L Modesitt - Empress of Eternity

Eltyn winced inside. Brain-scanning was bad enough. If done less than expertly, the process created permanent damage and learning problems. Force-conditioning wasn?t much better than an ancient lobotomy or a Caelaarnan partial brain transplant. The body was the same, but mental functions were greatly diminished, and initiative was almost non ex is tent. "Why?"

"They claimed there were secret agents of The Fifty everywhere, especially anyone associated with TechOversight." Rhyana glanced back eastward.

The level surface of the canal wall was empty of figures or vehicles.

"I did bring some supplies…had to be those left in the wheeler. Would have liked to have brought my rifle. Couldn?t risk going back into the depot," added the driver. "Would have liked to have used it."

Too bad she couldn't, Eltyn private-pulsed.

Agree 3.

"You think I could stay here?"

"You?re welcome to." Faelyna smiled. "It?s severe. No entertainment, except a few cubes we brought."

"Brought my own favorite cubes, the ones I carry with me for when I have to wait," admitted Rhyana. "Couldn?t see staying. First thing they did was grab Kealyn and force-condition him to tell everything about anything. Heard that, and I sneaked off and took the wheeler."

"Kealyn?s just a driver," said Eltyn. "Why would they do that?"

"Said drivers know what everyone does."

"How soon do you think they?ll be headed here?" asked Faelyna.

The delivery woman shook her head. "I don?t know. They came in from the north side of the canal on an old SEV. I took the only wheeler they weren?t using. They had the others carry stuff from where they tied up the SEV, down on the floating dock. Their team was armed. There weren?t that many, maybe twenty." She paused, then added, "I thought you might have some way to hide or defend yourselves."

"We?re working on it," replied Faelyna. "The station is impervious to explosives and energy weapons, but the entries can?t be blocked." Not at the moment, she private-pulsed to Eltyn. "You should know that, but you?re welcome to stay. We do have food. It?s mostly dry-condensed, but not bad."

Rhyana shuddered, looking southward at the sandy dunes and scattered cacti and sagebrush and mesquite. "No place else to go." She forced a smile. "I can help…do things…"

"We?d appreciate that," replied Faelyna. "Do you need help unloading?"

"I wouldn?t want to be a bother…"

"That?s not a problem," said Eltyn. "The sooner we get everything inside the better. We might even be able to squeeze your wheeler inside."

"That?d be good."

Very good, pulsed Faelyna to Eltyn.

He nodded.

Duhyle stood at the ocean wall of the canal, looking out over the patches of late-morning mist that drifted across the low waves of the Jainoran Ocean. There was no sign of anyone who had been on the cargo-sailer. A day after the destruction of the vessel, the sea-canoes and kite-sailers had vanished. The narrow beaches below the western cliffs were empty of all human presence, without any prints in the intermittent patches of sand between the pebbled shingle. Seabirds swooped and landed, and skittered along the edge of the waves. An occasional crab scrabbled sidewise to avoid or to engage the water.

"You won?t see anything, Kavn." Helkyria stepped up to the ocean wall beside him. "Not yet. Not until just before they decide to attack-if they decide to attack." She half-turned.

Duhyle heard boots on the stone. He glanced back to see Captain Valakyr and Subcaptain Symra approaching. Both wore professionally grim expressions on faces that might otherwise have been attractive.

"Ser?" offered Valakyr as she stopped a yard from Helkyria. "What have you heard?"

"Outside of the reports of political chaos, the violent demonstrations in Asgard and all across Midgard, the more muted counter-demonstrations in Vaena, the political maneuverings among assistant magistras, the blanket condemnations of Security? Outside of those?" Helkyria?s eyebrows lifted, and highlights of green and dark gray momentarily appeared there, while the tips of her hair darkened into nearly pure black before fading to gray and then resuming their silver-blond hues. Her eyes remained silver.

"Ah…yes, ser," replied Valakyr.

Symra nodded, the tips of her hair darkening the slight bit that was possible.

"All the Aesyr representatives to the Assembly have left Vaena, and so have the magistras in charge of Environment, Transport, and Finance and Commerce."

"Those were all the departments headed by Aesyr, weren?t they?" asked Captain Valakyr.

"That?s my understanding."

"Why the condemnation of Security?" asked Duhyle. "At least half the security companies are primarily Aesyr."

"The Magistra of Security didn?t deploy those companies." Helkyria?s voice was dry.

"For rather obvious reasons."

"Some of them might be down there, hidden out of sight." Valakyr gestured toward the ocean and the empty beaches. "Seventh Company all requested leave at the same time. Major Gemli granted it."

"What else did she grant? Access to unlimited lethal weapons? Use of company vehicles or government transport?"

"I wouldn?t know, ser."

"I wouldn?t have thought anyone would go that far, but…these days, who could say?"

Helkyria nodded. "If you will excuse me, Captain, Subcaptain, there are matters to which I need attend. Please don?t draw any power from the local net without checking with me or Duhyle first. Let me know if you see any sign of activity from the Aesyr…or anyone else."

"Yes, ser."

"I?ll let you know if I hear anything else from Vaena." Helkyria inclined her head to Duhyle, then turned. He immediately joined her, but did not say anything until they were inside the station and walking up the ramp to her laboratory.

"You?re going to try something with the fermionic entanglement and ghost diffraction imager?" After her earlier reaction to the FEGDI acronym, he wasn?t about to use the term in speaking. He still thought of the odd assemblage of equipment that way.

"Yes. It?s the next logical step beyond implementation of a matching protocol system."

"You?ve made sense out of those ghost patterns?"

"They?re more like shadow patterns, created by some sort of entanglement. I can use them to open and close the doors and windows without being near them. That?s interesting, but not terribly useful. I need-we need-some way to lock the entries. Beyond that…" The corners of Helkyria?s lips lifted, if for a moment.

"Beyond that?" prompted Duhyle.

"There?s more beyond the stone than meets either the eye or past instrumentation and equipment. The question is whether I can find a way to view and control what else is there. It?s unlikely, but not impossible, that anyone has done so since the station was first used by the early Vanir. Before that, who knows?"

"Isn?t it possible?"

"Possible? Yes. Probable, no. The potential power of the canal is so great that had its secrets been rediscovered and used, it?s unlikely Earth itself would be anything but fragments."

"Like the Mist Ring?"

"I wouldn?t be surprised if the two were linked, but right now I have no way to even prove theoretically that is possible. We do know that the Mist Ring constitutes what remains of Earth?s moon, and that ancient tidal patterns confirm that it was an unusually large satellite in comparison to Earth itself, so much so that some scients have doubted those findings."

"If the science shows it…?"

"Even in those with an education in science, belief can dominate education, facts, and proof. That?s why not all who are educated in science are actually scients." She laughed. "It?s the same everywhere. Not all who study music turn out to be musicians. Not all students of economics end up as competent economists…If unfounded belief is stronger than discipline and knowledge, then the practitioner is seldom a true professional in the field, whatever that field may be." She stopped short of the equipment. "It will be a bit before I?ll need your help. Is there anything you need to do?"