Outcasts and Gods

by Pam Uphoff

  "Could they find a nearby world, not very different from ours?"

  "It's actually fairly difficult to power down enough to reach something near, without dropping so low in energy that the gate collapses." Jack-the-Ass managed to sound like an expert. "Or what we think of as near; worlds very similar to ours. So we have had very few gates to civilized human worlds. The most easily reached spot appears to be a region where either humans never evolved, or became extinct prior to any widespread development. We’ve identified three teams of . . . constructs who can reach that branch, and we’re looking for more, as that looks like the best destination for colonization."

  "Do not neglect the worlds with people. Civilizations that have taken a slightly different path, that might have advanced science, medicine and so forth, could be valuable sources of information."

  McNiff swallowed. "Yes. We'll need to consider potential problems with unfamiliar bacteria and viruses, traveling both directions."

  Chou shrugged indifferently. "What sort of commercial opportunities are there in the power generation?"

  "It's hard to judge. We haven't even figured out what they do—the electrons just start flowing as long as one of eighteen constructs has what they refer to as a mental grasp of the magnetic bottle. We were trying to test a fusion containment system, when it just happened."

  Rebeccah spotted his hand, fingers crossed. She smirked. The techs were sending gestures his way.

  "Now, sir, for safety's sake, we need to leave the floor. The observation room will give us an excellent view through the rings of the world we connect to." He waved at the safety glass enclosed balcony above the cryogenic equipment.

  The elder Chou allowed himself to be chivvied off. Jack-the-Ass followed. "This idea of yours, exiling the genetically engineered to some of the less desirable worlds. I've heard some religious objectors talking about it. I think widespread support for it might be a lot easier than . . . "

  Rebeccah gritted her teeth as they walked out of hearing distance.

  The rings quickly ramped up to their characteristic high pitched whine. Rebeccah looked at the circle of eight men. They were standing quietly, but to her inner eye they glowed and a circle of energy of a different sort rotated through and around them. She felt the magnetic bottle form, and felt one of the men—or perhaps some parts of all of them cradle it carefully and stabilize it. It started glowing, sparkling, and the power rose and filled it and overflowed and flooded the rings. Suddenly they were singing, not whining. She knew her inner sight and outer weren't seeing the same things, but she was plunged into the fizzing sea of electricity and looked around trying to see anything and everything. A twist of smoke reached out, attracted to something and straining to grab it. Something far away and solid; touched it. The smoking torrent from Earth followed, the gate opened wide.

  The gust of air brought her eyes around; a damp warm wind from the rings was blowing through the door.

  Techs were running about taking measurements, one man had a vid cam on his shoulder taking pictures through the rings. His head jerked up, startled by something he saw through his viewfinder.

  It leaped through the opening like a kangaroo, no, like a cross between a movie 'raptor' and an ostrich. Dinosaur. It crouched and scanned, black and white and sleek. It snapped around at movement and leaped at a tech. Its jaws grabbed the man's head and a foot with prominent central claw slashed. Blood sprayed; cries muffled in the dinosaur's mouth ceased abruptly. The door at the back slammed open and guards poured in, shooting.

  "Close the gate, close the gate!" Someone was shrieking as more raptors leaped through the rings.

  "Don't hit the rings!"

  A tech broke and ran for the emergency door, a raptor leaped toward him. Bullets twisted the dinosaur around in mid leap. Rebeccah rolled out of the way as the man bolted past. Another raptor headed her direction. She slammed the door. Checked that the catch had engaged. What does it look like on the other side? Is there a panic bar, so even a dinosaur can escape?

  She ran around to the front, to the official doors she'd never walked through herself. Through the glass she could see that the frantic level of movement had ceased. The guards were pointing their guns at the floor, and the techs were all looking at one particular gory lump.

  The three bodyguards, guns at ready, came down the stairs. Mr. Chou was being escorted out. Talking as he was led away. " . . . by dinosaurs, actual dinosaurs! You can't buy publicity like this!"

  "Publicity?" Jack looked appalled. "Shouldn't we keep this quiet?"

  "Certainly not! Positive news is just what we need."

  "Positive? Sean's dead!" McNiff was green under the artificial lights.

  Chou waved that away. "No one cares about a single human. But discovering dinosaurs, now that will rivet their attention."

  Rebeccah ran back around the building. The sliding security doors were still closed, but she could see Jason and the others, standing around, staring into the other room. Not one of the regular teams. But no doubt they soon would be. Dinosaurs would be worth their weight in gold. She heard the whoops of the all alert sirens and bolted for the residence. This was not the night to prowl. The Guards would be shooting anything that moved. She was half dragged through her window, and hugged by the worried Charlie. They remained glued to the grill until they saw the team, under guard, escorted home. It was going to be a long wait until morning to get the rest of the news.

  Jason was pale and subdued at breakfast. "You know, I wondered what atrocities we'd commit, if we went through a gate. It never occurred to me that something dangerous would come through the other direction. I worried about bacteria and viruses. We could kill millions of people on another world with an influenza virus of a type they'd never seen." He turned his head and looked at the tables where the trainers were sitting. They were looking back. "We could also contract something across the gate, and kill millions of people here. Think about it."

  Harry nodded. "That's why we've always put the returning scouts in isolation for a week. We're having a meeting this morning. The importance of breaking off immediately when we detect people is one thing I will stress."

  Rebeccah bit her lip. "We are exploring a lot of different worlds. Maybe a different one each time."

  Nods slowly progressed around the room.

  "You're right." Harry scooted his chair around to face her more comfortably. "I guess that's been obvious, from all the different terrains, but I just thought that we were hitting different locations on just a few. But we've never seen dinosaurs before, and we've had some pretty noxious air waft through. Maybe sometimes it was because we'd touched on an active volcano, but it could just as well have been the whole atmosphere."

  Rebeccah swallowed. Made herself speak up. "Have you been measuring the shape of the magnetic field the rings are producing? Perhaps if there is a relationship between the exact shape and which world we connect to, we can control our destination a bit better. Consciously."

  Charlie was scribbling on his pad. "With the prototype, we've seen worlds with cities, wilderness that looks normal, wilderness with strange plants and animals, rocky spots, and rocky spots with unbreathable air. I'd say we've got at least five other types of worlds."

  "In theory there should be an infinite number of possible outcomes. But perhaps there's a limit to how far we can reach with the power we have." Rebeccah froze as she remembered all the people looking at her.

  "Hopefully we don't have to sort through all of them. We just need to figure out how to find the ones we want, over and over again." Deiter scratched his chin. "Somehow."

  Rebeccah shot a half panicked glance toward Wolfgang. He looked open and interested, but he was being very quiet. He shifted now, looked over at AK.

  "You're the expert on finding places, aren't you?"

  She nodded, looking wary.

  "Do you think you could find something like a strong electromagnet, if we left one behind? Since the whole thing seems to run on magnetics . . . "
/>   She frowned. "I haven't a clue. But, how are you going to power it?"

  "It would have to be something self contained. Solar powered, perhaps. And with strict frequency control, so you can find the one you want out of those five or infinity worlds. Do magnets have frequencies? Maybe a pulsing electromagnet? That's the most obvious thing I can think of, to use as a beacon."

  Jack was punching numbers into his phone.

  :: No doubt he'll take credit for it. :: Wolfgang's thought was fleetingly amused. He sent her something remarkably like a warm friendly hug, then retreated behind his usual impenetrable shields.

  Rebeccah sighed in relief. He isn't angry, not at me, not at anything. But I think he has a plan.

  ***

  A quiet tap on the office door. "Doctor Heath? Mr. Mueller would like a word with you if you have the time?" Mueller's obsequious flunky raised an eyebrow over finding them alone together.

  "Certainly," Gisele turned to him. "I'm free now. Harry, I think you should come along. This is something you are going to have to work on, with the kids."

  Harry followed her out. "They prefer to be called Tellies. I think only Richie Xi is underage, any longer."

  "I know, and I shouldn't call them kids even in private, because I will slip in front of them." The elevator zipped them up to the top floor.

  The flunky hustled ahead and presumably either cleared Mueller's docket or woke him up from a nap.

  Harry guessed Mueller's age at forty, mixed Asian and European genotype, but not one of the Chou clan, so far as he knew.

  "Your report was . . . interesting, Dr. Heath." He eyed Harry disfavorably. "I suppose Mr. Murchison might as well sit in." He stalked back to his desk, larger than average, with big man attitude. "So you think every single time we open a gate, it is to somewhere else?"

  Gisele nodded. "There's not a single duplicate in the genetics of the plants. That is, many are of very common species, and the same as each other. But the slight genetic drift, the accumulation of single nucleotide substitutions shows that they have all been out of contact with each other for thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of years. Now, we've also opened the small prototype to hundreds of worlds, without any return samples, so we can't compare them. But the fifty-four we have sampled, not a single duplicate. This is both good and bad news."

  "Oh?"

  Harry huffed out a breath. "It means that there are at least fifty-four different worlds out there that we can explore. Exploit. Sell mining or timbering rights for. Colonize."

  Gisele nodded. "I suspect there are hundreds of easily accessible, uncomplicated worlds. No people who already own the world, no dinosaurs to fight off. Hundreds, just sitting out there."

  "There doesn't seem to be a downside." Mueller eyed Harry. "Except that we will need to be able to return to the same worlds, over and over."

  Harry blinked. "I've been talking to the Tellies, about finding the same spot. You missed our breakfast discussion, Doctor Heath, it was a beaut. One of the Tellies had an idea about using a very strong electromagnet with a solar power source as a beacon. I believe Jack called someone about that. We'll try it, if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. We've solved every other problem so far, I'm sure we'll get around this one, too."

  Mueller nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. Glad to see you have a plan. Keep me informed."

  They walked out together.

  "Something's bothering you, Harry. Out with it."

  "The Tellie with the bright idea about the electromagnetic beacon was Wolfgang."

  Gisele stopped for a moment, then walked with him again. "There's no way he'd know if it would work or not. So is he helping or hindering? Does he even know? And why would he want the program to succeed?"

  Chapter Nineteen

  NewGene Experimental Facilities

  Wisconsin, North American Union

  2 August 2115

  She could hear the techs and managers, but it was a distant mutter. Something about a forest, and sending them all through. "It's steady, send the explorers. Remember, do your own assignment fast and start returning as soon as the last explorer has arrived. Three minutes. Grab and run. Ready, set, go!"

  Her sparkling snake pulsed and shrank as mass passed through the rings. She squeezed in a fast rhythm, more pulses, more people crossing the gate; the power slowly rebuilt. Three minutes? They'd never held a gate for three minutes. Surely that activity had been people coming back? Another pulse. She could hear someone whimpering in the background, then suddenly everything unraveled, alarms were shrieking and someone had her hands cupped and was whispering encouragement. "Just hold it just a few more seconds. Slow the flow gradually, let the sparkles go, everything is all right."

  The electron flow thinned, faded until she was left holding a magnetic field. No current. Someone yelling from a distance.

  And closer. "Let it go now Rebeccah, release it." Dr. Heath was standing by her, holding her hands.

  Rebeccah jerked out of the trance and jerked her hands away. "Don't touch me."

  Dr. Heath paled, but stood and turned away without saying anything.

  Rebeccah pulled off the headset, and peeled off the contact tabs. Mercy was limp on the ground; fainted again. That other doctor was taking her blood pressure. Robin looked tired, fumbling with the tabs.

  Rebeccah stepped over and helped. "I heard them saying something about sending the explorers, and then there was a huge energy drain, in three pulses. How many people went across? Did they all get back?"

  AK had been observing this round. She gestured Rebeccah to come and walked over to the door to the ring room. "Let's see if they're talking."

  The door was propped open a few inches, cold air oozed around the edge of it, foggy with condensed water.

  ". . . have to figure out how to open it to the same place."

  "Don't you think it would have been a good idea to figure that out first?" Harry's voice, sounding angry.

  "Ha! This way they'll have a reason to do it."

  "The kids are not holding back. They are learning and developing at a headlong pace, doing new things all the time."

  "Well. If they want their friends back, this is one thing they'll have to learn really quickly."

  "Why didn't you at least wait until we had the magnetic beacons ready?"

  "Right, Wolfgang's grand idea? The person who knows the least about the gates? Sorry, Harry, but the Tellies are going to have to do it themselves, for their friends."

  Harry flapped his arms in exasperation. "And why the hell did you send so many? That was a tremendous power drain. Send a trio through for a thirty second snatch and grab, and you might have something to show for it. What moron put you in charge of choosing personnel for exploration?"

  "Doctor Mueller. So you'd better . . . "

  AK pulled the door open and walked through. She frowned from Harry to Jack. "Who went through and didn't come back?"

  Harry glared at Jack. "The Orange team."

  Rebeccah hid her face in her hands. "I thought I heard something about 'three minutes', that's longer than we've ever held a gate open."

  "Well, now you have a reason to find the same place and hold the gate, don't you?" Jack smirked.

  Just when I thought I'd hate Harry forever, I come face-to-face with this jerk. Who'd he give a blow job, to earn this?

  It sounded like they'd just lost . . . "The entire Orange Team? All thirty-five of them? How did you expect to get them all through and back in three minutes?" Rebeccah was aghast, as Jack nodded, still looking smug.

  "As soon as Mercy has recovered, we'll try to find them. At a guess, it'll be three days." Robin looked pretty pale herself. She turned and walked out. Rebeccah followed her.

  "I don't believe he just did that." AK fidgeted impatiently at the sliding door as it checked and decided it could let them out.

  "It's not like we're real people, not to him. You'd think he'd be a bit more careful about a valuable commodity, though. Losing thirty-fi
ve of us at once is kind of conspicuous." The sun was low on the horizon; she didn't see Charlie until he moved. Quite ridiculously tall. Rumors were circulating that the men weren't ever going to stop growing.

  "Thirty-five of us? You're not crying so you must not have incinerated them."

  "Jack-the-Ass sent the whole exploration team through at once, destabilized the rings and Mercy fainted. Once she's recovered we'll try to find the same place and if they've survived three days, recover them." AK stalked away.

  "He sent . . . They're all gone?" Charlie slipped his arm around Rebeccah's shoulder, and turned to follow. "Do you have any idea of the conditions on the other side?"

  "Breathable air, or they wouldn't have sent the team. I thought I heard Jack say something about 'forest' so presumably is wasn't a barren wasteland." Rebeccah closed her eyes and let Charlie steer.

  "You gals still working in threes?"

  "It seems to work best for us this way. I sure wish we could fit another five in there."

  "Heh. Eight of us can open a Dimensional Interface, but we can't see whatever it is that AK sees. Did you hear about the killer mosquitos, last time?"

  Rebeccah giggled. "Everyone's heard about them. The atmospheric pressure must have been awfully high on the other side, to blow them through like that. I think you may have found a membrane that didn't get hit by the Dinosaur killer asteroid. So it still has the thicker atmosphere."

  "Could be. We were experimenting with having Jason in the group, but me still doing the steering. I swear that man attracts primitive worlds."

  "So long as there aren't dinosaurs waiting on the far side, I'm cool with primitive. I like the theory that we're looking at semi-parallel worlds; but constantly splitting Universes is a bit tough on the 'conservation of mass and energy' deal, you know?"

  "Yeah. And the scientists won't talk to us. I tried to make an appointment to talk to the Mule, and got a cold shoulder." Charlie chuckled. "Dr. Mueller called Pax a 'good boy' a couple of days ago, like he was barely competent to take out the garbage. Or a pet."