by A. K. DuBoff
He hesitated. “I don’t know… but it must be. The Gate tech is what the Erebus protested. If our abilities hurt them, too, then why not say something?”
Saera met his gaze. “Maybe it’s just at the ‘annoying’ level when we use our abilities, but the power draw of the Gates puts it over the top. Like, the difference between a mosquito bite versus a tarantula hawk sting.”
Wil’s stomach clenched. He sensed that Saera had tapped into something significant that he hadn’t previously considered. “No one would want to deal with a swarm of mosquitos for eternity. You’d take control measures.”
Saera’s face went slack. “What if they did? We don’t know anything about our Taran ancestors. What telekinetic abilities used to be a lot stronger and more widespread in Tarans? What if the Erebus also gave some sort of ‘gift’ to people back then to mitigate the problem?”
Wil’s mind raced. “The Priesthood didn’t create the Generation Cycle that diminished abilities until… what? Eight hundred years ago? The ancient war was much older than that.”
“Everything is cyclical. Abilities are becoming more prevalent in the population again. You and our children are in a new bracket of potential. If that advancement continues…”
“Eventually, you’d need another reset,” he realized.
“And, ultimately, you’d decide that the cycle was getting tedious and you may as well eradicate the problem in its entirety.”
As Wil thought about it, a chill ran through his core. “Is it possible the Erebus have been interfering with us for millennia without our knowledge?”
“We know they can mess with people’s minds, like they did with the Andvari. Who’s to say they haven’t planted ideas in other individual’s heads at key junctures over the centuries, to nudge developments in directions of their choosing?”
“It’s possible.”
“Could they have been manipulating the Priesthood regarding all those awful genetic interventions?” Saera asked.
He shook his head. “Honestly, it would make me feel better to know that it was alien influence rather than people willing to perpetrate such evil against their own kind, but who knows?”
Saera bit her lip. “Unless the Erebus admit it, I guess it’s all speculation.”
“I certainly don’t like the implications, if this is the case.”
“No kidding. If they’ve manipulated people in the past to accomplish their objectives, then who might they be working with now?”
“That’s a very concerning thought.” He crossed his arms.
She let out a long breath. “My instincts tell me they’re gearing up for something significant.”
“I have no doubt,” he agreed. “Though I can’t begin to assess the best way to prepare countermeasures.”
“I do have one thought in that regard.”
“Please, I welcome any suggestion.”
She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. “A kill switch. If we’re going to install these power cores throughout the Empire and there is some kind of built-in trap we haven’t detected, we need a way to shut down the whole network.”
“Excellent idea.”
“The obvious downside to that is it would take whatever is connected to it offline, too.”
“I wonder if it would be possible to build in redundancy to the system? Use the new cores as the primary but have the old MPS cores as backup.”
“That might be possible in some systems but not others.”
“At this point, I’ll take any edge we can get. I’ll think about what configuration might work and pass it onto the Lynaedans to build into the design.”
She started to give him a look, but he headed her off. “I know, I need to delegate, but after what happened with the transdimensional imager, it’s worth it for me to be involved in some things.”
“I was actually going to say that working on these engineering problems would be a better use of your time than TSS administration. Michael and I can pick up some of your load so you can focus on that.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. You can jump back in when it comes to battle strategy, but right now, digging into technical details is the best use of your skills.”
“All right. I just hope we’re making the correct assumptions.”
“Time will tell.”
Chapter 9
They’re watching me. I know it. Lexi saw the suspicion on every face in the Alliance’s office. Their gazes followed her, singling her out from the crowd at meals and when she passed by in the halls. Maybe it was only in her head, but she couldn’t be sure.
She hadn’t yet been able to drag herself from her bunk for the morning. Nerves had her stomach twisted and her chest tight while her mind raced through how the Alliance would call her out on her betrayal. Would they hold her captive? Kick her out? Kill her?
She’d tried to keep her head down since the incident, working on marketing copy for the Alliance, inventorying, and her other assorted tasks within the organization. Frankly, she was surprised no one had come for her already. She’d been avoiding Oren as much as possible, since he was the most likely person of authority to question her about what she had been doing when she followed the manager to his back-alley meeting. Though no one had asked her about it, she sensed the weight of the unspoken question in everyone’s gaze. It was a coordinated campaign to get her to crack—to spill all the information about her co-conspirators. Everything was falling apart.
“Lexi?”
She jumped at the sound of her name, then relaxed against her pillow when she recognized Kira’s voice. “Hey,” she replied, needing to force out the word through her tight throat.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, great!” She faked a smile.
Kira saw right through it, though Lexi hoped it would be less obvious over the security cameras. “Glad to hear it,” she said aloud but then met Lexi’s gaze and added telepathically, “I haven’t noticed any changes. You’re good, at least for now.”
“It doesn’t feel that way.”
Kira sat down on the edge of Lexi’s bunk, the frame letting out a groan of protest at the extra weight. “You need to relax. Don’t hide in here. Acting weird is going to bring unwanted attention.”
“It’s too late. They’re onto me. It’s not safe here.” Lexi took a shaky breath.
Kira placed her hand on Lexi’s shoulder. “Leon is working a lead. Be patient for just a little longer.”
“Okay.”
“I really liked that new recruitment pamphlet you put together. Nice work,” Kira said. She patted Lexi on her knee and then rose from the bed.
“Thanks.”
Lexi sat on her bunk for another minute. Get up. Just make it through the day.
For now, she had to continue playing her part. She had to hold onto the hope that she might soon see the Alliance unmasked.
She slipped off her bunk and stood up, setting her jaw and narrowing her eyes into a resolute gaze. This isn’t over yet. We’ll get them.
— — —
A broad smile spread across Raena’s face as she sat down to lunch in the courtyard with Ryan, scanning over a new report on her handheld. “Thank the stars!”
“Good news?” her husband asked.
“Just got the word that we’ve received government approval to implement my plan for floating the monuments above the dig sites at five test locations on Earth.”
“Really?” he asked incredulously before catching himself and clearing his throat. “Rather, I’m glad to hear that worked out.”
“It is a little crazy, isn’t it?” Raena laughed. “I can’t wait to see the footage of everything hovering in the air. It’s going to be spectacular.”
“How, exactly, is that going to work…?”
She waved off the question with a dismissive flip of her hand. “Repurposing some mining techniques and assistance from a team of TSS Agents. It’s a big project and an unusual combination of things, but it’s qu
ite workable with the resources at our disposal.”
“Well, it’s good to hear it’s coming together. I’ll leave that to you.” Ryan’s shoulders were slumped slightly and he was lacking his usual spark.
Raena leaned forward with concern, her eyebrows drawing together. “Hey, did something happen?”
“More of the same,” he said. “People saying that we’re abusing our position and will drive the Empire into the ground.”
“I can’t blame them, really. On Earth, I would have thought that any family that referred to itself as a ‘dynasty’ didn’t deserve generations after generations of wealth and power, either.”
“With the realities of governance for a galactic-scale civilization, though, passing on generational knowledge makes the most sense,” Ryan said. “Electing leaders for short terms would be madness.”
“I know, and now that we have the approval rating system in place, we need to perform,” she said.
Ryan tousled his dark hair. “That reality doesn’t change public perception. It also doesn’t help that we’re isolated here on an island. I look back on my ancestors and the placement of the original Dainetris estate, and it was in the middle of the town. The Sietinen estate is remote, by comparison. But this,” he made an all-encompassing gesture, “takes seclusion to a whole other level. We make all these claims about being open, and trying to be ‘one of the people’, but we literally live on a private island. Doesn’t send a great message.”
“That’s true.” She sighed. “I really don’t want to move again.”
“I don’t believe that’s the right solution. I was thinking more in terms of opening up the property to visitors.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear what Ivan has to say about the security risks of that.” The Captain of the Guard for their estate was a touch over-protective in Raena’s opinion, though that was certainly preferable to the alternative. He had spent his first year of training with the TSS, as was customary for those in service to highborn, and had become a good friend to them over the years.
“There are ways to mitigate those concerns,” Ryan replied. “I don’t necessarily mean in the main manor. We could arrange for tours of the grounds and set aside a little time each day to meet with visitors.”
“In other words, make us more accessible.”
“Precisely. We can keep shields around ourselves. I think face-to-face time would go a long way for public relations.”
“I like that idea.” She smiled. “You’re right, everything we’ve been doing has been at a distance.”
“You’re tackling the problems on Earth by letting people get a closer look. Maybe we need to do the same here.”
“I like it.”
He sat back in his seat. “I didn’t expect us to get this leadership thing right from the outset, but I try to be a little better every day. I think getting a closer connection to our people is what we need to grow.”
“Agreed.” She held up her glass to toast. “To progress.”
— — —
Wil had been staring at power core schematics for so long that his eyes had started to go bleary.
The design really was ingenious—so simple in its execution and scalable in a way that never would have been possible with MPS’ design. He still marveled at how the Erebus had been able to engineer such a perfect system using readily available materials. If he was being honest, he was a little envious that he hadn’t seen the solution himself.
In going over the design at various scales—from a miniaturized version for use in personal equipment to large units for industrial applications—he was starting to see an array of possibilities for how they could put the core into practice. Nothing, as yet, offered significant protection from the Erebus, though he wasn’t even sure that was possible. In the immediate term, offering a quality of life increase for Taran citizens seemed like a worthwhile starting point.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door, followed by a telepathic caress from Saera.
“Come on in,” he replied in his mind.
She opened the door and gave him a concerned smile. “You missed lunch.”
“What? It’s only…” He checked the time. “Oh. So I did.”
“How’s it going?” She closed the office door and wandered over toward his desk.
“Not badly, but not as well as I’d hoped. I’d like to have more to offer the Lynaedans when we hand over the project.”
“Their engineers are quite good,” Saera pointed out. “I don’t think they’re expecting anything other than the original design schematics the Erebus gave us and the data from our field tests.”
“Meeting bare minimum expectations has never been my style.”
“I’ve always been impressed by how you can immerse yourself in these projects.”
“There’s a lot to consider. It’s easy to lose track of time.”
Saera smiled. “I learned long ago that I’d need to compete for your attention against your latest tech project.”
He chuckled and closed out of the holographic model. “You always come first.”
“This isn’t about me. I just want to make sure you remember to eat and sleep.” She raised one eyebrow, knowing there had been many occasions where he’d neglected to do both.
“I’m not that far down the hole,” he assured her. “I’ve just been exploring what we can do with the core.”
“New applications, you mean?”
“Yeah. We’ve been sitting on this technology Archive from the Aesir, but half the stuff wasn’t feasible to implement because of power limitations. Now…”
Saera perked up at that. “Anything of particular interest?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
She eyed him. “That use of ‘yet’ suggests you’re not going to let this go anytime soon.”
“There’s no clear end to this kind of project. We’ll always see new ways to use old tech based on evolving conditions.”
“Unless you can think of a way to put up a transdimensional wall the Erebus can’t break through, we have other things to focus on now.”
“Huh.” Wil stared at the information with new perspective.
“What?”
He leaned back in his chair. “You just gave me an interesting idea.”
“Oh yeah?” She sat down in one of the padded visitor chairs across from his desk.
“There was something like that in the Aesir’s Archive.” He navigated to the directory and found the applicable file, then opened it on the holoprojector. “Stars, was this what they’ve been wanting me to see?”
“What is it?” Saera asked.
“A planetary shield design. It was never implemented because of the extraordinary power requirements. The performance improvement is significant over the others—actually a transdimensional component due to a spatial distortion energy field. But the necessary upgrades to support it didn’t balance out.”
“That’s certainly intriguing.”
“But,” Wil looked over the specs, “that new power core design from the Erebus would accommodate this load with very few other modifications.”
“Having a more robust shield could make a huge difference if the Erebus attack.”
“My thoughts exactly. But it’s more than that. The thing that makes this design so unique is its ability to be customized—think of it like tuning to a specific harmonic frequency.”
“Okay…”
Wil stood up to pace as he thought through the branching connections. “Forget about making more ships like the Conquest… Instead, we can customize the energy output of the shield to make a wall the Erebus wouldn’t want to pass through—just like the energy field of a Gate.”
Saera sat up straighter in her chair. “Stars! And those shields will work at a planetary scale?”
Wil smiled. “With the new power cores, yes.”
Saera shook her head. “Why would the Erebus give us technology that can be used again them?”
“They might
not understand the way we can fit different devices together. And, this particular shield generator is only in the Archive, which we keep offline. They wouldn’t have been able to learn about it when they scanned the Conquest.”
“It seems hazardous using their own tool against them.”
“We don’t need to use it. But it might be nice to have it as an option.”
“You mean build in a modulator to, say, a new planetary shield that would allow us to weaponize it if we came under attack?”
“Precisely.”
She tapped her finger on her lips and nodded. “Now that is a very interesting idea.”
“It’s not a lot, but it could make the difference if this comes down to a fight against the Erebus.”
“Any edge we can get is a prudent preparation to make. My only concern is they might see us laying that groundwork and go on the offensive.”
“Honestly, I don’t think they have a very good understanding of what we do. Yes, we can think of them as being omniscient in some ways, but being able to gaze at the lower dimensions doesn’t mean they can correctly interpret our actions.”
“Right, like how we talked before about the Erebus looking at us in the way we might regard a drawing on a piece of paper.”
“And, in those terms, we can’t interact with that paper beyond being able to glide a hand along its surface or use an implement to manipulate it—but we can’t really be a part of it.”
“That’s true.”
“Except,” Wil continued, “there was something I didn’t consider in that analogy. We can merge with the paper—when we’re cut and bleed. We give up a part of our essence in exchange for direct contact as our blood infuses in the paper fibers.”
Saera’s eyes widened with realization. “Maybe it’s the same for the Erebus! It might actually hurt them to interact with spacetime, in the way we would need to cut and bleed to meld with the paper. That would explain why they didn’t launch an outright invasion.”
“It would.”
She drummed her fingers on the chair’s armrest. “The question is now, what do we do with this information?”