L Modesitt - Empress of Eternity

Maertyn shook his head. "I don?t understand. If there is no time, only these…event-points, don?t all events essentially happen at once? And if that?s so, why couldn?t earlier keepers know what would happen and do something about it?"

"Time is the way intelligences perceive the entropy of events. Events do succeed each other. No one has ever resolved with certainty the degree of causality involved, or if strict causality even exists." Maarlyna shook her head. "Those aren?t my words, and I?m not sure I got them quite right. They don?t translate into Laarnian."

"So events do somehow follow each other?"

"Yes."

"All right. So you can?t send anything explosive back-or forward…or to their event-point-with the Ruche people."

Maarlyna smiled, brittlely. "Anything I did send would be highly explosive, but most of it would have to be shielding. If I didn?t shield it, it would explode instantly in their time period."

"Like antimatter?"

"With event-point separation along continuity, energy differentials do build, and it takes more and more energy…"

Maertyn nodded, a slow smile spreading across his face as she-or the Bridge systems through her-explained.

"…but the nature of the event-point penetration limits what the Bridge can do, in direct relation to the event-point separation from the event-point locale of the keeper…"

"You can do more here than for the Ruche, and more for them than for the Aesyr?"

"It?s more complicated than that. Here there?s no energy differential, but…yes, that is, for the Ruche and the Aesyr."

"Maybe you should just leave the choice to the Ruche people. You can extend the Bridge out of time, so to speak, anywhere. Let them choose where they want you to put them down."

"I can?t put them just anywhere. No more than the length of the Bridge from any point on its apparent geo graphical location." Maarlyna made a wry face. "I don?t talk that way, but it?s like I don?t have any choice when I try to explain some things." She frowned. "I might be able to do something else, though."

"What do you mean?"

"If we leave the Bridge out of the event-point, but open a door…and leave a present from here…and then set the Ruche people down where they can find allies…"

"Leave a present from here? I thought you said you couldn?t put them in two places or…"

"I can?t. But I could expel fifty grams from here…without having them leave the Bridge…" She shook her head. "I?m sounding like Tauzn might. What?s happening to me? I?m not like that…I wasn?t." Tears oozed from the corners of her eyes.

He stood and walked around behind her chair, where he leaned down and put his arms around her.

"Why…why, Maertyn?"

"Because it?s much easier to be compassionate when you have no power. When you have power, no matter what you do, someone gets hurt."

"That?s…that?s not the only why. Why am I feeling it now…and not earlier?"

"I can only guess." He waited, but when Maarlyna did not speak, he went on, "When you…merged…or became the keeper…some of what is you got submerged. You?re strong, stronger than most people realize, but it took a while for you to get…your mental balance. You have now…and you?re asking the questions you always did."

He could sense her nod as he kept his arms around her.

There was another period of silence before she spoke again. "The Ruche Twenty…they?ve killed thousands. Would hitting them be that bad?"

"You?ve asked twice about the Ruche people. You don?t have much…elapsed time to work with, do you?"

"There?s some."

"But not much." Maertyn?s back began to cramp and twinge from the awkward position, and he eased his arms from around her and straightened. "No…it?s always a risk when governments are attacked, especially if the attack is successful. You never know if the new government will be even worse than the old one. Much of the time, it is."

"Are you saying I shouldn?t do anything?"

"No. I?m saying that I believe you should. But you should, knowing that it might not work out."

"How would you make it more likely to work?"

"Can you tell if people are in a building?"

"Not really."

"Then we?ll have to guess…and hope. I?d say that, since it?s not a tropical culture, even if it?s warm temperate, The Twenty are most likely to be present in early afternoon. Even if they?re not, if your present can destroy whatever the capitol building is at a time when the most people will see it…"

"Do you really think that will work?" asked Maarlyna.

"The odds of the three of them fomenting a successful counter-revolt aren?t good," he admitted. "But they?re essentially dead if they stay in the station or if they try to leave it where it?s located geographically, or if they attack the capital directly." He paused. "Can you lock the station for at least a few years after they leave?"

She stiffened, ever so slightly. "I think so. Actually, that will happen anyway. I don?t know that I could unlock…Why? Oh…"

"Just to keep the Ruche honest for a time. I don?t know that I…we know enough about causality or what was it you said…"the entropy of event-points.? Do you need to talk to them quickly?"

"Fairly soon…I just feel it. I can?t explain it."

"Then we should eat, and you should do so." He stepped back from behind her chair and moved around the table and settled back at the table, looking at her and then at the casserole.

35 Quad 2471 R.E.

The keeper returned to Faelyna?s workroom in the station less than half an hour after she had vanished. That was the way it seemed, but all of the station equipment that indicated time was nonfunctional. Eltyn had tried not to look too hard at the images of equipment that continued to shift and mutate moment by moment. He did wonder just how many eons those changes represented and how long the ancients had actually operated the station in the fashion represented by those images.

You weren't gone that long, offered Eltyn as the woman in scarlet appeared.

It was long enough to consider the possibilities. Do you know of a place where you havefriends who will help you?

Why? asked Rhyana.

I can transport the four of you there, if it is no farther than Hururia. We can alsocreate…a disruption…in Hururia that will make seeking you…less of a priority.

Eltyn glanced to Faelyna. TechOversight?

She shook her head.

He should have realized that The Twenty and the RF would have targeted all the known TechOversight Facilities.

Chiental is possible, offered Faelyna.

The keeper glanced back at the shadowy silver figure that Eltyn had not seen appear; then toward the three. After a moment, a map of the continent appeared, projected into the air, with dots in places where there were no cities. Point out where this place is.

Eltyn stepped forward and studied the map, finally locating the Fhranan Peaks. Abouthere. Against the western cliffs in a valley opposite the tallest peak in the range. He paused. Mostof the installation is under the mountain, except for what looks like a log lodge.

We should be able to locate it. We're already shifting the Bridge toward Hururia. Itwon't intrude into the event-point, but it will be visible in a way, just below the reality horizon.The Twenty will see it. It won't be a Bridge, though.

What else could it be? asked Rhyana.

The most glorious rainbow they have ever beheld. We should go down to the main level.That's from where you'll be leaving.

So soon? asked Eltyn, almost involuntarily.

There are advantages to operating outside the event-points. The keeper turned, walked to the ramp, and headed down to the main level.

As he followed, Eltyn wasn?t certain that her boots actually touched the surface of the ramp. He also tried to sense whether the station or Bridge was moving, but he felt nothing. He looked to Faelyna.