Roger Allen - The Shattered Sphere

“Because—because—by the criterion of unique qualification, your new location for Charon Central cannot be right. A polar control center does not offer a single ideal location, but two equally valid ones. Where would it be? North pole, south pole, or both? And if one and not the other, what is your criterion for choosing?”

That brought a low chuckle, but not from Sakalov. Dr. Bernhardt stepped forward and patted the older man on the shoulder. “I think she has you there, Yuri,” his voice far gentler than it had been. Bernhardt turned toward Sianna, and smiled, but the expression did not look as if it really belonged on his face. “I made exactly the same objection in my office not half an hour ago.”

“And I make exactly the same answer to you both,” Sakalov said. “There is a deciding variable that renders one more optimal. Charon Central is located on the south pole of the Sphere. More of the planets and Captive Suns are visible from that point than from any other on the Sphere.”

“And that just happens to be the pole we won’t see until the Earth and Sunstar complete another half-orbit around the Sphere, a small matter of a hundred years or so from now,” Bernhardt said, still with that most artificial smile in place. It wasn’t insincerity, Sianna decided. Bernhardt was just unused to smiling. Not that it mattered, but maybe if she focused on what sort of smile the man had, then she wouldn’t be thinking about how this nice chat was destroying her career.

“That is inconsequential!” Sakalov protested. “All that is needed to prove my theory is to send the Terra Nova on a course that will bring the south pole into view and—”

“Yuri, Yuri. Do you know how many requests I get a week asking—or demanding—that I send the Terra Nova to this location or that?”

“But this is—”

“Most urgent and important,” Bernhardt said, finishing Sakalov’s sentence. “They all say that. Sometimes I think that if someone sent in a request and described it as minor and trivial, that would have a better chance of getting my attention.”

“But you must listen—”

“Yes, yes, I know I must,” Bernhardt said. “That is, after all, why I am here. For you to convince me. Convince me, and I will try and convince Captain Steiger to set such a course, though after today’s news I warn you she will not be in much of a mood to listen.”

“Today’s news?” Sianna blurted out, instantly wishing she had kept her mouth shut. Shut up, shut up, shut UP! she told herself.

Bernhardt looked surprised, as if he had forgotten she and Wally were there—and perhaps he had. He looked from Sianna to Wally and back again, and shrugged. “Well, you both have the standard clearances, no doubt, and the news will be all over MRI soon enough. The Terra Nova sent a small stealthy ship out in an attempt to board a CORE. All hands aboard the stealthship were lost and the ship destroyed. Captain Steiger broke radio silence to ask if we had any ideas that might aid their next attempt.”

Sianna’s blood ran cold. Never mind for the moment that she had no clearances at all—technically, she was not even supposed to be in the sim center. That was of no consequence. Those words “ next attempt .” Here they were, safely deep in the bowels of the Earth, fiddling around with meaningless questions of the whichness of what, asking each other where the enemy’s imaginary fortresses might be—and people, real people, were dying out there, in battle against the real enemy.

MRI was nothing but a bunch of dreamy time-markers far below Manhattan, but the crew of the Terra Nova was asking their advice before sacrificing themselves anew.

If that didn’t chastise a person, bring on a feeling of humility and unworthiness, then nothing would. “Do—do we have any advice to give them?” she asked.

“No,” Bernhardt said, his voice quiet and sad. He let his answer hang there for a moment, and the brief silence spoke volumes to Sianna. People are dying out there and we’re letting them down . She herself had gone in early, not to grub away at her proper work on CORE research, but to go glory-chasing after some completely meaningless thirty-seven-minute hiccup in a long-destroyed space probe’s chronometer. And to compound the crime, she had been distracted from that nonsense by the even more foolish nonsense of Sakalov’s pursuit of Charon Central.

At last Bernhardt spoke again. “But perhaps there is no need to say more about the Terra Nova . In any event, it’s quite possible that they are safer in that ship than we are here. I think, Yuri, that perhaps it’s time I showed you what I brought you here to see. I think you will see that the arrival of the SCOREs makes any discussion of what goes on at the Sphere a bit academic. We are going to have other worries.”

“SCOREs?” Sianna asked. She had heard the term go past once or twice, in the lab, but no one seemed ready or willing to explain what the acronym meant.

“ Small Close-Orbiting Radar Emitters,” Bernhardt said, a bit absently. “Hmmph. Wally, I was going to operate the equipment myself, but as long as you’re here, if you could run that simulation of the SCOREs you did last week—”

“Yes, sir,” Wally said. He bent over his control panel for a moment. Good God, Wally had been working with Dr. Bernhardt himself? Why hadn’t he ever said anything about it? But Sianna knew the answer even before she was done asking herself the question. What Bernhardt said next confirmed it, even if it didn’t make her feel any better.

“Needless to say, this is all top secret data,” Bernhardt said. “If it gets out prematurely—”

“Ah, sir, excuse me,” Sianna said. Better fess up now before she got in even deeper. “Sir, I don’t have top secret clearance. I don’t have any clearances.”

Dr. Wolf Bernhardt swiveled his head about and regarded her for a full five seconds. “You don’t,” he said at last. “Most unfortunate, considering what you have heard already. What is your name, young lady?”

“Ah… Sianna Colette,” she said, her heart pounding with fear. Oh God, what was he going to do with her?

“Wally—Mr. Sturgis. Can you vouch for this person?”

“Ah, yessir. I know her. She’s okay,” Wally said as he made his adjustments. From his tone of voice, Sianna knew that he wasn’t paying all that much attention. He could have been talking about the weather—and Wally hadn’t been outside for weeks.

“Very well, Miss Colette. You have top secret clearance now . I would suggest you read and obey the regulations, or else you might find yourself in some difficulty.” That done, he cocked his head back towards Wally and the control panel. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Dr. Bernhardt.”

“Then you may begin.”

—And the Universe of the Multisphere shifted , changed.

The Sphere itself vanished, and suddenly it was the Earth hanging in the blackness. The background stars and planets shifted their positions, and the perspective veered about until they were looking at Earth in half-phase, with the Sunstar out of view to the left. They were looking at the planet from a point a few thousand kilometers back along the planet’s orbital path. Sianna could see tiny dots hanging in space all around the Earth, the COREs, guarding the planet against the deluge of skyjunk that filled the Multisphere.

The view pulled back, getting further and further from the planet. The Moonpoint Ring came into view to the right.

There was something odd about the background of the scene. Then Sianna realized what it was—there were stars visible. Not the Captive Suns and planets, though they were there too, but points of light hanging in the firmament. “What are—”