An older woman sitting ahead of Darshana stood up. “What are you saying, Master Nirupak? What cause do we have to believe they are malicious?”
“Our instruments have detected dozens of vessels around a central black orb. This orb may be relatively small, but its mass is truly colossal.” Nirupak turned around, and the hologram changed to show the entire solar system and a curved red line that weaved around several marked planets. “As the orb passes through our solar system, it distorts the orbits of objects nearby. For most of the planets, the change is small, but it is detectable.” He turned back around to face the audience. “Even stranger, the object appears to be made of no material we know of, and our instruments confirm that its albedo is virtually zero. Absolutely no light is reflected off of its surface. This is an exceedingly rare quality, and my team calculates that a miniature wormhole is the most likely possibility.”
Darshana’s face grew cold as the inevitability of this dawned on her.
Master Nirupak turned to his left where Minister Shradha was sitting, made a slight hand motion, and nodded.
“For our safety,” he continued, “I have asked the minister to confirm that this room is secure, and she assures me that it is impenetrable. I must stress that security is paramount in a situation of this magnitude.” Nirupak drew his fingers through his long black hair. “I value this council’s time, so I will be as concise as I can. We have detected that the object, along with the vessels surrounding it, are on an intersection path with Avani. If the wormhole maintains its current course, there is little we can do to stop such an object.”
The entire room erupted with chatter. Many people raised their voices, and soon, chaos threatened to overtake the room.
Minister Shradha stood up, her voice rising above the chatter. “Please, dear members! Calm yourselves and allow Master Nirupak to finish. You will want to hear what he has to say!”
The room grew hushed.
Now hanging in silence, Darshana got the feeling that few of them had ever heard the minister raise her voice before.
“Thank you,” she said. “Please continue, Master Nirupak.”
He nodded and turned to the stunned audience. “The minister is correct. My fellow council members, I am grateful to say that we have a contingency plan. As difficult as this might be to believe, we have recovered an ancient artifact buried under the South Pole. Earlier this month, the Ashraya Observatory detected an unusual burst of radiation emanating from extreme southern latitudes. We dispatched a crew and discovered significant disturbances in the ice, showing highly anomalous melting patterns. When we followed the disturbances underground, we came upon a machine within a chamber far below the ice.”
A hush once again fell upon the room as Master Nirupak held their attention in a death grip.
“I want to stress that the images I am about to show you are above top secret and must never leave this room. And if any of this information leaks into the info-dumps, the perpetrator will be banned from this council for life and found guilty of treason. Do I make myself clear?”
There was a general consensus as people all around Darshana nodded in agreement.
“Good,” he nodded and the hologram behind him changed to show a large upright ring, carved out of a metallic stone. To either side of the ring were two control panels that curved outward, and all of it was set atop a stone pedestal in the middle of an icy cave. The ring looked utterly lifeless.
“So far, we have been unable to activate the machine, but our best scientists are hard at work understanding its control consoles. From our best measurements, we estimate it to be over 500,000 years old. And based on the diagrams and depictions we’ve found engraved on the machine, we believe it to be an interstellar transportation device.”
Master Nirupak paused and surveyed the crowd. They hung on his every word.
“I don’t want to lead you astray, dear council. It is likely that difficult times are ahead of us. We face our most desperate challenge, perhaps the most desperate in our entire history. But my team and I believe there is hope. We are close to activating the device, which will allow us to traverse the light-years in seconds, completely unharmed. We have already done extensive research into deep viewing technology, and we hypothesize this device uses similar principles. The writing on the machine appears to be explicitly designed to be easy to decipher, and my team and I calculate that this machine is the best chance we have of surviving this encounter, should these entities reveal themselves as malicious.”
A woman in the second row stood up. “Master Nirupak, are we sure that this situation is so dire that we would be forced to leave our world? It can’t be our only option, can it?”
He looked down to her, his expression darkening. “This object fulfills every prediction astrophysics makes about wormholes. And if another species is bringing it to our world, our options become limited quite quickly. Please realize that, because of security clearance, there are certain aspects of our findings that I cannot yet share. Suffice to say that my team and I, as well as many top ranking peace ministers, believe that this is our best chance.” He looked up to address the rest of the audience. “I understand what this might sound like. It sounds like a long shot, but it may be our only chance of survival.”
The minister walked up and put her hand on Nirupak’s shoulder. “Master Nirupak is right. We have explored every possibility. The range of our spacecraft is still too limited to risk evacuating people by that method. Our ships would move like cold syrup compared to the speed of these dark vessels.” The hologram behind her faded. “And as head of the United Island Peace council, I fully support Nirupak’s plan.”
“Thank you, minister.” Nirupak’s gaze reached out into the audience, and Darshana could feel the anxiety within him. “Once the machine is activated, we’ll begin sending probes and posting regular updates to the council. Until then, we ask that you all remain calm. We are doing all that we can.”
A strange silence hung in the room, broken only by Minister Shradha as she walked up to the podium.
“This meeting is adjourned. Tomorrow morning we shall hold another meeting at sunrise with an update on Nirupak’s progress. Good evening.”
Once again, Darshana heard a low horn ring out around the space, and the guards meticulously opened each of the ten doors.
As she watched the dozens of council members file out, Darshana noticed that most of them wore a dazed expression.
With as much stealth as she could muster, Darshana waited until the last council member filed out of the room and navigated the labyrinthine network of corridors to an office at the far end of an inconspicuous hall. With care, she slipped past people as doors opened and closed, and eventually found the entrance to Nirupak’s office. Of course, the door was locked.
Darshana considered pressing her thumb to the door pad, asking for access, but she decided against it. Days before, when she had checked her citizen status, she’d learned a great deal about the rights, or lack thereof, that deceased citizens such as herself were granted. It didn’t surprise her in the least. If she had been in their position, and one of her best scientists had disappeared without a trace twelve years ago, she’d think they were dead by now too.
The thumb plate would instantly check her print against the entire Ashraya database, a decidedly bad idea. And even if her clearance level had somehow remained, the systems would post a priority alert that a person twelve years dead was trying to gain access. Not only would it blow her cover, but it could draw attention to Yantrik as well, since an agent would no doubt be sent to her home to interview Vivek.
Feeling out of options, she sighed and knocked on the door.
To her surprise, it opened, revealing the confused face of Master Nirupak. He looked directly through her, furrowing his thick dark eyebrows.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
Darshana looked behind her. No one else was around, so she pressed a small indentation on the bronze square at her waist, appearing in a fl
ash before his eyes.
“Zounds!” Nirupak shouted, jumping back. “Stay back!”
As he studied her, his face melted into astonishment.
“Darshana?” he whispered. “Is it really you? But how?”
“Many things are possible.” She smiled. “Can I come in?”
Nirupak was stunned, his chocolate-brown eyes wide with shock. “Uh, yes! Please, come in.” He led her inside to a small sofa across from a wide crystal desk.
She sat down, and he looked her over carefully.
“Darshana, where have you been? And for that matter, how are you alive?” he said, his voice rising. “Everyone thought you were dead!”
“I know.” She pursed her lips. “Nirupak, I wish there were an easier way to say this, but I was taken, abducted by members of a species with terrible power. And I believe they’re the same creatures who threaten our world now.”
Nirupak’s expression twisted. “Where did they take you?”
“Onto one of their craft. Then they imprisoned me on a distant world, I think they fed off of me in some way, too. I know it sounds crazy, Nirupak, but for most of the past twelve years, I was trapped on a planet within a dark nebula, thousands of light-years from here. And I wouldn’t tell you all of this if I didn’t have evidence to support my story.”
He studied her carefully. “This is unprecedented, Darshana. I’ve missed you, but your story is somewhat difficult to believe.”
“Well, we have a—” She struggled to think of some form of proof that didn’t involve exposing Yantrik or his ship. Zahn’s photodisc was gone. Navika was gone, too.
She gasped. “We were there! Niru, we were there when Rodhas disintegrated. We have sensor data from the explosion that is far more precise than what you could detect here. I can provide it at a moment’s notice.” She paused. “You are aware that planet Rodhas has been reduced to a debris field, right?”
Nirupak’s face hardened, and he nodded. “Yes. Our chief astronomers still can’t agree on the ultimate ramifications, but they are certain that this solar system will never be the same. And you saw that up close? How did you end up there?”
“My son,” she said, looking down to her folded hands, “he saved me.”
“Zahn? I heard he completely dropped off the radar, didn’t even ask for leave, just stopped showing up. Is that why he disappeared? He was with you? The board did not enjoy suspending his service. He was one of our best technicians, but he gave us no choice.”
“Yes, it was Zahn. He saved me.” She was about to tell him that Zahn had actually done far more than that, but held back. She sensed there was something Nirupak wasn’t telling her.
He shook his head and laughed to himself. “This is pretty unbelievable, Darshana, seeing you after all this time. I’m really happy you’re all right, even if I don’t fully understand it.”
Darshana smiled. “It’s good to see you too.”
“And I can understand why you’d be sneaking around here with a cloaking device.” His expression darkened as his gaze drifted down to her waist. “A near perfect camouflage, but it doesn’t look anything like our experimental models. Is it your own design, or is it something you picked up on this far-flung planet you mentioned?”
“You could say that. But my reason for being here is far more important than that. Niru, I want to help you with the machine.”
He squinted at her. “Is that why you came here?”
“Yes, I know I can help.”
He inhaled deeply. “I don’t know, Darshana. It’ll be difficult explaining your presence to the team. My position doesn’t have unlimited power. I can’t invent a new identity for you.”
“I’m not asking that, but there must be a way I can help. If we’re going to survive this, then you need me, Niru. Remember the gravity lens? Who designed the main concept for that? Who brought that team together? I don’t mean to boast, but I know I can help your team. Please, give me that chance.”
His expression hardened. “You know, I didn’t want to say any more than necessary at the council meeting, but since you’ve had experience with these creatures, you should be aware of the facts. We’ve observed fissures consuming planets like this before, in distant nebulae. The council believed that they were natural, but from everything we’re seeing I believe they were created by these creatures all along. And we have seen these fissures consume masses far larger than planets.” He inhaled slowly. “Darshana, these things eat stars.”
She winced. “You think I don’t know that? What do you think they were trying to do to Rodhas? We beat them there, but apparently they’re not giving up.”
“My superiors can’t even decide what they are, Darshana! Most in the upper echelons believe they are a highly developed civilization, but there are whisperings that some even believe they are demons.” He shook his head. “Our people just aren’t prepared for this, Darshana.”
“Then let me help you!”
“Fine!” Nirupak groaned. “I’m going out on a limb here, but I’ll see what I can do about getting you a new identity.”
“What? Why can’t we tell them the truth? I can understand keeping this from the public, but don’t the observatory scientists deserve to know what’s going on?”
“Darshana, those scientists are members of the public! You can meet the head of the Peace Ministers if you’d like. But most people aren’t ready for your story. We must hide your identity, in the interest of the common good. Perhaps once we activate the gate, we can talk about it again.”
She shook her head. “Niru, the common good wants this culture of secrecy to stop. Listen, to activate the gate, you just need to apply a drop of blood to the ring icon on its console.”
He frowned at her. “Is that so? And why would you know how to use the gate?”
“I told you. Zahn used the gate to jump to the planet where I was being held captive. It’s a long story, but there are a lot more forces at work here than what we can see. Just try it. The gate will activate.”
“And what if I have trouble believing you?”
“Niru, all I want is for us to survive this and to see my son again. Until you’re ready to accept the full ramifications of my help, then you’re not ready for it.” Darshana stood up. “You know, I wanted to invite you over for dinner, but I’m not sure you’re ready for that either.” She turned and walked to the door.
“Listen, I won’t know if your method works until tomorrow.” Nirupak winced. “We’ve had a cave collapse, and I’ve lost contact with the team. A new team is digging them out now, and I head down there tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, still facing the door, frozen. “They didn’t survive, did they?”
He sighed. “Did you know that, before you disappeared, everyone considered you the most talented scientist at the observatory? That’s why I put you in charge of the gravity lens project. I never told you that before, but it’s true.”
“Come to my place in an hour,” she said. “If you’re serious about saving our people, then you’ll take me with you tomorrow. Or not. We can talk about it. Just meet me in an hour. Please.”
“Okay,” he whispered.
“Thank you.”
She pressed a small bump on the bronze square and vanished. Nirupak must have opened the door remotely, because it slid open at that moment. And as silently as a bird of prey, Darshana slipped back into the labyrinth, bound for the surface.
CHAPTER 24
ECCENTRIC DIRECTIONS
After the ceremony, Asha stayed around to talk to a couple of people that she and Zahn had sat next to. They were quite friendly and seemed to revere her for how far she had come to return home. All the while, Asha was careful to keep her distance from Jyana and Torin. She wanted to avoid them until after their plan had been put into motion.
Once Manu dismissed the final guard on duty, he asked the few lingering citizens to leave, explaining that the platform they were standing on was going to be phased out. This worked, and soon,
only Asha, Zahn, and Manu remained on the glowing disc that hung so far above the Empress Monument.
With wide arm motions, Manu created a thin bubble of energy around all three of them, growing thicker by the second.
“Within this bubble,” he explained, “no one will be able to perceive us. Are you both ready? We must move quickly.”
They both nodded.
“Good; then jump into my pocket.” He had since changed back into his traditional white robe, and opened it slightly to reveal a large inner pocket. “Hurry.”
Asha furrowed her eyebrows in concentration and diminished in size.
“More,” Manu said. “Almost there.”
As she shrank, it was as if Manu was growing enormous, his pocket now as large as the sunset suite. Soon, she and Zahn were small enough to fit, and Manu spread the pocket open.
“Come on!” Manu said. “Fly in, and we can go.”
Zahn sighed. “I just hope this works.”
“It will,” Asha said and flew inside first, the soft inner pocket of Manu’s robe enveloping them both. All around her, she could only see a faint glittering light, except for a narrow gap above.
Zahn flew inside, nearly crashing right into her.
“Careful!”
“Sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how big this pocket was.”
Asha was about to see if she could push against the edges of the pocket, when Manu called down to them.
“Be silent. I am about to skip to the hidden entrance where more royal guards will be waiting. If you must, exchange thought-nuggets, but keep them between yourselves, all right?”
The Mirage on the Brink of Oblivion (The Epic of Aravinda Book 3) Page 14