Cosega Sphere (The Cosega Sequence Book 4) (28 page)

“It’s you!” Rip gasped upon seeing Savina across the large INU projection. Booker, excited about the two of them working on the Spheres together, had arranged the video conference to start the process he saw as critical to stopping the Foundation’s Phoenix Initiative.

Savina seemed surprised to be recognized, but only in the event itself. The fact that he knew what she looked like actually reassured her. “Professor Gaines, a pleasure to finally meet you, and so nice that you’re not dead.”

“Who are you?” he asked, still in a daze, as if not believing she was real. “And do you really have a Sphere? Has it survived?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, moving so he could see the other Sphere.

“Where did you get it?” he asked.

Booker was going to break in and suggest they compare notes about their Eysen-Spheres at another time, but he realized the importance of the two brilliant scientists—also the only two people on the planet who’d extensively studied the Spheres—to find their own common point of discovery with each other.

“The Foundation.”

“The Foundation has a Sphere? No!” Rip groaned, as if he’d been shot. “How long have they had it?”

“I’ve been working on it for four years,” Savina said. “But I assure you, it is no matter of concern.”

“
Concern
?” Rip barked. “You’re right. Concern is far too mild a term. The Foundation having a Sphere is a matter of Armageddon!”

“I was hoping you two would agree to work together,” Booker interjected.

“Together?” Rip was shocked. “Booker, she’s with the
Foundation
.”

“Not anymore,” he said, looking at Savina.

“Is she your prisoner?” Rip asked.

Savina raised her eyebrows to Booker as if to echo Rip’s question.

“She is free to go, but I’m going to have to insist on keeping the Foundation Sphere,” Booker said. “I collect them, you know.” He gave her a quick wink and a half-smile.

“I’m not leaving without the Sphere,” Savina replied.

“Excellent,” Booker said. “She has agreed to stay. Should I fly her out? Aren’t you desperate to see what happens when we get two Spheres side-by-side?”

“Absolutely,” Rip said.

“Of course,” Savina concurred.

“But her loyalties are with the Foundation,” Rip protested.

“Rip, if that were true, do you think I would allow her to visit El Perdido?” Booker ventured.

“How about it?” Rip asked, looking directly at Savina. “Are you finished with the dark side? Will you disavow the Foundation?”

“Rip, she may not be ready to make that decision yet,” Booker warned, “but I have every confidence that you’ll convince her within hours of her arrival.” He ended his statement with a nod to Rip, which clearly meant,
“This is how it is. Trust me.”

Rip took a deep breath and nodded back. “I guess we’ll see you soon.”

“I look forward to it,” Savina replied.

“She’ll be there in three hours.” Booker signed off and then suggested Savina try to get some sleep on the plane.

The woman who had taken her to Booker’s private office appeared with a small duffle bag. She led Savina to a helipad concealed in a large open cavern and explained that there were clothes and toiletries in the bag. There would be food and water available on the plane.

As the helicopter flew out of the cave, Savina reached for the beautiful array of sushi and realized she hadn’t said goodbye to Booker. But sitting next to her was the silver case with the Sphere, so Savina knew she’d see him again.

Gale and Rip walked out onto the skyroom balcony overlooking the Pacific. Rip told her, with uncharacteristically grand gestures and lavish descriptions, of floating in the blackness and seeing the woman with the other Eysen-Sphere. “It was Savina.”

“She’s with the Foundation,” Gale said. “She’s the enemy. We’ve been fighting her, without realizing it, for years.”

“I know.”

“And what did the Foundation learn from their Sphere? Are we lost? Have they won?”

“We’re about to have both Spheres, and I suppose we’re going to learn what they learned,” Rip said. “It’s difficult to imagine someone having so much knowledge of the Sphere that she could use it to reach me, yet not being affected by it. Not understanding the malicious intent of the Foundation.”

“We were never able to find the other Sphere,” Gale mused. “What else has Savina discovered that we haven’t?”

Rip slowly shook his head, staring into the distance. “The possibilities of the two Spheres, of another field of research . . . it’s thrilling to imagine.”

“Look,” Gale said, pointing at a plane.

Even though they were expecting Cira, an approaching plane still made them nervous. It turned out to be the doctor and a nurse from the eye institute. The team went right to work preparing for Cira’s arrival. Staff had already readied Cira’s old first-floor room, and now with equipment brought by the doctor, they converted it into a full-fledged hospital room.

—O—

The next plane was the one they’d been waiting for. Huang had messaged them giving them fifteen minutes to prepare for Cira’s arrival. Gale, Rip, and the medical team stood at the end of the runway. Although they’d been warned that Cira would still be sedated, Gale kept thinking that she would run from the plane yelling “Mommy, Mommy!”

That didn’t happen, yet the sight of her daughter, safely returned, left her crying. Regret for all the time their daughter had been alone, in danger, and how close they had come to losing her, kept the tears flowing.

When Cira was safely in her darkened room, the doctor began his examination. “There is only so much I can tell at this point,” he said, “but our protocols were followed, and she suffered no apparent damage during her travels.”

Hope.

Two hours later, she woke up. “Mommy?”

“Oh, Cira, I’m right here. Mommy is right here.”

“Mommy, it’s dark. I can’t see.”

“Your eyes were hurt, sweetie. Do you remember?”

“The playground.”

“Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, sweetie. It’s not your fault.”

“When can I see again?”

“Soon, sweetie. You’ll see again soon. The doctor did some tests, and he needs to look at your eyes now that you’re awake. I need you to be a brave girl and do what the doctor says, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Gale’s elation turned to overwhelming gratitude and sorrow for Harmer and Kruse for sacrificing so much to save her and Cira.
This moment wouldn’t be possible if not for their heroic efforts,
she thought.
Booker somehow managed the impossible.

She said a silent thank you to each one of them, including Booker, but it was the thought of Kruse that made her cry.
You lost everything, so that I wouldn’t have to.
Please forgive me, Kruse.

Rip came in while the doctor was taking the bandages off. He didn’t want to excite Cira until the doctor was through, so he remained quiet.

A few minutes later, the doctor finished and asked to speak to Gale and Rip out in the hall.

Gale looked at the doctor, alarmed, and then to Rip. “I don’t want to leave her yet,” she said. Rip walked out with the doctor.

“She’s going to see,” the doctor said in hushed tones, “but there will be significant vision loss in her left eye.”

“How much?” Rip asked sadly, looking back into the room.

“Hard to say, but I don’t think she’ll regain much use of that eye. It’s the one which sustained the most trauma. There’ll be visible scarring, and once she’s older you might consider cosmetic surgery.”

Rip nodded.

“Mommy, when will Daddy be home?” Rip heard Cira ask from inside the room.

“I’m right here, baby,” Rip said, nodding to the doctor and rushing into the room. He took her hand. “How’s my little girl?”

“I got hurt, Daddy.”

“You sure did.”

“Did the doctor say I’m going to be all better?”

Rip glanced back at Gale as she went out to talk to the doctor.

“You’re going to be more than that, Cira,” Rip said, squeezing her hand.
She’s alive
, he thought.
We saved her. My daughter is going to grow up!

—O—

Rathmore suddenly began receiving data from an unnamed source about the Foundation. Huang had many channels and aliases at his disposal. At the same time, the NSA director and King were locked in a power struggle. The director somehow came out on top and took him off the Gaines case. “Too many failures” was the reason given, but Rathmore suspected something else. In either case, the Foundation was a meatier assignment, and one that he thought might lead him back to Gaines, or at least to Booker.

Stellard was arrested in Thailand after an email tip appeared in Barbeau’s inbox. The sender showed as anonymous. It had been difficult for Huang to trace Stellard, but simple for him to make his email to Barbeau untraceable. Some of what Huang did for Booker looked easy, but years of work often came down to precisely timed, complex moves that might involve dozens of operatives, EAMI, and help from the Inner Movement.

Dozens of the dirtiest Foundation agents whom DIRT had been watching for years were brought in. For the first time in his life, the Judge was suddenly on the defensive. Ultimately, his wealth and power would protect him, but his grand plan would be slowed, at least enough to give his opponents time to stop Phoenix, especially for Gale and Rip. If they were able to try the time-shifting theories, every moment counted.

Later, the scientists arrived on El Perdido. An unexpected guest, arriving on the same plane, staggered in and walked quietly to Cira’s bed. With tears in her eyes, Harmer, aged at least ten years it seemed, bent down and softly kissed the little girl. “I’m so sorry about everything.”

Gale immediately jumped up and hugged Harmer. “Rip told me everything you went through to save our daughter. Thank you. Thank you for protecting Cira. I’ll never forget it. Cira will be so happy to see you when she wakes up.”

“
See
me?” Harmer asked.

Gale nodded, smiling widely.

Harmer let out a joyful laugh. “We did it.” She turned back to look at Cira. “I hope she’ll forgive me. In the confusion of the raid on the hospital, I wasn’t able to save her little cat. As they dragged me out of the room, the last thing I saw was the cat laying on the floor.”

Gale pulled the blanket back and revealed the cat, resting next to Cira’s hand.

“How did that get here?”

“Crying Man.”

The meeting, less awkward than expected, stirred much excitement amongst Gale, Rip, and Savina for the possibilities of the Spheres. Savina might have been working for the other side, but she was a brilliant physicist, who seemingly knew as much about the Sphere as they did.

After the initial introductions, Rip pointed to the silver case. “Is that it? The other Sphere?”

She nodded, smiling, as if she’d brought a present.

Gale and Rip had already decided not to go to the El Perdido lab, but instead to view both Spheres in the skyroom. They drove there in a single golf cart, but Gale had stopped off in Cira’s room.

As Savina stepped into the skyroom, she set down the silver case and went straight for Rip’s Sphere. “It’s the same,” she said.

“May I see yours?” Rip asked, motioning toward the case.

“Yes, yes. I can’t wait to see what they do next to each other.”

Rip carried the case to the table that already held his Sphere. He carefully opened it and stared disbelievingly for a moment. Then he lifted it out and held it, absorbed in awe. The reality of a second Sphere seemed to confirm that the Cosegans were more than just an ancient civilization.

“They did this,” he whispered to himself. “They had to know we would find them, but why?”

“They made nine of them,” Savina said.

“Nine?” Rip asked, brought out of his spell. “
Nine
! My God, I thought there were only three. Are they . . . did they survive?”

“I don’t know. During what I call a ‘swallowing’, the information was put into my head. Imagine if we had all nine.”

“Why nine?” Terrified and elated at the same time, Rip could not slow his racing mind.
Why would they have made nine? How hard had they been to construct? Who else had found them? Where were they? Did they all need to be used together to ultimately unlock their secrets? Nine! Why nine?

“Why any?” Savina replied.

Rip nodded. The burning question had consumed so much of his life, but he repeated quietly, “Why
nine
?”

“Shall we?” Savina asked when she saw Gale enter the room.

“Do you have a chip?”

She nodded and pulled it from her pocket.

They set the Spheres next to each other and Savina and Rip touched the sides of their respective Spheres to illuminate them. They were amazed from the moment the orbs lit up and ran identical sequences. Once they completed the run, the Spheres remained in a standard state.

“What, no fireworks? Gale asked, joining them.

“I did think there might be a cumulative amplification,” Savina agreed.

Rip was also disappointed. He explained to Savina the Five Cosega Mysteries and asked if she could answer any of them:

1. What is the Sphere?
2. Who were the Cosegans?
3. Where did they come from?
4. Why did they leave the Sphere?

5. What happened to them?

“Although I didn’t call them that, I’ve been looking for answers to those same questions, but most of my time has been spent trying to understand the physics of this thing. How could they do this? Contain all this energy in this small object?”

“Any-sized object,” Gale said.

“Exactly,” Savina agreed.

They spent the rest of the day comparing the experiences they’d had, and what each had learned over the years. During their deliberations, Gale and Rip continuously took turns visiting Cira, but she mostly slept. Harmer had also stationed herself in a comfortable chair next to Cira’s bed.

Savina shared the detailed information about the “swallowings” and Rip told her of floating in the blackness. However, it was the Crying Man who fascinated Savina most. She believed he was the man she had seen the day before.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen a person within the Sphere,” Savina explained.

Gale and Rip were quite surprised to learn that. “How did you manage to find your way around without a guide?”

“Simple,” Savina replied. “I followed the laws of physics. Not that the Cosegans are subject to the same laws we are, but they seem to have known all of ours and more. Between that and my knowledge of the universe, I could figure out a lot.” She looked at them and shrugged. “Saying that would be like someone coming from another planet and claiming to have explored Earth after they’d only spent a few minutes in a child’s sandbox.”

“Yeah,” Gale said. “After seven years, we’re still in the sandbox too.”

“Oh, we might be on the beach,” Rip said, “but we’re not even close to where we should be.” He went on to explain the Divinations, and that they had spent most of their time with the Sphere trying to use it to find a way to change the future.

“That’s kind of what we’ve been doing at the Foundation,” Savina admitted.

“But part of what we’ve been trying to stop is the Foundation’s idiotic Phoenix Initiative.”

“The Phoenix Initiative may sound crazy to you, but it is designed to save the human race.”

“By
killing
half of them?” Gale asked.

“Better than losing
all
of them,” Savina snapped.

“But haven’t you seen the results in your Sphere?” Rip asked. “It’s disastrous. It’s the end.”

“That’s not what we’ve seen.”

“Well, maybe you haven’t been deep enough,” Gale said. “How far out have you looked?”

“Phoenix replaces the coming uncontrollable plague with ours, one designed to be controllable. The aftermath is a utopian world instead of a brutal end of humanity,” Savina said. “Haven’t you seen the gasping end?”

“Your so-called utopian world is short-lived, and leads to a horrific war,” Rip said. “Let me show you what’s really going to happen.” He manipulated the light and forms projecting from his Sphere.

Fifteen minutes later, Savina shook her head and stammered. “I… I don’t understand how they can be so different.” Before Rip or Gale could comment, she continued. “Unless . . . unless it’s the Copenhagen Interpretation.”

“That nothing is real until we observe it?” Rip asked.

Savina was impressed. “Yes. How do you know of it?”

“It’s one of the basics of Booker’s Universal Quantum Physics.”

“Of course, UQP has borrowed so much from Quantum Mechanics,” Savina said.

“And the rest from metaphysics,” Gale added. “Booker is the major backer behind the Inner Movement.”

“I know,” Savina said. “A lot of people think he’s crazy. But then a lot of people thought Niels Bohr was crazy, even Einstein.”

“Bohr?” Gale asked.

“He first proposed that nothing is real until we observe it,” Savina explained. “And although he and Einstein actually got along well, they famously opposed each other on this epic point.”

“Who was right?”

“Most say Bohr, but even after all these decades, we still don’t know for sure. But if Bohr was right, it would seem to invalidate Booker’s idea that Einstein might have had a Sphere, or at least looked into one.”

“Maybe not, as we were saying earlier,” Rip began. “The Sphere is incomprehensibly vast. He couldn’t have seen everything, solved all the equations, so anything is possible.”

“That also makes my point,” Savina said. “Quantum Physics tells us that there is no such thing as reality, only the potential of reality.”

“Meaning?” Gale asked.

“Reality depends on the observer. So what your Sphere showed you about the future is not what mine showed me.”

Rip regarded her carefully. “More than one possible future,” he murmured. “That has certainly been a central theme to the work of Clastier, and specifically the Cosegans.”

“So which is right?” Gale asked.

“The one that we see,” Savina said. “So let’s make sure we’re seeing the same thing from now on.”

Suddenly, the two Spheres glowed as if on fire, and from within the flames jumbles of mathematical equations appeared in an endless stream. The brightness of the scene, nearly blinding in its intensity, left them gasping for a few moments until their senses adjusted, or the frequency of the display changed, or time slowed down, they had no idea. Then the Spheres merged, or rather, became part of a sea of nine glowing orbs, which fractured into millions of smaller Spheres. Inside each of those millions, even more were visible. Rip tried to focus on just one, but it only enlarged and even more spheres appeared from within that one until he became lost in the flood.

It’s
infinite
, he thought. They swirled and blurred as if all the stars in the universe had merged into one single spot, the Sphere. Then he realized what it was showing him . . . the multiverse. Somehow the Sphere was able to display what was almost impossible even to conceive.
Somehow
, he thought,
the
Cosegans found a way to capture the multiverse.

“They mapped it,” he said out loud. “How did they know?”

“Because,” Savina answered, already ahead of his thoughts, “the Cosegans have traveled the multiverse. They know the secrets.”