by Rayann Marse
Gyrch caught her arm, pulling her back towards him. Then he kissed her. It was clumsy and awkward, way too much saliva, a brief moment where their teeth knocked together and made them both grunt in discomfort. But, when they broke away, breathing heavy and staring at one another, Stella decided it had been the best kiss of her life.
The moment was slightly spoiled when she caught a glimpse of Aurora past Gyrch's arm. The Dutchwoman smiled wide, showing all her teeth; she started pumping her fist in the air triumphantly, mouthing the words "go Stella!"
Stella turned and started walking again. This time, she stayed at Gyrch's side, shoving her fingers between his, letting her entire hand be swallowed up in his. It was the safest she had ever felt, which was saying an awful lot considering the inhospitable, alien place they had come to.
"I enjoyed that," said Gyrch.
"Yeah?" She looked up at him. "How long have you been waiting to do it?"
"Since I first saw you."
"Oh, really now?"
"Yes," he said, staring straight forward. Still just as shy as ever. She would break him of that, eventually.
"I enjoyed it, too," she said.
A smile flickered across his face. He glanced in her direction, moving only his eyes. "Why didn't you want me to tell Richard about Kozue?"
"Because," said Stella, "you know he's going to tell everything we say to the Mindseat."
"But they already know about Kozue's disappearance. I'm certain everyone on the ship does, by now."
Stella shook her head. "There's more to it than that..."
She told him her theory of what had happened in Amnay's room. At first he looked shocked and afraid, perhaps concerned that his beloved woman had lost her mind. But by the end, as she rehashed topics such as quantum entanglement, wormholes, and folded spacetime, he started to calm down and listen intently. As a servant, she thought he probably didn't have much time for studying, but she knew there was a scientist in him. He was curious and intelligent.
"I don't know much about the subject of science," he admitted. "But you do, it seems. If you say it is possible, then it must be. I know Menin have tried to achieve it before, but it never worked, of course. I didn't think Amnay would ever do anything noteworthy, let alone achieve such an impossible goal... I guess I misjudged him."
"You're not alone," said Stella. "Ignu thought he could beat Amnay, and look what happened."
There was a sudden sound behind them, a laugh of disbelief followed by an angry bark. Stella laughed. It seemed Aurora had just got done telling Ignu the same theory.
"Why hide this?" Gyrch asked, looking nervously over his shoulder.
"Because I have a friend," Stella replied. "Her name is Kozue, and she's out there somewhere. Safe, for now. I don't want to risk giving the Mindseat the information they need to capture her. Because if they did, Amnay would be killed, and what would become of her?"
Gyrch nodded in understanding. "You do understand, I hope, that this must be the event Richard spoke of? The one that ruined his Predictive Web?"
"Yes, I know."
"It sounds like a marvelous tool. It could be used to navigate around all potential conflicts, to prevent war and to bring about friendship between human and Menin. It might even be used to save Sybil."
"I know that, too."
"Then we should probably try and fix it."
"Yes. I just need time to think. Please don't say anything. Not yet. Okay?"
He answered in the affirmative a moment later, squeezing her hand and bending to give her another quick kiss.
***
They made a full circuit of the bubble and ended up back at the tower, where they had started. By now, Richard was out on the steps, holding out a little black box and talking to it.
"What is he holding?" Gyrch asked.
Ignu and Aurora were directly behind now, close enough to hear everything they said.
"Mobile amplifier," Stella said. "Used to carry TIDE around with you. It has a pretty good range, up to twenty miles, with increasing latency beyond that."
"So he can carry his friend around," Gyrch said, in a dreamy voice. "That's nice."
As the exiles approached, Richard started bounding down the steps toward them.
"I was wondering where you'd gone off to!" he called. "Let me show you where you'll be staying. Did you walk around the bubble? I do it every day! It's lovely. I'm afraid the weather never changes much around here; every day is pretty much like any other... But it's such an alien place, you never really get used to it, anyway. Every time you see it, you can't help but marvel."
He said all this in a fast profusion of words as he bounced along ahead of them, almost manic in his excitement. It was most endearing, this show of glee at the arrival of new guests. Stella started to warm to him a bit more. Perhaps, if she spoke to him in confidence...
He led them down to the road and to a big building at one end. Inside, huge machines and an assembly line and a small group of Menin worked along in near silence.
"This is our factory," said Richard. "Using materials we collect from outside, we can build pretty much anything. A lot of our furniture and building materials are crafted from packed soil, strengthened with resin made from a plentiful material found underground... damn near indestructible. But anyway, your rooms are this way. Sorry we had to put you up in the factory, of all places. Ever since we first predicted your arrival, years ago, I've been planning to build a house for you all. But it's funny, always seems like something more urgent keeps popping up. And when we received word from the Mindseat that you were coming, I just had to laugh." He shook his head. "You can never underestimate the power of the human mind to forget. It's a little impressive when you think about it..."
By now, they had reached their rooms, tucked into a far corner of the factory. It was sufficiently far from the tiny bit of noise generated by the machines that they heard not a single thing. Their feet scuffed over the dull stone-lined floor as they walked through cavernous spaces, their voices echoing forever.
"This place is huge," Aurora said.
Richard nodded. "Used to be for storage. We haven't used it in ages. I had my guys do a bit of work in here, put some fixtures in to turn it into livable space. If you need anything more, don't hesitate to ask. And as soon as we get this problem with the Web figured out, I can start getting those houses built."
"Houses?" said Aurora. "Like, plural?"
"Yes," said Richard. "The prediction showed two, ahem, couples. Two mating pairs, if you will."
Gyrch started looking around, pretending not to hear Ignu's laughter.
"Houses are nice," said Aurora, giving her mate a little nudge to shut him up. "But they seem kind of... permanent."
Richard stared at her. "Well, yes... It's no trouble, really. We have so much room, we don't even know what to do with the majority of it. So, why not?"
"Richard," Stella said. "Do you have any idea... I mean, did the Mindseat happen to tell you how long our exile would last? They said it would be for an 'indefinite' period, which could really mean anything..."
"Oh," said Richard, covering his mouth with a hand, as though he had said something terrible. "Oh, I'm sorry. No, I'm afraid they didn't say. But, well, I was told the same thing, you see. Something of that sort, anyway. And it's been twelve years, without a hint of ending. I'm just one man, really, I don't have all the facts, but..."
"I see," said Stella. "Thanks."
"Look," he said, "don't take it from me. The Mindseat, for all their predicting, can be quite unpredictable, themselves. If they have reason to, they will call you back to their ship. It could very easily happen. But the chances that you will be sent back to Earth are quite low, I'm afraid. So it's good that you've made friends, you two. It's good that you have found a place. If I were you, I would get settled in for a nice long stay."
Stella nodded, trying not to let the horror show on her face.
Despite her best efforts, her eyes soon began to water, and s
ting and her bottom lip started wobbling in and out of its own accord.
The rest of her life, spent inside a bubble a mile across with nothing but dust and dead rock outside. It was not what she had imagined for herself as a young girl, staring up at the stars and wondering what was out there.
Chapter Fifteen
Richard, in a panic, left the rooms as soon as Stella started crying. It seemed he wasn't quite prepared for that type of human interaction.
And neither was Aurora. She had never been good at the typical ‘girl’ things like letting people cry on your shoulder and knowing all the right things to say. She knew that if she stayed and made an attempt to cheer the singer up, she might just make things worse.
Plus, she wasn't in the best place, herself. So she pulled Ignu's arms around her and led him deeper into their dusty, cavernous quarters, while Gyrch stared after them and then, after a long moment, gave Stella a few pats on the back.
"What is wrong with her?" Ignu asked. His voice was as gruff and careless as ever; he was merely curious, not worried.
"It's called crying," Aurora asked. "Don't you Menin ever do it?"
He dodged the question, which Aurora took for a yes; he probably did cry, on a rare occasion, but in total privacy.
"Is she crying because of our exile?" asked Ignu.
"I'm sure that's the main reason. But she'll be fine. Anyway..." She turned to him, putting her hands in the crooks of his elbows. "What do you make of this Predictive Web business?" she asked. "You were so quiet. And you're so hard to read sometimes..."
"I was thinking about what I would do to you the next time we were alone," Ignu said, grinning.
She stared up at him, one eyebrow raised, and he finally conceded with a dry laugh.
"I think it is an abomination," he told her. "The Mindseat has gone too far. I feel your translator friend is on to something, trying to start this coup of hers, but she's doing it for the wrong reason. Obviously, the Mindseat has become too big, too puffed up by their delusions. They must be overthrown. No one should be allowed to know the future, especially not those with the power to act on such knowledge. It's against nature."
"Well said," Aurora replied.
He turned his head to the side, grunting. "I'm not an idiot. This human might think he is clever, but he is far stupider than I am. We Menin are more powerful than any human. In body, and in mind. He doesn't understand how our way of life developed. It was a deliberate simplification, a way to cope with extreme conditions. A return to normalcy even as our lives went through great change. Whatever humans have gone through, we have also gone through it, but much earlier. We have had more time to think, to plan, to understand..."
He spat, launching a glob of saliva into a dim, distant corner of the room.
Aurora reached up, grabbing his chin and twisting it so that he faced her.
"Stop talking," she said, and with her other hand she reached for his crotch and began massaging him to life.
Chapter Fifteen
Stella gave Gyrch a hasty excuse, which he didn't buy at all, but he let her slip away regardless.
She went across the shrink-wrapped floor of the colony, toward the tower and up the steps. Once she got inside and noticed the immense silence, the hush that had fallen over the place, she had a strong feeling that she should not be there. But she needed to know the answers to her questions, no matter what, and so she strode boldly forward and climbed the steps.
Carefully, quietly, she ascended to the second level. There was no barrier separating the top of the stairs from the rest of the space, just a dainty railing, and so she was able to poke just the top of her head up and see what was happening.
Richard was there, standing before the TIDE pedestal. Todd's voice drifted to her ears, the words quite and indecipherable, and the personality's hologram was not visible. Instead, a scene from some movie or camera feed was playing out. It was broken, shattered into artifacted segments that played over and over again, or ran backward, or froze momentarily, smearing into uncertain static.
With a jolt, Stella realized she was looking at Ignu. The scene played several times in succession. The huge Menin was falling, falling, falling, hitting the floor, blood pouring from wounds to his chest.
And some other male stood over him, triumphant, but she couldn't make out his face. It was like a dream, a scene made up of vague impressions rather than hard details.
"...about fifty percent," she heard Todd saying, his voice rising a bit, full of curiosity.
"That's the best we've had in a while," Richard mumbled. "Seems like maybe we're coming out on the other end of it. But this looks like it's going to happen on the Menin ship. Is there any hint of how Ignu's going to get back there?"
"Not that I can see," Todd replied.
Stella had an idea. And, as a fellow scientist, she felt obliged to share it. She climbed the rest of the way up the stairs, rising into the open. And as soon as half her body was visible, Richard or Todd abruptly cut the Predictive feed. The hologram of Todd returned; he was standing with exaggerated calmness, arms crossed, the fingers of one hand tapping idly at his other arm.
"Stella," Richard said, turning to greet her. "I didn't hear you come in. How are you settling?"
Nothing there to suggest he was afraid or angry. Perhaps a bit embarrassed, but that was all.
"Cut the shit," said Stella. "I saw all of that, just now."
Richard gave her a grave look. "I wish you hadn't. For everyone's sake."
"But I think I know what it was," she told him.
Now he and Todd shared a very brief glance, each making the same exact face. It was a sign that they were indeed very good friends, and probably spent too much time together.
"Aurora told me about it, "Stella went on. "When Ignu was killing everyone he could find to challenge, he was approached by another male named Slych. Another skilled warrior. Slych challenged Ignu, an attempt to beat him to the punch. The challenge never went through, because we were all exiled. Maybe what you were seeing was the challenge that never happened."
Richard started rubbing his chin. "And when was this challenge meant to take place?"
Stella thought back. "It might have been happening right around now. If Ignu had waited out the entire grace period."
Richard nodded. "Well, that could be. But if it would have happened already, before now, it would be impossible for us to have just seen it."
"How come?" Stella asked.
"The Web doesn't work that way. There is no overflow space, where unprocessed predictions can pile up. We see them as they arrive, fully formed; we never get predictions based on things that have already happened. And, frankly, we never get predictions based on things that are currently happening, and rarely for things that will happen very near in the future."
Todd spoke, now. "The chances of this particular event happening are reading at around fifty percent. The circumstances have not occurred yet; the event, if it does transpire, will be in the future."
"You mean," said Stella, "that Ignu might still be in danger?"
"There is a fifty-fifty shot of that, yes," said Richard.
"And it would happen back on the Menin ship."
"Indeed," Todd replied. "It's very unfortunate that you saw this particular prediction, Stella."
"Oh?" she said, turning to face the hologram. "What does it have to do with me?"
"Nothing in particular, that we know of. But you should not have witnessed it, anyway. The potential for paradox is too high. For instance, with this knowledge, Ignu could possibly completely avoid returning to the Menin ship. If he did so, the chance of this prediction occurring would actually drop to zero percent. It would destroy the Web all over again, a butterfly effect rippling across the universe. Such a tiny change in the natural order of events can have disastrous consequences."
"I know the theories," said Stella. "But you're talking about a fifty percent chance, here. Is it really that big of a deal? Universal implications?"
>
"It cannot be underestimated, I assure you," said Richard. "There's a reason why Todd and I, the only two people who ever see these predictions directly, are in such total isolation. We cannot interfere with events. Not directly."
"Has a paradox happened before?" asked Stella.
"If it had," said Todd, "it's possible that none of us would be standing here talking. As you know, the prediction of your arrival here was made several years ago. So far, events have been following the course that our Web has been laying out all along. But we are very concerned, now that we're in the dark. It seems the timeline of the universe has encountered a glitch. An unknown variable has arisen. Once we know what it is, we can reprogram the Web and account for it. Until then, anything at all could be happening. Paradoxes could be rising left and right, and we would have no idea."
"A wave of destruction ripples across creation," Richard says, "traveling faster than the speed of light. It cannot be seen or known, because by the time it is close enough to see or know, you have already been destroyed..."
Stella shivered, feeling cold dread seeping through her. "What are you saying?"
"Oh!" Richard perked up. "That? Just a line from a book I read once. By some doom-and-gloom guy. Fascinating read, full of mind-blowing ideas, but not really in line with my way of thinking."
"Richard is an optimist," said Todd, rolling his eyes.
"That I am," Richard replied. "I think everything will work out fine. I'm just impatient to get it solved so I can know the answers. That's all."
He was facing away from the two people he shared the room with, staring at some distant object. An object that probably wasn't even there; something interior and personal. He was, Stella knew from personal experience, lost somewhere in that murky sea between practice and theory. Struggling to put his passions and wildest ideas to a practical use.
She approached him, putting a friendly hand on his back.
"I can keep quiet," she said. "I understand."