Virtual

by S A Pavli

  "Let’s hope that's the case," said Melanie. “Anja, be very careful exploring the moon base. It's a dangerous environment and we want no more accidents. I'd like you to finish there in three or four days and join us here. We have a whole planet to explore.”

  "You don't have to tell me Melanie. This place holds bad memories for me and I can't wait to get away,” she replied.

  After a few minutes of practical discussions Anja signed off and they were alone again.

  "Where were we?" she asked. He pursed his lips.

  "Getting to know each other?”

  "Is that in a biblical sense?" she asked, eyes twinkling.

  "Oh yes. Very biblical," he said, as he stood to take her in his arms. As they came together, they sensed and felt each others passion in a way they had never done before. They were unable to resist and gave themselves up to it, their minds and bodies merging into a single entity. The humble sex act had become something greater, an interaction of the emotions and the spirit as well as the body that raised it to new heights of intimacy. Emotions and feelings merged and became almost indistinguishable. The biblical expression “To know someone” became, for the first time, literally true.

  Chapter 25

  Andy trod carefully over the rubble strewn floor, his breathing heavy in his ears. Space suits may have come a long way, but they were still heavy, uncomfortable and stiff, and trying to do any work, even in the reduced gravity, soon revealed one's level of physical fitness. Jo's been telling me I should spend more time in the gym, he mused ruefully. He had just walked down twenty flights of stairs, following the Major, who did not seem to be breathing heavily at all. Anja followed behind him, all three of them roped together. It was an over precaution in his opinion, but Anja had become obsessive about safety.

  "I think this is the ground floor,” announced the Major. They had left the hover car parked on the floor where they had found the robot, as it was unable to negotiate the stairs.

  "That's a bonus," said Anja. “The stairs being intact all the way I mean.” They were all equipped with lights on their helmets, and extra lights strapped to their chests, leaving their arms free. Even so, their lights hardly made an impact on the huge space that they were in.

  "Looks like the ground floor is a single open space," said the Major. They walked carefully forward and suddenly confronted what looked like a guard rail. It curved away in both directions, seemingly following the curve of the building. The other side of the rail revealed a deep dark chasm.

  "Bloody hell! What the hell is down there? exclaimed the Major. As they shone their lights into the chasm, huge shapes loomed up at them. Anja gave a gasp, certain that something had moved.

  "It's just the shadows," said the Major calmly.

  "It looks like a generator room," said Andy, carefully shining his lights at the bulky machines beneath them.

  "But up here, they should get power from the sun. Why would they need generators?” asked the Major.

  "It's like a generator room. Didn’t say it is," said Andy tersely.

  "There must be a way down," said Anja. “Let's follow the guard rail.” Sure enough, twenty metres further along, there was a break in the guard rail and a set of stairs led down into the chasm.

  "More stairs,” muttered Andy, as they made their way down them. Andy reckoned that they must have gone down a further seven to ten metres before they got to the ground level. Machines of all shapes and sizes loomed around them,

  "What is this place?” muttered the Major.

  "Look over there," said Anja, pointing to the centre of the room. A shape, dark and threatening loomed above all the other clutter.

  "Let's get closer," said Andy.

  "I'm not sure,” began Anja. “I have a bad feeling about this place.” The Major came close to her and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  "It's just old machinery. It's all dead," he said.

  "Still bloody spooky,” she muttered. He chuckled.

  "Yep, that it is.” There was a hiss and a crackle from their intercom and Anja gave a startled shriek, before giggling in embarrassment.

  "Hello guys, this is Jo. How’re you doing?”

  "Hello Jo, everything's fine," replied Anja. “We've found a huge basement stuffed with machinery. No idea what it's for but we're having a look around.”

  "Ooh goody, more machinery," replied Jo. “Can you bring some back?”

  "It's very large, and bolted to the floor, so I think the answer to that is no," replied Anja.

  "Mmm, see if you can work out what it's for,” she replied. “Try to get some good close up video. And next time, I m going down there.” Anja smiled at Jo's enthusiasm, which lifted her spirits. They made their way deeper into the maze of machinery, heading for the centre where the tall shape was. They discovered that they were walking down an aisle with a low guard rail on either side. It was leading directly to the centre. As they approached the tall shape it resolved itself into what appeared to be two pillars, then as they got closer, a tall circular arch. A couple of short chunky shapes loomed out of the darkness, seemingly guarding the pillars of the arch.

  "More robots,” hissed Andy, as they came to a startled halt. They played their lights on them, and indeed they were identical to the one they had moved to the Chameleon. They moved closer cautiously, examining the newcomers up and down.

  "They look in even better shape than the one we have,” murmured Andy.

  "Over there," said Anja, pointing her light into a side alcove. “Another of the robots stood immovable in the passage between giant machines. "I wonder how many more of our little friends there are down here,” mused Anja.

  Andy turned his attention to the arch. It was ten metres in circumference, a metre thick, and it seemed to disappear into the floor beneath them. Andy rapped it with his knuckles. It was solid steel.

  "Do you know what that looks like?” he mused, after a couple of minutes of examination.

  "A huge round steel torus," said Anja.

  "Not far wrong," said Andy. “The torus of a Warp Drive.” There was silence from the others.

  "Um… this is a starship then?” asked the Major.

  "Obviously not, but it may be an experimental Warp Drive.” The intercom crackled again and Jo's voice came from their speakers. .

  "Andy, are you sure?”

  "Of course not love, I'm just guessing. Why do you ask?”

  "Well, it doesn't make sense. I'm looking at the pictures from your cameras. You can't test a Warp Drive in that way. It has to be attached to something, like a starship and free to move. If you applied power to that thing, it would just disappear into Hyperspace, ripping out all it's power conduits, and taking half the room with it.”

  "Mmm, not a good test,” agreed Andy.

  "Perhaps our little octopoid aliens were not fully au fait with Warp theory," said the Major. “And they haven t got around to testing their little toy.”

  "I can't believe that they were that incompetent," said Jo. “There's some pretty impressive machinery there. I'll get Ray up here and see what he thinks.”

  "OK Jo, we'll rummage around here and photograph as much stuff as we can," said Anja. Andy cautiously walked under the huge arch. The walkway ended a couple of metres past the other side with a guard rail and a wall of equipment .

  "Can we rig up more lights in here Anja?" he asked. “And get LeBlanc down here to have a good look around. I have a feeling this place is somehow very important.”

  "If we can find a way in from the ground floor, that will make life much easier,” said Anja.

  "There must be a ground floor entrance. They won 't have carried this stuff up and down flights of stairs," said Jo.

  "Let's take a stroll around the periphery," said Anja. They made their way back along the walkway, and found that another walkway took them around the periphery of the building. They spotted another two of the robots standing forlornly next to the dead machinery as if waiting for it to come to life again.
r />   "They look very sad and alone," said Anja.

  "If we can power them up again, they’ll have some story to tell," said Andy. Suddenly he stopped, his torch playing up and down the outside wall.

  "Do they look like airlock doors to you?" he asked.

  "Damn!” exclaimed Anja. “Of course access is via an airlock. How are we going to open the bloody things without power?”

  "If they had power, would they operate after all this time?” mused Andy.

  "Have you heard of the Gordian Knot?” asked the Major.

  "Sorry?" said Andy, in a distracted voice.

  "I think it involves Alexander the Great," said Anja. “And I think I get your drift.”

  "What are you two talking about?" said Andy.

  "Alexander the Great was told by the inhabitants of this particular country, I've forgotten their name, that he could not be their ruler unless he could undo the famous Gordian knot. Some ancient knotted rope or other that they held in high esteem. Alexander simply chopped it in half with his sword, uttering the immortal words to the effect ; what can't be solved, can be dissolved. Or some such.” explained the Major.

  "You military men would know something like that,” laughed Andy. “So what do you suggest, blowing a hole in the outside wall?”

  "Exactly," said the Major.

  "Come on Pete, we can't do that. We could cause any amount of damage,” protested Andy.

  "You forget that you are talking to a munitions expert," said the Major. “I could plant a shaped charge here that would just blow a hole on the wall and not damage anything else.”

  "We could just use a torch," said Anja. The Major shook his head.

  "Take too long. Too much trouble. I could blow these doors off in minutes.”

  "You really like blowing things up don't you?" said Anja, smiling to herself. Peter could hear the laughter in her voice and grinned inside his helmet.

  "OK General Alexander,” laughed Anja. “Let's get back to the ship and get what we need.”

  "Yeah, let's blow these doors off,” muttered Andy. “I don't fancy twenty flights of stairs every time we want to come here.”

  Their return to the ship went without a problem and after removing their suits and showering, the explorers sat with hot drinks to examine video footage of their trip. Josephine and LeBlanc had organised and collated the material, extracting still shots and focusing on what they considered to be interesting features.

  LeBlanc examined the arch for some time before declaring himself baffled.

  "It has similarities to a Warp Drive torus, but as Jo said, it makes no sense," he muttered.

  "The A-Grav field uses a similar principle," said Jo. “Do you think they may be experimenting with artificial gravity?”

  "Too big," said La Blanc. “AG generators are very compact, otherwise you can't focus the gravity well. If the torus is too big you need immense power to drive it. There is one other possibility though.” He was scowling thoughtfully at the screen. “Xara, what information do you have on the work of Professor Chang, Martin or Mathew. . ?”

  "How do you spell his name? asked the Computer. LeBlanc spelt the name and their was a pause.

  "I have nothing on that name,” Xara replied. “Could it be Chan?”

  "It could be,” agreed LeBlanc. “If he is a professor of Physics.”

  "Yes, he is, or was professor of Physics at Princeton. But I have no information as to his current whereabouts or work.”

  "Do you have information on his work? Particularly his thesis on the Multi -verse Switch?”

  "Yes, but only rudimentary information," replied the computer. “Here is an index.” LeBlanc studied the index for a few seconds and selected one section. He scanned through it while the others waited patiently. After a few minutes he leaned back thoughtfully.

  "It could be," he muttered. The others made impatient noises at him and he held up a restraining hand. “A Multi-Verse Switch.” Josephine scowled.

  "I thought that was just theory," she said.

  "It is, and nobody has ever built one yet," said LeBlanc. “The power requirements are too immense. Even this thing here is trivial by comparison with what would be needed.”

  "Maybe the Octopoids know something we don't," said Anja.

  "Maybe, but a species that hasn’t built a working Warp Drive is unlikely to have the technology to build a Multi-Verse Switch," said LeBlanc. “But that doesn't mean they won't try.”

  "Why build it here, on the moon?” asked Andy. LeBlanc shook his head.

  "Who knows? Perhaps they were worried about some sort of cataclysmic accident. It's an awful lot of trouble to go to.”

  "I wonder if Alden's database has any more info?” mused Anja. “Xara, would you contact Alden and ask him what he has on Professor Chan and his theories, and anything on the Multi-Verse Switch?”

  "Certainly Captain," replied Xara. Anja stretched and yawned.

  "Some dinner, some sleep, and then we can prepare the next trip down. Major, get your explosives prepared.”

  Chapter 26

  When Mark saw the pictures of the moon arch it took him a moment or two to make the connection. Melanie was faster.

  "It's the same as the arch in the square,” she blurted.

  "Exactly what I was thinking,” he agreed. He instructed Alden to display the two objects side by side.

  "They look identical," said Melanie. They were in the lounge taking coffee when the information came across from the Chameleon. They reluctantly tore themselves away from gazing into each others eyes and re-living their recent experience to examine the video footage. The Captain of the starship, and the University professor had clearly never experienced true love in their lives, and they were completely possessed by it.

  "They would look identical," said Mark. “They are both arches. But are they the same thing?”

  "Too much of a coincidence for them not to be," said Melanie.

  "Alden, do you have any idea what this object may be?” asked Mark.

  "It bears similarities to a Warp Drive Torus," said Alden.

  "Agreed, but it obviously isn't attached to a starship. What is the point of it sitting on the ground? Unless it's an experiment?”

  "It's not surprising that a technology at this level of development should be experimenting with Warp," said Melanie. "Interesting. How sad that would be if their civilisation was wiped out just when they were at the point of expanding into the galaxy.”

  "There is one other item of information of relevance,” interrupted Alden.

  "Go on Alden," said Mark.

  "The work of Professor Mathew Chan on the Multi-Verse Switch and the possibility of using the theory to design a Trans-Gate.”

  "I thought those theories were just speculation," said Melanie.

  "They were, twenty years ago, when this article was written. I have no further information, but professor Chan's design for a Trans-Gate looks like these objects.” Mark and Melanie looked at each other in disbelief.

  "Bloody hell, a Star-Gate,” muttered Mark.

  "Not a Star-Gate, but a Trans-Gate," said Alden.

  "What's the difference Alden?” asked Melanie.

  "The range. A Trans-Gate has a short range, a maximum of a few million miles. It cannot take you to the stars.”

  "Is this a limitation of the theory, or a practical one?”

  "Practical. In theory the range could be infinite, but the power and focusing requirements would be prohibitive or physically impossible to achieve.”

  "Starships are not a bad way to get around,” smiled Melanie.

  "Wonderful way to get around,” agreed Mark. They reverted to gazing soulfully into each other's eyes for a few seconds, before Mark re -focused.

  "Alden, please communicate our findings to the crew of the Chameleon. D’you know what this might mean? If there is one gate on the moon, and another gate here.”

  "We haven t found a gate here, just a sculpture of one, Melanie reminded him.

 
"We’d better get looking then,” he replied.

  "This is just one city Mark. There may not be a gate here,” she warned.

  "Yes true, but since we are here, it’s a good place to start.”

  "I was hoping that we may get in a few field trips, " she said. “There’s not much biological material here. If we could take one of the hover cars and have a look at some of the more fertile regions?”

  "Don’t see why not, " he said. “Let me know the locations and I’ll take you myself.”

  "Would you? she smiled. “That’ll be great.”

  "I suspect James will want to come," he said. She laughed at his lugubrious expression and he joined her. Their intimacy was broken by the entrance of James Walters.

  "Hey you two, what's the joke?”

  "Um thought we may have a little picnic somewhere, just the three of us," said Mark. “Melanie wants to get in a few field trips.”

  "Yeah, not much to see here. Other than broken buildings and machinery. Not much use to biologists and geologists,” agreed Walters. “But you and Jimmy don't need to come Mark. Leslie is bound to want to go. You and Jimmy can continue with exploring the city.” Mark started to protest, then realised the logic of what he was saying. They were all capable of piloting the hover cars at ground level, they were largely automatic anyway. He was therefore redundant. Visions of some personal time with Melanie receded to vanishing point.

  "Ah I guess you're right," he said reluctantly. Melanie looked pained, but said nothing.

  Some time later, while all five of the crew were having their evening meal, they got a communication from LeBlanc. He was hugely excited.

  "Damn it!” he exclaimed. “The field of physics is getting so big, one person can't keep up. I should have known about Chan's paper on Trans-Gate theory.”

  "No need to fall on your sword yet Ray," said Walters.

  "How close do you think we are to building a Trans-Gate?” asked Melanie.

  "The Multi-Verse Switch is impossible, but the Trans-Gate is do-able. I have no idea if anyone has obtained the funding to do it though. It's hugely expensive and it may not be a practicable proposition,” he replied.