by Tony Corden
Finally, she said, “OK Conner, if Mum and Dad agree to let you have a chip I’ll fund it. I’ll try not to ignore you, and when the time comes, we’ll talk about ways you can help. I know you don’t like fighting and that’s OK. Most of the people helping me at the moment aren’t fighting. They are lawyers, accountants, and all types of professional people. I also need people to build buildings, manage kitchens and grow food. When you work out what you want to be, we’ll talk. Don’t let this current situation be the only thing that defines your choice. I think it needs to be in the mix, but you also have to think of a future. What are your strengths? What are your dreams? Don’t let what’s happening now limit the possibilities.”
Conner looked up at her and nodded. He said, “Thanks. Now don’t take this wrong way but you look terrible. You’re pale, and your face is all angles. I think you need to eat more.”
Leah pointed to the supplements and said, “That’s what those are. They’re high energy supplements. I’ve been burning through at least three or four times what I used to, and I just can’t eat enough food. Don’t worry, Kevin and Gèng are keeping an eye on me. I’ve also got another doctor who gets constant updates.”
“What are those other capsules for?”
“Pain. Although I’m healing quickly, I still ache everywhere. When I’m in the Pod Gèng keeps me relatively pain-free. Later in the day, she won’t be able to stop it all. When I go to the Merkize Challenge, she has to stimulate my nervous system and let me feel the results of my movements. Kevin has me on a regime of pain medication to help speed recovery.”
Conner talked for a few minutes while Leah ate, and then left to get Mia so Leah could get back into the Pod.
STORK TOWER
When she arrived in the Tower, she checked for messages as she headed for the Cosmos Online portal. Tesfaye reported that the messages had been sent to Alan. There was also a report from Priscilla on her progress of purchasing Cosmos Online shares. She’d been able to buy 237,000 Class B shares at 26.532 virtual credits and 324,000 class C shares at 15.467 virtual credits for an investment just over eleven and a quarter million virtual credits. Leah was staggered by the numbers, but Leon had assured her she had the capital. When Leah thought about it, she realised she’d made over thirty-one million virtual credits with her coin exchanges just in the last two hours. She sent a message back to Priscilla and copied Leon suggesting they purchase at least the same again. She explained the recent windfall and that she was about to head into Cosmos Online.
There was a message from Peter. He needed her to review the documents for the Merchant Clan called the Imperial Bank of Vatan. He had contacted friends and colleagues throughout Vatan, and they would be opening fifteen branches as soon as she gave consent. He had already purchased property in Ticareti, in Dag Tarafind, and in Harika. Leah read the attached documents, and after sending her agreement, she suggested he check with Dunyanin if they had made progress on a guild to help regulate banking. She expected Dunyanin would be working quickly before the regulators stepped in to stop them operating a guild. Leah also suggested Peter use an advocacy practice in Harika which belonged to a retired advocate by the name of Julian. Satisfied she was up to date for the moment, Leah stepped through the portal and onto the Betrayal.
COSMOS ONLINE
Wisp was already there and had manoeuvred the ship close to the edge of the large space station. Wisp looked up as Leah entered. She stopped what she was doing, walked over to hug Leah and said, “Are you sure you are up to this? You were shot a day ago, and you have a combat challenge in six hours which is going to be watched live by several billion people. This can wait.”
Leah shook her head and said, “It can’t. We both have money invested in this, and I doubt there will ever be a time when there is nothing else going on. Did you get the message I sent with the agreement between us and Tungsten’s group?”
“Yes. I looked it over. Are you sure you are OK with equal shares? You discovered the information.”
“But we found the space station together, and you did most of the analysis. I was more concerned that you might be upset that I suggested we have our share split with the other four.”
“I think that is the right thing to do. We all worked to escape Mahigan, and we expected to be together for all of this. I ran the idea of an agreement between the six of us past the others without mentioning we’d found a space station. I admit I hinted we’d found an interesting solar system. They were fine with equal shares, but everyone thinks you should have double because they are your ships and your analysis. I didn’t suggest it, Zack did. We all feel strongly about this so just change the document. We know you’ve got a lot of money lately, but we also know what you’re using it for. If you won’t accept it for yourself, then accept it as a contribution to the thousands of people who you are helping.”
Leah considered the words for a minute then nodded and said, “Thank you. I’ll have Gèng change the papers and file them. Now, what do you think is the best approach to get to the opening in the circle?”
“I spent two of the last three days here doing scans of the portal, the station, and the city. In particular, I’ve mapped as much of the station facing the portal as I can. The energy effect that showed up as solid on the initial scan isn’t limited to the pathways to the portal. There is a faint pattern of the effect over the entire surface. It didn’t register initially, but I initiated a more detailed scan particularly focussing on anything which may contain an electromagnetic or gravity signature similar to the observed effect. I’ve enhanced the images, and it looks like there is a complicated lattice covering each of the eighteen openings. Each one is nine metres thick and covers the entire surface. Here, let me show you one of those above the opening we are headed for.”
A three-dimensional image of a thin nine-meter high disc with a radius of 150 metres appeared in front of Leah. Wisp said, “If I remove the top layer you can see inside. It looks like a maze, but it turns out to be three mazes stacked one on top of each other. There are openings between the three layers. I mapped these three two days ago, and I finally found a pathway last night. No PAI help was allowed and although I could think of several ways around it I didn’t want to do anything that might give Cosmos Online any hold over us. Besides, I enjoyed the challenge. I have no idea if I’m right about it being a maze, but I couldn't think of another solution.”
Leah looked at the three segments and her eyes traced over Wisp’s plot. She said, “That’s going to take a while. I think you are right about it being a maze. I wonder how the walls are formed. They could be energy fields or even gravity used to repel in some way. Is the maze framework uniform?”
“No. If I change the image to colour to emphasise the different readings you can see there are five main categories and each has several subsets which are indicated by the percentage of shading.”
Leah glanced at the image and said, “I imagine we’ll not get any better idea even if we look at it for a while. Are you ready to go?”
“Only if you’re sure I haven’t missed something.”
“I’ve no idea. I imagine we’ll both realise there are things we could have done better, but I can’t think of them now. As it is, I think you’ve done a brilliant job to pull this together. With everything happening in my life I couldn’t want for a more capable partner.”
Wisp looked for a moment like she’d burst into tears, but instead, she inhaled slowly and reached through the displayed image to give Leah a hug. She said, “I prepped the Influenza A and thought we could land on the outer edge of the opening and make our way into the open aperture. I know there is space to manoeuvre the Influenza A closer, but I didn’t think it was safe, just in case we triggered the portal mechanism somehow.”
Leah nodded and said, “The tunnels in the maze aren’t large enough for the complete black hole suit, so I suggest we just wear the inner suits.”
Wisp agreed, and they made their way to the hangar and into the Influenza A. Te
n minutes later they landed on the outer edge of the eighteen apertures at a point close to where Wisp suggested was the opening into the maze. Magnetic grapples locked the Influenza A onto the surface of the station. Leaving the Influenza A, Leah and Wisp used small thrusters to make their way to the aperture opening they wanted. Wisp sent Leah a list of the different readings which correlated to the unseen radiation. Each of them had their faceplates set to display the radiation, and so as they neared their target, Leah could see a nine-metre wall in front of them. Wisp led the way and they moved around to the entrance she had calculated would lead them into the correct path. It was in the upper level of the disc.
22
Chapter 22
December 17, 2073 - Morning - Part 2
COSMOS ONLINE
As they approached the entrance Wisp said, “I think I’d feel more confident if you went first. I’m good if I have time to look at things, but I don’t react as quickly to sudden changes.”
Leah agreed and using her thrusters approached the opening. The entrance was a three-metre square, and as Leah neared it, she felt a force begin to assert itself on her mass and pull her toward the right-hand side of the opening. As she entered the opening, she fell toward the right-hand wall and was soon lying against it. She tried to stand and discovered it was almost impossible. She couldn’t get a purchase because the floor was some composite of an energy field and there was no friction. Leah activated the magnetic soles of her feet and found they did interact with the field in such a way that she could slowly rise to her feet. She stood up and looked out at Wisp who was orientated ninety degrees to her. Taking a step Leah fell, arms windmilling as the additional force applied by the suit and an apparent coefficient of friction less than half what she expected caused her to lose control completely and crash into the floor. Leah carefully got to her feet and with great care took a step. Realising what was happening, Wisp reorientated herself using her thrusters and activated the magnetic boots before stepped into the opening to stand next to Leah.
Leah looked around. First, she switched off the generated display of the radiation, and it looked like she was standing in mid-air with the station a huge disc on her left-hand side. Switching on the display, she saw a tunnel heading into the disc. Her display showed a green wall on either side. The floor was blue and dropped away into a hole six metres in front of her. Above her head was an opening which looked to end six metres above her in a green coloured field. One of the walls above her head was blue and the other green. She checked the map and saw there was a branch of the maze which went inwards and started three metres above her head. She looked at Wisp’s chosen path and said, “We have to go up. We could use thrusters, but if they have to push against gravity, then we’ll run out of fuel before we are even a third of the way in. The suits should allow us to jump that high as long as we can get enough purchase to grab hold.”
Wisp took a step toward Leah, and it looked close to normal. Leah said, “You’ve got the hang of it much faster than I have. Any hints?”
“I changed the settings on my boots and increased the magnetic field.”
Leah did the same and found it made walking closer to normal. Turning the magnetic field in her gloves to their highest setting Leah found she could climb the wall although it felt like she was doing pull-ups. Dropping to the floor, she said, “If you’re OK I’d like to start moving. I imagine we’ll get the hang of it after a while.”
Wisp nodded, and Leah took one step and pushed off. Just as she left the floor, she switched off the magnetic soles of her boots. The suit increased her strength by four, and she easily cleared the three metres and prepared to land when the focal point of the gravitational force changed. She fell sideways before sliding into what had been the roof but was now one of the walls. Wisp made the same jump but was prepared for the change and almost got her legs around. She still slid into the wall but without the force that had stunned Leah.
Leah said, “That hurt. I should have known because the tunnel we just came from had a blue shaded field to show the downward pull.”
Leah led the way along the tunnel. Six metres along they turned left twice, to effectively do a U-turn, before heading along a new blue floored tunnel for six metres. On the map they now had to turn right into a corridor. The corridor had two green walls and two red. The planned course had them turning into a branch nine metres down the fifteen-metre long corridor. The last six metres of the corridor was a dead end with the end wall being a dark shade of blue.
Leah said, “I think we need to use the magnetic gloves to slide down the wall into the branch. If we miss it, we’ll be stuck in that dead end. I think the darker shade of blue means a higher force of attraction.”
The wall in question was red, and Wisp said, “I agree, but let’s test the red and see what it does.”
Leah edged herself close to the edge of the turn and reaching around, activated the magnetic field in her gloves and touched the red wall. She could feel the wall, but the magnetic field gave her no purchase at all. If they tried to slide on the red, there was no way to slow down. Leah said, “I think it’ll be too difficult at this stage to judge the slide accurately enough to leap from one of the green coloured walls into the branch. Let’s use the grapple, and I’ll lower you down the red wall into the branch. Once you’re inside I’ll slide down the green wall and try and make the leap and if I miss you’ll need to pull me in.”
Wisp nodded, and they hooked themselves together. Leah increased the magnetic field on her boots and gloves to maximum and glued herself to the floor. Wisp edged herself around the corridor and then lowered herself down to the opening. As soon as she was there, she anchored herself to the floor. Leah lessened the magnetic field and crawled around the corner backwards. As she entered the new tunnel, she felt gravity pulling down with almost twice the force she was used to. She began to slide even when she increased the fields in her boots and gloves. At maximum strength, the magnetic fields just slowed her descent. As she approached the branch where Wisp was, she pushed off and released the magnets, rolling into the branch where Wisp was waiting to grab her.
Leah stood up and sighed. They’d travelled thirty-six metres and had at least several kilometres to go. Looking down the new tunnel, she said, “We’d best hurry. I wonder what the purple and yellow colours mean.”
Four hours later and just over half way they stopped for a break. Purple fields repelled like antigravity, and yellow worked like the blue but with counter-friction fields. If you took a step the static frictional force was applied with the direction of motion and not against. You had to plant the foot and push away from your body to be dragged forward. Additionally, the light green fields acted as green with counter friction. The darkest green multiplied the opposite static frictional force three times.
Leah said, “This is exhausting. Although I think we’re moving faster now that we're used to the different scenarios. What happens if we don’t restore power by the time we have to exit?”
“Usually we’d have to come back and start again tomorrow. Occasionally there will be a way station in a two-stage quest although I didn’t read of any power stations taking more than one day. Having said that, I’m actually surprised we are doing as well as are.”
“I doubt we’d be more than a few hundred metres along the correct path if you hadn’t spent the time working out the path. Already it’s working out to be a three or four-day quest.”
Wisp nodded tiredly but was soon back on her feet and following Leah down the tunnels. There weren’t any creatures or traps, but they encountered an almost endless supply of problem-solving situations. There were corridors where every wall was yellow and some in which the walls changed every few metres. One section had walls which changed colour every ten seconds, and it took almost ten minutes for Wisp and Leah to see a pattern and for them to come up with a strategy to make their way down the hallway. Finally, after a total of seven hours they stood on the surface of the station looking down at the open se
ction Wisp had seen six days before.
23
Chapter 23
December 17, 2073 - Morning - Part 3
Wisp said, “We’ve less than two hours, but I honestly doubt we could have done that much faster.”
Leah agreed, then said, “We have to turn the power on and find the control room. For power, I think we need to find some way to check and realign the one spike that wasn’t moving. I also think the spike which is aimed into space needs realignment. If we are right and the horns on the portal are focussed on the gas giants, then one of the spikes should be centred on the gas giant that has the bubble and the other one off centre on the other gas giant. Either way, we need to keep moving. I’ll go first.”
With that, Leah lowered herself into the open aperture using her arms. Weightless, she turned on her suit lights and gave herself a slight push and moved into the space station. She could see the mechanism which opened and closed thereby letting ships enter and leave the station in the direction of the portal. There were more than fifty leaves which operated like a camera’s artificial iris. Each one was curved, triangular, and over eighty meters in length, each one thicker than Leah’s height. When they came together, they were so precisely machined that they would join at a point. A suspended walkway ran under each of the leaves, coloured blue in Leah’s display.