James Hogan: Mission to Minerva

"Welcome back," Garuth said.

It was agreed that the Shapieron would remain at Minerva for a further week for the story to be explained in full. With the perspective that the mission was able to bring of the future that continued rivalry and escalating hostility would lead to, few doubted that Cerios and Lambia would quickly overcome the differences that had begun to emerge between them and devote themselves to the common goal that represented the only progressive future for all of them.

It was going to be a busy week. Besides providing the entire story of Earth, Thurien, and everything that had happened from the departure of the Giants from Minerva, to the decision to mount the Shapieron mission from Thurien, it would be necessary to advance their understanding of physics-the Minervans still hadn't been able to make any sense of quantum phenomena. On top of that there was insatiable curiosity among Minerva's public and news media to be addressed. Adopting a policy of starting the way they meant to carry on, the leaders of the two powers decided against any blackout of the aliens' presence. It would have been short-lived in any case. Even in its parking orbit a hundred miles above the surface, the Shapieron extended over half the diameter of the full moon and passed overhead several times a day as a brilliant pencil of light or a silhouette, depending on the position of the Sun.

But for now, all that the members of the mission really wanted to do was get away for a while, rest, and come to terms, each in their own way and in their own mind, with the feeling of sudden reprieve from the exile that they had inwardly been preparing themselves for. After staying for a dinner in Melthis that evening that Harzin and Perasmon insisted on, which could hardly be refused, the Ganymeans and the Terrans down on the surface boarded their craft to return to the Shapieron. Of course, the Minervans were all eager for a chance to visit the starship too. But not now. None of them pressed the point. That could come later, in the days they had ahead. They all understood.

It had been a long day at UNSA's Goddard Center too. Caldwell had tried to maintain an air of sanguinity commensurate with the spirit of the occasion as he smiled and nodded his way through rooms where staff dutifully explained their work to gum-chewing tourists in baseball hats and beach shorts, and past school groups depositing sticky fingerprints around the exhibit hall in the lobby and in the computer graphics room. He'd survived worse, he supposed.

One of the most popular items was the Thurien neurocouplers in the bay along the corridor from his office. All day long there had been a line of people waiting for their turn to walk among the towering cityscapes of Thurien, gaze in awe at real dinosaurs and jungles on another world, or be whisked through a virtual tour of the Galaxy, courtesy of VISAR. Within half an hour of opening, Caldwell had been approached by interests wanting to get in on the ground floor of a Terran commercial end of the operation. He wouldn't talk to them. That was what UNSA had a Public Relations department for.

"This is Mr. Caldwell, Director of the Advanced Sciences Division," Amelia, who had been doing a gallant job as tour guide, said to the couple in the matching shirts. Things were quieting down at last. They were among the last to be leaving. "ASD handles most of our dealings with the Thuriens."

"Do you think it's safe, allowing these aliens to come straight into people's heads here like this?" the woman accosted. "They could be setting us up for an invasion. After all, look what happened to the Jevlenese."

"We do keep a close watch on the situation at all times," Caldwell assured her.

"Psycho-socio sympathetic resonances," the man said. "Tuned to the cortical subliminal modes." He looked at Caldwell expectantly. Mercifully, Caldwell's phone beeped.

"Excuse me," he muttered.

It was Mitzi. "Gregg, I've got Calazar on the line."

"I'll be right there." Caldwell did his best to look apologetic. "Sorry, but I'm being called." He turned his head as he hurried away, still holding the phone in his hand. "I'm sure Amelia will be happy to answer your question."

He walked through the door of the outer office bearing its sign, no admittance, and closed it behind him. "What's up?" Mitzi gestured to a screen showing Calazar at the far end of the Thurien link. Caldwell pivoted it to face him fully. "Hi, Byrom." Caldwell was up to date on the news, of course.

"Gregg. How was your social day?"

"Almost over. I noticed that none of the administrators who dreamed it up were here to help deal with it. Anyway, what's new?"

"The mission people are back at the Shapieron-mainly to rest and recompose themselves, I suspect."

"I can imagine. I think I would be too."

"Since it's going to be another week at least before we bring them back, I thought it might be appropriate for you and I to join them." That was the Thurien way of talking. Calazar meant virtually, via neurocouplers. "Symbolically showing that we've been with them, as it were. And what better way could there be of celebrating VISAR's reconnection?"

"Sounds like a good idea. When did you have in mind?"

"Now, if you can manage it. Is there a coupler available there? You said earlier people were lining up to try them."

"Things are quieter now. Just a second. I'll check." Caldwell looked over at Mitzi. "Can you raise Amelia and find out what the coupler situation is out there? Calazar wants me to take a trip to visit Vic and the guys."

"Sure will."

"Some of the scientists from Quelsang will be joining us too," Calazar said. "There's one last aspect of this whole business that they're getting excited about. They want to tell the others about it, especially Eesyan and Vic."

"Oh? And what's that?" Caldwell asked.

"I'm not sure I fully understand it myself. But it's to do with this business about the Shapieron's bubble implosion creating some kind of low-resistance path back to here."

Caldwell followed that much. "Uh-huh."

"All the activity that's been going on would involve many other universes apart from ours, all doing much the same thing. Well, the theory is that the entire local region of the Multiverse that was affected-centered on Minerva, fifty thousand years ago-somehow created a similar kind of pathway to the disturbance that projected those five Jevlenese ships back. So…" Calazar paused as Caldwell began nodding rapidly, already seeing what he was getting at.

"I know what you're going to say. That's a question I've been asking for a long time. The coincidence was too much to buy. This answers it."

"That why they ended up where they did. Anyway, it's another whole area of theory that we're about to get into, I'm told."

Cadwell realized the Mitzi was waving. "Just a second, Bryom…" He raised an eyebrow.

"Amelia says, no problem. It's clear out there."

"The couplers are free," Caldwell told Calazar. "I'll see you… wherever. Where are we going?"

"I thought we'd go there, to the ship," Calazar said. The Shapieron had been fitted with Thurien neurocouplers for its stay on Jevlen.

"Sounds good. I'll see you fifty thousand years ago in a couple of minutes."

Caldwell cleared down and went back into the corridor. The building was quiet and felt back to normal. He saw Amelia coming the other way. "That couple aren't still waiting somewhere to ambush me, are they?" he said.

"You're safe. They left."

"And the coupler room is free?"

"Yes… Oh, there's just one guy left in one of the cubicles but I don't think he'll be a problem."

"Great job. You've earned a day off."

"I'll hold you to that."

Caldwell went on through to the coupler area, let himself in to one of the vacant cubicles, and settled himself down in the recliner. The sensation came of his mind opening up into a void that told him he was connecting to VISAR. "So how was your day here at UNSA?" he subvocalized.