface. Directly in front of him loomed a diamond the shape of a carnivore’s tooth. The central star cast light on it, which was divided into all the colors of the spectrum and lit up other crystalline shapes. The dwarf planet looked like a giant, conjured flower. If he let a drop of blood fall from his finger onto it, maybe it would come to life.
“That’s so beautiful,” he said. A tear rolled down his cheek.
Maria took his head in her hands and turned him toward her. Kepler was startled. Hopefully she hadn’t gotten the wrong idea! She drew his head toward hers. Was she trying to kiss him or something? Zhenyi was lying up above them. For all he knew, maybe they could even be seen from up there! Lucky he was wearing a helmet. He stepped back a little, just to be safe.
“Stand still. I have to talk to you,” said Maria. “Down here is the only place where there’s no possibility of being overheard.”
What? She’d brought him down here to speak with him undisturbed? He was relieved—and at the same time a little disappointed.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I also believe there’s more behind the disturbances on the Gigadyson,” said the Secretary.
“Like what?”
“I can’t go into detail. But I’ve received video material from an autonomous unit that you haven’t seen yet.
“And what does it prove?”
“Nothing, I hope.”
“Why, Maria?”
“Two people in it are trying to get into a maintenance hatch. One of them was briefly recorded front-on by the unit. She was wearing a spacesuit, but it’s undeniably Zhenyi.”
What? That couldn’t be. Kepler’s mouth was parched. His girlfriend was in cahoots with the thieves?
“When were the recordings made?” he asked.
“They’re very recent. Cycle HN.”
“Then there must be some mistake. At that time we were all lying in the gel beds on the Mario, on the way to see you.”
“I know,” said the Secretary. “But I also know as well as you do that Wang Zhenyi isn’t the same person she was before her visit to the Herbae. Maybe she’s operating under contract to them. It could possibly be about revenge. I don’t trust those plants. They’re so different from us.”
“But they’re basically our parents.”
“More like distant relatives.
“And? How did it go with Maria Sybille?” asked Zhenyi, winking at him.
Should he confront her now with the accusations? But at the time the autonomous unit was supposed to have photographed her, she was definitely lying in the gel bed next to him. How was that supposed to work? Had the Herbae cloned a double of her? It was true that Zhenyi’s current body had been created on the former planet of the alien grass. He had never asked her exactly what that had involved. Maybe he should find that out first, before he told Zhenyi she was a suspect.
“Interesting,” he said.
“Interesting? You got pretty close to each other.”
“Were you observing us?”
“Observing... That sounds so strange. You were just in my field of view.”
She made a face and pouted. Zhenyi was jealous. That was nice! He’d never seen that side of her.
“From down there the whole dwarf planet looks like a giant flower. You should have a look at it too sometime. I’m sure Maria would be happy to take you down there. Did you know her body is specially customized?”
He was talking too much. That was typical behavior in a person who was trying to hide something. He hoped Zhenyi wouldn’t notice. Maybe not telling her the whole truth wasn’t such a great idea. Now he’d have to be careful what he said. That would cast a shadow on their relationship. But what if the Secretary’s suspicions were correct?
“Oh, I’d rather enjoy the sun up here,” said Zhenyi. “But I’m glad you had fun with Maria.”
“Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
Cycle HO 3.2, Convention
Ada embraced him firmly with her four arms, until he almost suffocated.
“It was an interesting time with you two,” she said.
“I can return the compliment,” replied Kepler.
Valentina hugged him, too. “And don’t you two do anything stupid,” she said, wagging her finger at him.
“Stupid?” asked Kepler. What does she mean? Had the Secretary told them about the recordings from the autonomous unit too?
“I mean, you’re so good together, you should never let yourselves disagree to the point that you don’t stay together. That would be a real shame.”
“Thanks, no, I didn't intend to. You two take good care of each other, too.”
Kepler couldn’t even remember the last time he’d received relationship advice, or the last time he’d given it. He’d trust the butler to give him advice. But he obviously hadn’t given him any reason to so far.
The two women said goodbye to Zhenyi. “If you’re ever in need of help near the galactic center, we’ll definitely be flying around here somewhere,” Ada said.
“Are you still looking for more fuel thieves?” asked Zhenyi.
“Someone needs to keep an eye on the Gigadyson,” said Ada.
“If you give me your orbit data, I’ll find you much quicker in an emergency,” said Zhenyi.
“That’s a good idea,” said Valentina.
Why did Zhenyi need the Mario’s flight data? So that her double could pursue its plan undisturbed on the Gigadyson? Now he was being paranoid. The Secretary had planted the idea in his head less than 24 hours ago, and now he was constantly doubting Zhenyi. But it was good to know where they could find help if they were ever in trouble.
“Okay, we’ll share our flight data,” said Ada. “But where will you be?”
“We’re going to fly to our base on K2-288b now,” said Zhenyi.
“An interesting planet?”
“No, Valja, a dead planet around a dying star. But it’s been my home for a long time and I like it.”
“I can understand that,” said Valentina.
“What did the Secretary want with you, Ada?” asked Zhenyi.
“The Secretary?”
“She called you in briefly just a short time ago.”
“Oh, yes. She was just passing on a greeting.”
“From whom?”
“You don’t know them.”
Cycle HQ 6.4, Inner Milky Way, Sagittarius Arm
Kepler let himself drift slowly through the empty corridors of the ninety-niner. It was only now when they were alone again that he noticed how exhausting the presence of the other women had been. Ada and Valja were really nice, no mistake, but they were still strangers. It had taken a lot of energy being in their presence. With Zhenyi, on the other hand, it was different. She was as familiar to him as his right arm. And that was good, even though he’d never tell her that because she’d find it anything but romantic.
The acceleration phase had ended yesterday. They’d decided to give in to the boredom for a few days. There was absolutely nothing for them to do. Even the Milky Way region they were currently passing through was one of the most boring areas of the universe. Other than a few white dwarves, there was nothing to see. So it was perfect for relaxation. When they’d had enough of that, they’d get back into the gel, slow down their biological clocks, and one month would seem like a day.
His head bumped into something hard, but he was moving so slowly that it didn’t hurt. Kepler turned himself around. It was the entrance to the control room. He pulled himself into the room using the door frame. Zhenyi was floating upside down between the command console and screen. She was looking at an animation on the display. Kepler grasped the door frame again and turned himself upside down, too. He closed his eyes, opened them, and the world appeared to be the right way up again. He just had to avoid looking at the seats, which now appeared to be hanging from the ceiling.
A golden egg was rotating on the screen.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“The Gigadyson.”
“It’s truly enormous, what we’ve constructed there. If you’d told me about it ten billion years ago, I would have thought you were crazy.”
“We were still naive back then, Johannes. We still believed we were alone in the Milky Way. Eternity and infinity lay before us, and both seemed to be waiting for us to conquer them.”
“The zeal of youth,” said Kepler.
Zhenyi seemed to be in a melancholy mood today. That was rare for her. “Or hubris,” she said.
“Was it the Gigadyson that got you thinking like this?”
“Actually, it was you, Johannes. I was just looking at the Gigadyson out of technical curiosity.”
“Was there a reason?”
“I... oh, nothing. No, I was just fascinated by its gigantic dimensions.”
Zhenyi switched off the animation, pushed herself off from the wall, and drifted over to her seat. She buckled herself in, but then unbuckled again. She’d obviously had second thoughts.
“I’m going to lie down in my cabin for a while,” she said.
“Sleep well, Zhenyi,” said Kepler.
He was alone. Where was the butler hanging out? They’d spent a long time looking
for him yesterday, only to find him on the outer hull of the spaceship, staring into the darkness. It made him feel more connected to the universe, he’d said. What could be going through his AI? There had never been any investigation into how AIs above level 9 might develop. Maybe there was nothing to investigate, because they were all different.
Kepler pushed himself off from the ceiling and sent himself in the direction of Zhenyi’s seat. He let himself sink into the soft upholstery and buckled himself in. His girlfriend had equipped her seat with a special cover made of millions of nano-machines. They adapted themselves to the shape of any body and held you half a millimeter from the surface, so that your back was perfectly ventilated.
But the thought of countless little machines holding him up on their tiny hands made him uncomfortable. It obviously didn’t bother Zhenyi. Had she always been like that? Or had she changed since leaving the planet of the Herbae? Since the Secretary had told him about the autonomous unit’s observations, he had been trying to discern if there were any changes in her. It wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t help himself.
He breathed deeply. That usually calmed him, but today it didn’t work. He pulled the screen down, switched it on, and searched through the history for Zhenyi’s animation. It was still there and he pulled it up on the screen. The metadata revealed that the animation was based on the most recent dynamic data from the Gigadyson. They were currently more than 10,000 light-years away from it, so the data must already be more than 10,000 years old. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something strange about the rotation of the sphere.
Kepler opened the archive. He didn’t have to search for long. Right at the top—meaning it had recently been used by someone—was the Gigadyson’s older dynamic data. He selected increasing time periods going back 0.1, 2, and 10 megacycles into the past. Then he added the data from the animation to them. Instead of one golden egg, there were now four of them turning on the screen, three of them only shadows. He pulled each of them into the foreground one after another. Nothing happened when he switched between the three phases from the past, but when he loaded the newest data, the egg made a small jump. That must be what had bothered him. The sphere had a kind of imbalance. It wasn’t rotating as perfectly as it used to.
The Death of the Universe: Ghost Kingdom: Hard Science Fiction (Big Rip Book 2) Page 10