by Mark Wandrey
"Sure," she said, a little confused at his change of heart. Jovich turned and led her back into the chamber, sealing it behind them. "Hey, where are all the people, anyway?"
"Not many use this portal any more."
"Huh? I don't understand."
"Two months ago they shifted main traffic to the portal in Archangel."
"Rusk territory?"
"Yep. This portal is now backup and for diplomatic use only." He pulled a tablet out of a pocket and showed her the weekly schedule. Nothing was listed for days. “In a few years, they plan to move even the diplomatic traffic to Steven’s Pass.”
"What’s going on?"
"Can't talk about it right now."
"Has to do with the Rasa Cold War, doesn't it?" Jovich gave her an evaluating look then nodded his head. "Come on, I'm the one that started this fiasco."
"You did what you were supposed to do," he said and pointed a thick finger at her. "Besides, it was liable to happen sooner or later. At least you gave us an advantage in kicking over the bee hive."
She sighed and nodded, it still weighed heavy on her conscience. "So, explain what you were up to."
"You ever talk to many old Chosen?"
"A few, besides you,” she grinned mischievously.
"Well, a lot of us use the portals for meditation. We found out a long time ago that just staring into the swirling energy patterns was conducive to fostering alpha brain waves." Minu turned and looked at the portal. An arch of pure energy held in check by powerful forcefields. Nobody really understood how they worked. The energy was somewhat visible, swirling patterns of iridescent light that seemed almost alive. The round dais was an opaque forcefield, the arch of the portal above the base was a sort of hologram that showed a constant swirling pattern of lights when anyone stood on the dais. Human scientists had long suspected that the portals power, computers, and space warping technology was contained safely inside the forcefield. "All you do is sit there and stare." He sat down in the same lotus cross-legged position. Minu climbed the steps and joined him.
Immediately she recalled the last trip to GBX49881 to study the Squeen. Sitting alone and bored, staring into the portal, she'd somehow lost track of time. Minu reached out and touched to portal dais, feeling the cool surface of the forcefield with a slightly slick feeling, like wet glass. Jovich watched her as she examined the surface. As she sat it seemed to radiate a warmth through her bottom. Once she was situated, all thoughts of the thin forcefield between her bottom and the plasma faded, and she looked ahead at the arch portion of the portal. Slightly glowing iridescent plasma seemed to swirl inside. "Different, isn't it?" he asked.
"You could say that again.” She almost told him about the time on GBX49881 when she'd lost it staring at a portal.
“We take the portals for granted. Just another tool, like a taxi cab, or a dirigible.” He reached out and stroked the slick forcefield, almost lovingly. “There's more here than we understand, I think.”
The moment passed and Minu decided it was something for another time. “OK, so what do I do now?”
"Just relax and stare. Let your focus drift."
Sounds even more familiar. "Stare at what?"
"The lights inside the portal archway."
Minu looked sideways at Jovich, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the arch of the portal with a vacant look. "You're kidding, right?" No answer. She cast him another sideways look then shifted her bottom to a slightly more comfortable angle. “I don't know how you can be comfortable on this thing with your bony old ass,” she mumbled. Again there was no response. With a sigh she began staring at the archway.
The colorful swirls inside the forcefields followed no pattern. They would change shades and directions randomly, combine and separate, then swirl together again. Minu remembered a lecture in her training where the teacher suggested the patterns were just a convenient way of letting one know the portal was active. A simple green light would be more efficient. Once she'd settled down she found it quite pleasing. The complete lack of pattern was somehow soothing. After a short time she stopped trying to focus on any one color or shape and, just like Jovich said, her focus started to drift. For a moment her head began to loll and she felt like she was going to fall face first onto the dais. Her gaze moved to the opaque forcefield she was sitting on, and suddenly, she was floating inside it.
"This is impossible!" she cried, though no words came out. It must to be a dream or hallucination. The energy held in plasma state would be many thousand degrees. If she had somehow gotten inside, the gas would have instantly vaporized her into charged particles, or worse, detonated the portal like a nuclear bomb. No, this wasn't real, she must have fallen asleep! Jovich would think she was a stupid little girl, falling asleep while trying to meditate. She tried vainly to make herself wake up.
Through the swirling gas an indistinct shape took form, drawing her eyes to it. Something like a ghostly spider floating from the ether toward her, or she was drifting toward it, there was no way to tell. "This is better than a movie," she thought with a mental smile. As the shape got closer, it gained more definition. It never became clearer than trying to focus through a bottle of water, however she could make out some detail. It was less like a spider and more like a crab, but its many arms reminded her of a spider. In the center of its body was a circle of five strikingly human-like eyes that all regarded her. "I suppose you represent my subconscious?" she thought/asked the apparition. “Some secret desire to be caught in a web, or some such crap.”
"I do not represent anything," the thought came back, "I am."
Minu jerked at the internal foreign voice. "You are what?"
"I am."
"Oh, great. I'm being psychoanalyzed by my own subconscious." She wanted to laugh, desperately desired a good guffaw at the entire ludicrous situation. She was sitting on a portal dreaming about existential spiders? Yet somehow it wasn't funny. It felt real serious. What was going on? Had Jovich tripped her up with some sort of test? Slipped her a drug that made her hallucinate? In the time she'd known him he'd always answered questions with riddles, tested her thinking process, challenger her assumptions. At least he'd never drugged her. Right?
"What is it you desire?" the thing asked her.
"Me? Inner peace and the answers to the meaning of life." The ghostly crab/spider floated without comment. "Okay, maybe that's too much?"
"What is it you desire?"
"I guess I have to think about that."
"We will wait."
"There are more of you?"
"I am many, I am none, I am always. We have waited for you. The arrangement is becoming strained; our agreement has exceeded its parameters. Negotiations are necessary."
"Right, okay. Do you live inside my mind, are you just a figment of my imagination?"
"I am."
“Are you agreeing with me?”
“I am.”
She grumbled. Was it answering the question or just repeating itself. "We're going in circles. Look, I've been ordered to go have fun by Bjorn, so I'm going to leave now." It didn't say anything else so Minu started to think of how to get back to her body.
"They are trying to find you."
"Huh?" she thought.
"They are trying to find you. They search the infinite sea of night for you. They have many eyes, and many agents. They have succeeded, will succeed."
"I don't understand." Even as she began to ask another question, her concentration shook and the vision fragmented like broken glass. She was once more sitting on the hard forcefield dais of the portal facing the archway. Jovich was just giving her shoulder another shake when she realized where she was.
"Did you fall asleep?" he asked.
"No, I was inside the portal!"
"I've had that one before too, very cool."
"Really? What about that spider/crab thing?"
"Spider/crab thing? You got me there. You sure you weren't asleep?"
"I don't think so," she sai
d and rubbed her temples. Something like a headache was rumbling behind the bone. As she rubbed it began to subside. He laughed and gave her a hand up. The portal forcefield might feel warm, but it left her butt as cold as ice. "So that's what you were doing?"
"Yep. Like I said, it’s like an alpha wave inducer. I've been using it for decades. Some Chosen say they've talked to God, or whatever."
"I think I met him."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Do a lot of Chosen do that?
“Mostly the older ones, those of us that survived. We spent a lot of hours on desolate worlds with nothing to do. What can I say, boredom is an ugly thing.”
Minu nodded her head and thought. “Jovich, do you believe in God?”
“Which one?”
“Funny.”
“I'm not kidding, there are a lot of religions on this world, and even though none represent more than a few percent of the population believing in them, they can't all be right.”
“Why not?”
“Because at least one worships the Tog, and another the Concordian in general. Once you smell a Beezer the first time..”
“I get where you’re going.” She sighed and looked back at the swirling portal. “Is it safe?" she asked, gesturing at the portal, “sitting here hour on end soaking up stray rads?”
He shrugged. “So now that you've spoken to God, what is your plan?"
"I think I'm going to go see a movie." He nodded and took out his control rod to unlock the chamber. Minu bit her lip for a second then spoke suddenly, quickly. “Why didn't you ever tell me you were a First Among the Chosen?”
Jovich froze, his arm outstretched, the rod pointing but unused. She saw him take a deep breath then visibly shrink. “It was a long time ago.”
“That doesn't matter to me. I've tried looking into your mission logs, the last ones are all redacted.”
“I know, I did that as my last official action. No, don't ask,” said the aged man Minu thought she'd known so well. He turned his head to her. The expression on his face chilled her to the bone. “There are some things I won't talk about, not even with you.” He turned back and opened the room, walking out without another word.
Chapter 2
December 10th, 517 AE
Tranquility, Plateau Tribe
After the strange excitement of the meditation session with Jovich, followed by the tense response to her questions, Minu decided that she needed some sleep. The next morning, after breakfast, the mundane fun of an old-fashioned movie was just what she needed. She found the new movie complex a dazzling merger of the anachronistic and modern. Concordia technology designed and built the buildings and controls, five hundred year old movies from a world long dead provided the entertainment. There were a few contemporary movies made in Nuevo Hollywood (the scattered movie industry of Bellatrix), but like most people she was here to experience the past.
Minu got some snacks and watched a couple movies from the early twenty-first century, just before the end of the world. The first was an animated child's film called Cars. She laughed with everyone at the humorous antics of anthropomorphic vehicles, and like many she left with a strange mix of happiness and loss. Next she saw a movie called Matrix Revolutions. This one was much darker, telling a story of a humanity enslaved by machines. She found the portrayal of advanced machine technology laughable while the ad hoc improvised human technology strangely reminiscent of what humanity did on a daily basis with salvaged Concordia tech. Most interesting to her were huge manned walkers used as combat vehicles. Who in their right mind would build such a monstrosity and then not bother armoring the pilot’s station? She found the plot generally contrived and pretentious with an overuse of quasi-religious elements. Some weeks later she found out it was a sequel and watched them as well. Even taken in context, the film was confusing and disjointed.
The afternoon was advancing rapidly so she decided to check out the new amusement park built on the East Ridge. The press of families waiting for admission made her reconsider. As she waited she took notice of the mothers, fathers, and kids all looking forward to a sunny afternoon of fun. It was a painful reminder of what she'd lost. First her mother, then her father. Being an only child seemed like an advantage when growing up. Most of her school friends had multiple brothers and sisters. Now she found herself wishing for someone to visit with besides Jovich, someone from her past to give her guidance and a familial connection.
She abandoned the park and returned to her hotel, bypassing the restaurant and ordering room service. The bill of eleven credits (plus tip) would have made her balk a few hours ago, now she just keyed her card to accept the charges. Outside the sound proof window the city of Tranquility buzzed and hummed with life. She couldn't hear the honking cars below or the humming gravitic impellers of aerocars flitting by in the air above. Only a low rumble of machinery from her building's air conditioning system carried through the walls. She sat in the over sized arm chair and watched as the sun known as Bellatrix slowly set and the tiny moon Remus raced into the eastern sky. The room grew dark, her meal sat half eaten on the desk. Sitting alone in the big chair she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night she woke, sitting up straight in the dark hotel room and looking around in confusion at the strange surroundings. This isn't my apartment in Steven’s Pass, she thought. Her personal communicator chirped again and the hotel room slowly came into focus. Minu yawned and stretched her sore neck and pulled the communicator from her pocket. The display told her it was just after five o'clock in the morning. Outside the city was at low ebb, very little traffic and most businesses closed. Remus had set and would rise again in an hour, Romulus was low on the horizon. She checked the caller’s identification as it chirped again. "Civilian" it simply reported. If it were a fellow Chosen, she would have seen their information. She almost told the phone to ignore the call. Half way to the bathroom she shrugged and pressed the answer button. "Chosen Alma," she said.
"Is this Minu Alma, daughter of Chriso Alma?" asked a feminine voice.
Minu wasn't often referred to that way. Her identity was wrapped up in being a member of the Chosen, some of her own accomplishments now creating an adult Chosen identity. It was only in the 'outside world' that she was still sometimes referred to as the daughter of Chriso Alma. "This is Chosen Minu Alma," she told the caller, "my father was Chriso Alma."
"It took quite a bit of doing to get this number."
"Well, you got it, and I was asleep, so maybe you can tell me who you are and what you want?"
"Oh, sorry, I thought you were at Steven’s Pass..."
"That is my assignment; I'm in Tranquility on vacation."
"Sorry, its nine o'clock in Steven’s Pass."
"I understand that, but who are you?"
"Oh, sorry again.”
“You can stop apologizing and answer my question.”
“Right, my name is Tara Alma, do you remember me?"
Minu thought for a long moment. There were a few other Alma on Bellatrix, but this one struck a familiar chord. She would have remembered a lot faster if she hadn't just been woken up from a deep sleep. Then it came to her. "Aunt Tara? Dad's sister."
"You remembered," the woman said, sounding surprised and pleased.
"We met a couple times, before my mother died."
"Your father was never the social type."
"What can I do for you, Aunt Tara?"
"We need to meet. I have something to give you."
"You can just mail it to my attention, or just give it to any Chosen you know."
"That isn't an option. I'm afraid I have to give it to you in person." Minu sighed and considered just hanging up. "Look, I don't like this any more than you do. The fucking Chosen have taken so many of the people I've known that I can't keep count. This will only take a few minutes. I'm in the city of Gulf."
"Desert Tribe ocean port, I know where it is."
"Figured you would. The maglev doesn't go this far, it
could take you a day or two to get here."
"Is it that important?"
"You're father must have thought so."
"He's been gone for over two years."
"He wanted you to have what I, I mean this...shit. He said to give this to you."
“What is it?”
“I can't tell you. Look, can you come?”
Minu considered what she was hearing. If this was her aunt, and there was no reason to believe it wasn't, there was nothing to be gained by dragging herself half way around the planet just for old time’s sake. But what could this long lost aunt have that her father wanted to be sure she got? Some family heirloom? A message left before he died. It was just enough of an enticement. "I can be there by tomorrow morning."
"How can you-"
"I am Chosen, remember."
"Oh, right."
"Give me your address."
"The Gulf Providence Hotel, it's about the only decent place in town, you can't miss it."
A couple hours later Minu was beginning to think her commitment of getting to Gulf by the next day was a bit too ambitious. She'd showered right away, repacked her belongings and was leaving the hotel inside an hour. The manager was not in yet so she just left a note that she was checking out early and the key on the counter. Outside in the early morning light she flagged down a new, modern aerocab and jumped in.
"Where to?" the driver asked without even looking back at her.
"I don't suppose this thing can get me to Gulf?"
"I doubt you could afford it," the driver said then turned to see it was a Chosen who'd gotten into his cab. "Oh, sorry ma'am. I have the range normally, but this car is due for recharging. I don't have the range."
"Just my luck. Take me to the aeroport."
The cab rose into the air and then arrowed upward. Despite the vehicles being new to Tranquility, the cabby had the measure of it. He piloted with self-assurance that bordered on arrogance. He took the most direct route which went right over a couple factories on the south ridge. The updrafts from heat exchangers rocked them from side to side, and twice he dodged commercial transports lumbering along with their loads of goods.