“We don’t really know,” Eril said. “But one thing is sure, we didn’t travel through space. Kithri and I started out on Stayman, a world of great arid plains with only a few marginal settlements, nothing even remotely like the crystal city. We were mining in the Manitous, that mountain range on the eastern side of the forest, and Lennart there fell out of an interdimensional time gap.”
“Oh, is that what happened to me?” Lennart said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“An interdimensional time gap?” Brianna raised one eyebrow, although her expression remained perfectly serious.
Praying he wouldn’t sound totally unbelievable, Eril related how Lennart had been caught up in a time-space disturbance and had appeared suddenly in the tunnel.
“Actually,” said Lennart, “I was outside the ship, repairing the medial ramscoop struts. We were travelling at a significant fraction of light-speed and if a lightstorm had caught us crooked like that... I’ve seen what was left of the Verne, half the tail blasted into nothing and no sign of the crew. Anyway, one moment everything was going fine, the next I looked up and there was the storm. I was sure I was dead but the next moment these two were welcoming me to the future.”
“The...future?” Brianna repeated.
“By all the geological and astronomical evidence, we’re still on the same planet, in the same time,” Eril said. “Lennart’s been frozen — suspended you might say — for millenia.”
Brianna folded her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. “I see what you’re suggesting. It’s never been proven, of course, but it’s not impossible by the current theory of temporal mechanics. If Lennart were ‘suspended’ in a mass-space-time anomaly, then whatever factor released him would experience an equivalent vectorial displacement.”
“Huh?” said Lennart and Eril together.
“When Lennart fell out of the thing, we got knocked sideways,” Kithri said. When they all stared at her, she added, “I think.”
“Theoretically — and I must stress the hypothetical nature of this line of reasoning,” Brianna gestured with her hands as she talked, “time isn’t linear but divergent. At each intersection point, each crucial event, two or more subsidiary time-lines are produced.”
“Like the world where the dinosaurs didn’t become extinct and went on to explore space?” said Lennart.
“It’s all speculation at this point,” Brianna said. “And if you tried it again with Lennart, since he’s the focal point of the displacement, you might just as easily travel linearly instead of horizontally. Back to his own time, I’d guess. But if you did come from an alternate probability world...and we could find some way to reverse the process...and open a door between our two worlds...”
She raised her shoulders in a little shiver of excitement. “The Institute scientists will be crawling over each other to help you get back, not to mention creating a two-way portal.”
“It’s my guess all we have to do to return to our own world is to retrace our steps,” Eril said, ignoring Kithri’s snort of derision. “But if that doesn’t work, we’d be grateful for your help.”
Brianna’s green eyes narrowed speculatively. “What were you mining here? There were no commercial options when the Institute issued the excavation permits.”
For a moment, Eril considered keeping the jaydium a secret. It might make a powerful bargaining tool, yet Kithri had been so damned sensitive about his even mentioning it to Lennart.
That was just conversation, but this is important! To hell with her paranoia.
“We were chipping jaydium, deep in the tunnels,” he said.
“I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood you,” Brianna blinked. “Did you say...jaydium?”
“Maybe you call it something else and your translator garbled the meaning,” Eril suggested.
“I’ve never heard of the stuff before,” said Lennart.
“I know what jaydium is.” Brianna got to her feet and began to pace. “Everyone knows that faster-than-light spaceflight requires jaydium. The Dominion wouldn’t exist without it. Slow-light generation makes the relativity warp impossible. But how could it be here?”
“Where else?” Eril said, startled. “This is the only place it’s found. That’s why the Federation kept the spacelanes open through the war.”
“Only place?” Brianna paused, her eyes widening. “Oh no, our surveys would never have missed it or released this planet for scientific study if there were even the remotest possibility. Don’t you realize how rare — and how essential, how irreplaceable — jaydium is?”
“Where does yours come from?” Lennart asked mildly.
Brianna lowered her eyes.
“And you asked us to trust you,” Kithri said.
Brianna looked up, stung. “Not here. It’s restricted to two planets, the most heavily guarded in the Dominion Sphere.”
“Oh!” Kithri laughed humorlessly. “That’s not so bad. In our world, it’s found on only one planet. But I bet you don’t pay your miners any better.”
Brianna looked puzzled for a moment before saying, “If there’s a new source of jaydium here, we can’t leave it undefended. Come on, I’ll take you back to my camp and call the Institute authorities.”
Chapter 11
Kithri followed Eril and Brianna through the shadowed parkland, Lennart at her side. The short grass cushioned her step and gave off a tangy smell. She glanced up at the stars but they were blotted out across half the sky. In the other direction, one moon burned stark and white through a rift in the clouds. The first cool drops of rain spattered her face.
Rain! Memories flooded up in her that last evening on Albion, walking in the pastel twilight through a field of tall, waving skyflowers. She’d stayed out until the rain had washed away her tears and she was soaked to the skin. Her father hadn’t said a word.
“Hurry!” called Brianna. She’d been heading toward the city, but now she veered off into a clump of low trees. Dense foliage blocked all but a gentle mist and the faintest dappling of moonlight. Low branches pressed in on both sides, forcing them to go single file.
Kithri walked slowly, feeling her way through the near darkness. Her moment of astonished joy at the rainfall had vanished. It was difficult to hurry and think at the same time, especially when a chorus of contradictory voices took up residence in her skull.
How do I know this Dominion isn’t just as bad as the Fifth Fed? one part of her said. I’ll probably end up stranded on some backdust world that’s even worse than Stayman.
I should’ve insisted on staying behind with ‘Wacker, another part grumbled.Who knows what might happen to it out there?
And yet, to see the Dominion woman’s camp, to ride in her ships, maybe to reach those stars that were so like the ones she’d dreamed of...
Kithri tripped on a knotted tree root, caught herself and swore under her breath. Lennart, who was walking behind her, hooked one hand under her elbow to steady her.
“Th-thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
Your...pleasure?
She wasn’t sure what to say to Lennart, caught between a flood of questions about his world and an irrational fear of revealing to Brianna how little they knew each other, as if that were a fatal weakness. Miserably, she turned back to her deliberations.
Everyone else is so pleased by what’s happening, and all I think about is the things that can go wrong.
She ought to be excited or at least pleased. This was what she dreamed about, wasn’t it — a whole new world to explore? And, as Eril had pointed out, she was off Stayman. Then what the hell was wrong with her?
Brianna’s voice floated back to her. “I can’t handle the security for a jaydium find by myself,” she was saying to Eril. Her speech sounded as natural as if she were speaking their own language without any mechanical intermediary. The echo effect had completely disappeared.
“If it’s really there, we can’t risk someone else discovering it before we get to it and either mining the stu
ff for themselves or holding it for ransom.”
“We’ll cooperate in any way we can,” Eril said.
Kithri scowled again, her saliva turning acid. “Why should you trust us, anyway?” she asked Brianna. “How do you know we aren’t pirates ourselves? We could’ve lied about the jaydium.”
“My scientific training enables me to understand cultures from their physical remains,” Brianna replied over her shoulder. “You couldn’t fool me even if you tried. I instructed the translator to analyze your language for aggressive concepts, and it would have picked up a mercenary’s specialized jargon. Your naivete is one of the most convincing arguments for the truth of your story.”
Kithri shut her mouth and vowed not to put her feet anywhere near it again.
o0o
At the center of Brianna’s camp stood a wide-based dome tent ringed with smaller storage bubbles. The mottled green and ivory structure blended with the grove as if an artist had designed the ideal marriage of tree and human dwelling. Brianna swung open the translucent door and led them inside.
Lights flashed on automatically at their entrance. Kithri glanced around, trying not to look impressed. Inside the spacious central laboratory, instruments and specimen containers covered the rows of freestanding shelving and tables. She recognized spectrophotometers, miniaturized nucleomagnetic resonators, qualitative analysis gear and a computer for analysis and data storage. She knew enough about scientific apparatus to realize the sophistication — and cost — of Brianna’s equipment.
Yet the laboratory seemed subtly wrong — too big, too spread out, as if it had been designed for more than a single researcher. Kithri had only her memories of her father’s tiny laboratory to compare it to. It had been compact from efficiency, not necessity. On Stayman, space had hardly been at a premium, but it made no sense to walk halfway across the room to take a sample from one instrument to another. Here, the areas that looked well-used were scattered, interspersed with others that seemed to be mere storage.
Brianna seated herself at a desk and removed the protective cover of a small instrument that seemed to be mostly mirrors and a square keypad. “You’re familiar with the principle of the neo-ansible?”
“Something like that,” Eril answered.
Brianna settled the threadwork headset over her ears and activated the device. She tapped a complex pattern on the keypad. After a few moments, the triangular screen flashed yellow.
Kithri noticed the lines of Brianna’s profile and how the folds of her jumpsuit hugged her full breasts and hips. She rubbed her nose where it had been broken and remembered Avery’s pristine beauty. Then she saw the half-healed scars, pink and raised, covering Brianna’s hands. The nails were short and misshapen, some of them blackened as if they’d grown out after being smashed.
Kithri turned on one heel and stroke to the far side of the laboratory. Lennart followed her at a more leisurely pace.
“Do you recognize any of this stuff?”
“Not the specifics, no,” she said. “But it all looks familiar.” She ran one finger along a small lensed instrument, noticing the film of dust. “This looks like a hologrammatic camera, but I’ve only seen them in textbooks. Nobody on Stayman could afford one.”
“Then what was all that business with the force-field? I thought from the way you protected it that your jaydium was valuable.”
“Yes, but we miners weren’t the ones making the fortunes. I don’t know who did, maybe the processors. Then there was the cost of shipping anything — anything at all — to Stayman once the war started.”
“War...” Lennart took a deep breath and his cheeks paled. “I thought I’d never hear that word refer to something outside the history books. We thought we’d ended armed conflict once and forever, back in the 2500s. All those slogans about war being a contagion and we’d found the final vaccine. Guess we were wrong on that score, heyh? F-T-L travel coexisting with warfare — civilization sure went forward and backward at the same time.”
Lennart jerked his chin in Eril’s direction. “He’s carrying around more than a few scars from it.”
“How would you know that?”
“The way he throws around orders, the way he snuck us into the city. Suddenly all that paranoia makes sense. What a world I’ve fallen into.”
Brianna disconnected the neo-ansible. “I’ve made my report,” she said, “but they want me to check out your find before they investigate. The regular Institute ship isn’t due to make its rounds here for months. It would take a verified discovery to merit a special probe.”
“We’ve got a half-load of jaydium back at our camp,” he said. “It was all we cut before Lennart made his appearance. Would that be proof enough?”
Something inside Kithri exploded. “In case you forgot, the jaydium is mine!” She rushed toward them, barely avoiding slamming one hip into a table laden with equipment. “It won’t do you a damned bit of good to look at it. The stuff’s completely sealed with ash by now.”
“I have the equipment to expose a slice for examination,” Brianna said calmly. “I’d have to rely on spectrographic analysis for a positive identification anyway. Even then I couldn’t be sure the source was local and not an imported sample. It would be better if I could inspect the site itself to prove your specimen isn’t a plant. There would be details you couldn’t fake.”
“Fine, we can — ” Eril began.
“Just how do you propose to get her out there?” Kithri broke in. She halted in front of Eril and put both hands on her hips. “Walk?”
“In the scrubjet, of course.”
“Brushwacker seats two, no passengers, and besides —”
“We carried Lennart back in the hold.”
Kithri jabbed one thumb in Brianna’s direction. “She’d end up like a corkscrew after five hours!”
“I wasn’t planning on flying her there singlo,” Eril retorted.
“Are you crazy? Fly duo with her in the hold? With her? Have you forgotten what happened the first time?”
Eril set his lips together. For the first time, his voice took on an edge to match hers. “Have you forgotten what didn’t happen?”
“What’s duo?” Brianna asked in a puzzled voice.
“Eril, don’t even think about telling her!” Kithri snarled.
“Kithri, what is wrong with you?” he said. “Why are you acting like this?”
“What’s the matter with me? How about what’s the matter with you?” Kithri knew she was making a fool of herself, but she couldn’t stop. The words kept pouring from her mouth, faster and hotter than ever. Her hands moved of their own accord, gesturing wildly.
“This Brianna seems harmless enough, but what about her Dominion or those space pirates she keeps talking about? We’re the outsiders here. Who knows what ‘nasty surprises’ are waiting for us? And you’re greeting them all with open arms, giving away everything I’ve got! Our lives won’t be worth a thing! We’ll have nothing left to bargain with — nothing!”
Brianna leapt to her feet, knocking over the low padded stool she’d been sitting on. Her white face stood out in stark contrast to the glowing red of her lips. Even angry, she was lovely. “Bargaining — for lives, for knowledge? What kind of monsters do you think we are? The Dominion is a union of civilized worlds and I am a scientist —”
“Kithri, you’ve gone too far,” Eril said. “What do you think is going on here? Some hole-in-the-rock bazaar? We’re talking about an alliance with Brianna and her people. It could be the greatest thing that’s happened to us since...since space-flight itself! And I won’t let you ruin it with these petty, provincial hysterics. If the Dominion needs more information about the jaydium site, it’s a small price for what we’ll get back. I’m taking Brianna out there if I have to fly her singlo.”
Kithri set her lips together, her face burning as if suddenly scalded. Her eyes went from his honey-gold skin to Brianna’s delicately flushed cheeks. Whatever was waiting for them on this new world, she wouldn�
�t be a part of it. She might have been trapped on Stayman, the stars beyond her reach, but at least she had Brushwacker. At least she had what little hope she could wrest from running jaydium. Now all she wanted was to run as far and as fast as possible.
Lennart touched her arm gently. She flinched as if he had struck her. “Come outside with me for a moment, would you?”
Outside, the dome’s artificial lights clashed with the brilliant apricot dawn now drenching the eastern sky, and the night squawkers had grown quiet. The rain had stopped, but the moist, chilly air made Kithri shiver. Lennart put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. She didn’t protest.
“You got to calm down, lady, or you and the boss there are gonna start World War Four.”
“What the hell do you — ” Kithri stopped herself. Lennart, after all, hardly qualified as an enemy. She couldn’t think straight, not with her heart making such a racket between her ears. “But those two, they’re going to...”
“You’re feeling pissed and left out, but that’s not the end of things,” Lennart said. “You’re not alone, you know.”
She took a deep breath, searching for words. Eril’s enthusiasm for the crystal city, with its mysterious, desolate beauty, was one thing. The city wasn’t stealing her scrubjet as well as her jaydium. But ever since they’d woken up in the clutches of that Brianna woman...
“Now that we know this world is part of a space-faring Dominion, Eril won’t listen to sense,” she stumbled. “It’s never occurred to him to ask what I — what either of us wants.”
“Eril and that Brianna, I’ve seen their type before,” Lennart nodded. “They’re always so excited about what they’re doing, they never look to see who’s bringing up the rear.”
“And that’s us?”
“In a matter of speaking. I don’t know what your story is, but I always figured that being a loner was the price of space flight. It never seemed like too much to pay before. Most other people couldn’t understand what I wanted, anyway. But maybe it was the opposite, that I never got close to them because I knew I’d only have to leave.”
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