Eternity's Mind (14 page)

Nira pulled violently back, feeling a surge of panic. She tore her thoughts away from the quicksand of the worldforest fragments. These were not the trees she knew! Whatever remained of this ancient forest was no longer part of the verdani mind. It was dangerous.

With a gasp, she broke contact and emerged, yanking her hands away from the blackened fragment as if it had stung her. When she reeled, both Jora'h and Anton caught her.

“There is nothing to be learned in there,” she said, gasping. “That worldforest is … more than dead. I sense nothing but an absolute black emptiness so deep I almost drowned in it.” She shuddered.

Jora'h gave orders for the scientist kith to gather up the fragments of blackened wood. “Seal them away, where they cannot contaminate anyone else.” He dismissed the attenders and the scientist kith, then held Nira in his arms. She felt his strength, but also his uncertainty.

When they were completely alone, he whispered, “That black emptiness … I feel it inside myself as well.”

 

CHAPTER

21

KOTTO OKIAH

The black void inside the nebula both called to him and terrified him. Kotto had always known that innovative science might lead to unexpected and remarkable results—and this gaping hole in the universe was certainly unexpected and remarkable. And possibly dangerous.

Kotto muttered out loud to his two compies, as if they were privy to the silent conversation in his head, “An experiment that breaks the preconceptions of physics is worthwhile in and of itself. Now we just have to figure out what to do with what we've discovered.”

“Of course, Kotto Okiah.” KR scanned the boundaries of the dark trapdoor, mapping the indistinct lines and tracking the fluctuations. If not for the background pool of ionized gas, the tear would not have been visible at all. “Our studies will surely be beneficial, somehow.”

GU added, “We would be happy to help you compile a technical report, Kotto Okiah, but we need more guidance.”

“I'm not ready to write a report yet,” he said. “We don't have enough answers.”

“When will we have the answers?” asked KR.

“When we finish our research.”

“When will we finish our research?” asked GU.

Kotto took a long breath. “That depends on what we find on our expedition.” He raised his hand to cut off further questioning from the compies. He knew these conversation chains all too well, and if he got sucked into the successive inquiries, he might continue for an hour until the compies exhausted their curiosity. Curiosity was good, but they had work to do.

He finished reconfiguring a dozen different sensor packages. He wanted his survey craft to be completely outfitted, because he had no idea what conditions he might encounter, and once his ship entered that compelling and ominous void, he couldn't just turn around because he had forgotten something.

Down in the admin hub's launching bay, Roamer technicians helped him equip the survey vessel, adding shields and filters just in case. Kotto let them make all the modifications they could think of. KR and GU assisted with the inspections.

Kotto felt butterflies in his stomach. Despite his display of confidence and scientific bravado, he knew this journey would be dangerous. What if he was swallowed up in an alternate universe and never came back? What if his mere passage through the boundary disassembled the survey craft down to its component atoms, including himself?

He doubted that would happen, since they'd sent in initial probes, which had returned intact, although the readings were baffling and contradictory. The mechanical and electronic devices functioned in the void just fine, but Kotto couldn't say how his brain's biochemistry or his psyche might react to the change. On the other hand, the complex probe circuitry remained intact, and wasn't his brain just a sophisticated biological circuit board? It made sense.

He intended to take the two compies along. Even if the strange other dimension incapacitated him, KR and GU should still be able to pilot the ship back. He didn't want to risk anyone else.

Shareen and Howard entered the bay, looking both eager and concerned. Kotto was glad to have them working with him. They seemed more innovative, more mathematically adept than he himself had been in recent years. In fact, their youthful energy, imaginations, and enthusiasm intimidated Kotto, although he was careful not to let them know it.

He hadn't actually wanted lab assistants in the first place, and Shareen and Howard inadvertently reminded him of his own fading talent. For years, he had feared that his ideas were running out, that the great Kotto Okiah had served his purpose and should just rest on his laurels. But he wasn't resting—he was
restless.
He didn't want to retire.

Now, the teens studied his prepped survey craft, noting the modifications, watching the Roamer teams work. Nodding, Howard spoke in his crisp, polite manner. “Sir, Shareen and I wish to voice our concerns about this expedition. There are too many unanswered questions. We should collect more data via probes before letting you travel into the void. It would only be prudent considering the possible risks.”

Shareen added, “Failing that, if you won't wait any longer, then Howard and I want to go along. You might need us.”

Kotto blinked. “Absolutely not. It's too dangerous.”

“Then it's too dangerous for you, sir,” Howard said. “Your mind is a treasure for the human race, as you've demonstrated many times. We can't lose you. Let others go explore the other side of that gap.”

“If my intellect is such a treasure,” Kotto said, “then
I'm
the one who should go. It's possible that no one else would be able to figure out the sensory input and draw the proper conclusions. Maybe I'm the only one who can solve it.”

“Now you're just making up answers,” Shareen muttered.

“That's what scientists do,” Kotto responded, “and then we find the technical basis for those answers. I intend to go into that void and have a look around. It's
my
void. I created it.”

He had strung the Roamer clans along for years, convincing them to fund the outrageously extravagant Big Ring project. And because of his track record, the clans had believed in him, accepted his fuzzy explanations and vague promises of practical results. They had done it for
him,
not because of the rigorous scientific basis of his proposal.

And his science, his idea, had torn a hole in the universe.

“You two are staying here,” he reiterated to Howard and Shareen, impatient for the discussion to be over. “The compies will come with me. They've been perfectly good research assistants for many years, long before you joined me.”

“And we will continue to do our best,” KR piped up.

“Howard and I came here to help you with your research,” Shareen said. “We want to be explorers. Let us go with you.”

“Maybe we could provide insights, sir,” Howard added. “We've proven our worth at that, haven't we?”

Kotto didn't want to admit he was afraid of just that. This was his expedition and his risk. “Think about it. I need you two to stay here and monitor whatever telemetry I manage to transmit back out. What if I need rescue? Who else could I count on?”

Shareen grumbled, “You
would
have to offer the one compelling argument that would convince us.”

“Besides, you still have my other projects to work on, prototypes to finish. You've done so well on my earlier designs—” He suddenly brightened. “Wait, isn't your priority working with the green priests? I asked you to find a way to transfer those giant worldtrees before the terrarium dome shatters … and from the looks of it, that could be within weeks or days.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, I think that's an excellent use of your time.”

Howard frowned. “We've been working on it, sir. We did structural tests and mapped possible routes for moving the greenhouse.”

Shareen cut in. “The dome is sturdy—it's a Roamer structure, after all. But due to the energy requirements, time, and stresses incurred on the terrarium structure, it's not feasible to move it into a gravity well to replant the trees, and the dome was never built to withstand being accelerated by an Ildiran stardrive.”

“And even if we could accelerate it to a habitable system,” Howard said, “the terrarium would not survive the stresses of the dust boundary at the edge of the nebula.”

“We also looked for a way to encapsulate the trees and transport them individually, but the process might be dangerous to the trees.”

Kotto blinked as an idea occurred to him. The concept was fresh and exciting—he remembered the days when new ideas like this had occurred to him regularly. He brightened. “Why not build a bigger dome?”

“A bigger dome?” Shareen asked, frowning.

“Out in the middle of—?” Howard added.

“Of course. Have engineers build out the base of the current greenhouse, extend the support structures, then create another hemisphere over the top of the old one. Once it's sealed, dismantle the inner shell and give those trees some breathing room. It would buy them some time at least.” Kotto rubbed his hands together. “Yes, that could work.”

“But we don't have much time,” Howard said. “It would take months.”

“Not for Roamers,” Shareen said. She wore a hopeful look as calculations seemed to click in her mind. She started talking faster. “You and I would have to start on the design right away, Howard. If we pulled the teams together and got Chief Alu to sign off on the resources we need, they could get it done in three or four weeks.”

“There you go—your Guiding Star,” Kotto said. “Keep yourselves busy while I'm gone.”

A Roamer tech crawled out of the engine vault at the rear of the survey craft and called, “Aft sensor array is complete, Kotto. Do you want to check it?”

He gave a confident wave. “I trust your work.” He turned back to his assistants. “Well, now that you have my idea, go implement the plan. You're pretty good at that.”

“Yes, sir.”

Raising his chin in a display of bravado, he said, “I'm going into the void, and that's that. We'll launch as soon as the survey craft is ready.”

Shareen hesitated. “But if the void is a different dimension … what if the Shana Rei live there? What if you fly straight into one of their shadow clouds?”

“Well, then, we will see what we will see.”

He tried to sound cheerful and optimistic, dismissive of the perils, but his voice cracked at the end, and his throat went dry. He touched the shoulders of his two compies. “Come on, KR and GU. Let's get ready for our adventure.”

 

CHAPTER

22

PRINCE REYN

Being with Osira'h had always given him energy and hope, but Reyn received an entirely different kind of strength when he returned to Theroc. Reyn was not a green priest, yet the energy of life, the energy of his
home
came to him regardless. As he stepped out of the shuttle, he inhaled the verdant scents of sun-warmed fronds, the pollens of epiphytes and sweet blossoms that wound among the worldtrees. He stretched out his arms on the canopy landing field. Reyn just closed his eyes and drank it in. Osira'h took his hand, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “The color has come back to your face.”

He was home, and he was safe … for the most part.

Unfortunately, his relief was all too transient. With a malicious suddenness, a dark fog at the edges of his vision made him sway, and cramped signals of pain crackled throughout his nerves. Osira'h caught him, held him, before his knees could buckle.

Coming to him with a large reception committee, King Peter and Queen Estarra ran forward, their faces distraught. Reyn leaned on Osira'h and locked his knees so he remained standing straight. “I'm fine,” he insisted. The strain in his voice belied his words.

“We brought the last kelp extracts from Kuivahr,” Osira'h said, partly to Reyn and partly to the King and Queen. “They help a little, but we're starting to run short.”

“Kuivahr is gone,” Reyn said. “There won't be any more kelp extracts.”

“Then we'll synthesize the best ones,” Peter said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a hug. “If there's a way, we'll manufacture a treatment.”

Reyn wasn't so sure. “The kelp is extinct.”

“We'll still try,” his mother said, giving him a longer embrace to welcome him home. “We'll always try. With all the pharmaceutical operations in the Confederation, someone should be able to replicate it.”

Though his legs trembled, and he felt frail and weak, Reyn insisted he was strong enough to walk. He hated to look like this in front of his parents; it wasn't the homecoming he wanted to have.

“The worldforest will help restore him,” Osira'h said, taking charge. “The disease has drained him, and he needs to rest.”

They took him back to his familiar quarters in the fungus-reef city. Reyn looked around his room, smiling at his bed, his belongings on shelves, his writing desk, the view out the window. It felt good just to be here.

His father gave him an optimistic report. “Zoe Alakis delivered a lot of raw data about your disease, and teams of Confederation researchers have been combing through it. Our studies have advanced ten times farther than they were a month ago.”

“But is there a cure?” Osira'h asked.

“Progress,” Estarra said firmly. “Progress that could lead to a cure.”

Osira'h wasn't entirely reassured. “Maybe your researchers can combine their work with an analysis of the most effective kelp extracts.”

Peter nodded. “The extracts, along with our recent progress, give us good reason to hope. And Reyn is home now, which will help, too. We should let him rest.”