John Schettler - Nexus Point

“Something like that. As long as it doesn’t shut down and re-boot from the source code. The trick was to make sure it would always be running. That’s when I got the idea to tack it on to the code for my screensaver. Now it’s on over a hundred thousand boxes all over the globe, and the sun never sets on my little Golem program. He’s always active and running somewhere, and if any variation is noticed, he’ll phone home.”

“Phone home?”

“The program will send a data packet here to the main server I set up for it last month.”

“And what does that tell you?”

“It’s not what it tells me, it’s what it does.”

Maeve gave him a look that said she would tolerate no more nonsense. He knew he had to sum things up for her fast. There was nothing to be done now but to blurt it all out.

“I set it up so that if a significant variation is detected anywhere on the globe, the server will contact me on my cell phone and put the Arch generator on cold standby.”

“The Arch generator? Do you have any idea what it costs us to run that kind of power here?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, nothing has happened in the last 30 days and our electric bill will be well within the norm.”

“But why, Kelly? Why would you want the Arch on standby like that? What good would it do for your program?”

“Maeve…” Kelly tried to fashion one of his own stern glances now, with moderate success. “If the program reports changes then something is afoot, as Nordhausen would say. I’m betting my Golem will alert us to variations in the continuum.”

“Variations? How could there be changes to the continuum. OK, I’ll admit that Nordhausen pulled the wool over our eyes and got away with a little train ride through the English countryside, or so it seems now from your data file there. He won’t get away with anything like that again, by god. Now that I think of it, an alert system like that would be a nice fail safe for us. Just you let me catch that rogue in the act the next time he tries to pull off an unauthorized time breach. Can you set that thing to call my cell phone?”

Kelly laughed. “If you insist,” he said, “And I think you probably will. That’s the general idea, though. If it works, and I’m still not sure that it will, then we could be alerted to changes in the continuum. We could have a chance at maintaining a safe reference point here.”

“Here?”

“Right,” said Kelly with a satisfied smile. He put his baseball cap back on and waved expansively at the lab around them. “Right here—right smack dab in the heart of the Nexus. We spin up the Arch and the field will start to coalesce. A null spot will form, and we can be here in the center, safe and protected from any change in the Meridian. Then we’ll know, Maeve,” he concluded. “We’ll know. We’ll be the reference point, if you follow me.”

She did.

“Clever boy,” she whispered. “I knew I had you around for some good reason.”

Kelly smiled, relieved that he had been able to get through the technical issues to the heart of the matter. “The phone rings,” he summed up. “I get in the Subaru and haul ass over here to the Arch complex. Maybe you have a good idea there, Maeve. I think all four of us should be able to respond to the alert. That way we improve our chances of getting someone into the safety of the Nexus Point before the Meridian solidifies on some new course.”

“Well if we can just get Nordhausen on board and shut this whole thing down we won’t need a wakeup call from your cute little Golem program.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about any of us changing the continuum again, but you forget Mr. Graves and company.”

Now Maeve finally settled on the heart of Kelly’s plan. She gave him a long look, her eyes reflecting the conclusion that was obvious to her now, but one she had resisted in her thinking all along. “You think they’re still using the Arch technology to change things?”

“You know what a temptation that kind of power is, Maeve. Hell, look what Nordhausen pulled here! Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to bet that if something starts to slip; if things start to change on us here, I damn well want to know about it when it’s happening so I have the chance to do something about it—just like that night last May. We were all set to go watch a Shakespeare play, then things changed. We were just lucky we had the Arch on standby that night with Jen and Tom on duty here. The point is this: we had six hours to do something, and I want that chance again if anything goes terribly wrong.”

Maeve gave him a long, forlorn look. Outcomes and Consequences, that was what he was talking about now. He wanted to keep a firm grasp on the life he was living now; wanted solid ground under foot—some sense of certainty in the face of this awful new technology they had spawned. He understood the same yawning doubt that sat in her chest now. He had to.

“Good for you, Kelly. I think it’s a great idea.” She leaned over and embraced him, a long warm hug that conveyed her relief and approval at the same time. It’s not just me, she thought. He feels the same way I do about all of this. “I can imagine your cell phone gives you a bit of a start every time it rings now, doesn’t it? People are calling you on that damn thing all the time.”

“You mean this?” Kelly reached in his pocket and pulled out his slim light green Nokia cell phone. “Oh, I don’t use this account for the alert calls.”

There was a muted sound and he felt Maeve tense up in his arms as she looked about the room to see what it was. Kelly’s eyes widened with surprise. “I use the red phone in my briefcase…”

Maeve had located the noise and the look on her face spoke volumes. Kelly edged away from her and the sound continued. He stood up and started across the room to his briefcase.

It was singing out its third ring now and, one by one, the system monitors began sputtering to life, consoles lighting up and computers beeping as they began to boot their operating software routines. Far below them, deep in the bowels of the Berkeley Hills, the massive titanium wheels of the main power generator began to slowly spin with a low thrum.

The Arch was growling to life.

The Sami was pleasedwith all he had done this night. Soon, he knew, the plan would unfold, and the matter between him and the Kadi would be decided once and for all. It was already wakening while he waited in the Tower of Sinan, his thin hands tracing a path over the strange figures that were drawn on the scroll. Messages, he thought. Messages from Egypt. How the Kadi doted over them, afraid to speak any thought or render any judgment without consulting the scrolls. What were they that he should revere them so? They were no more substantial than the parchment they were traced upon—something to be crumbled in his hand, or put to the flame. He teased the fire of a candle with the edge of the scroll, watching as the fiber burned and charred at the edge, sending a thin trail of smoke up into the still air.

Words… Why should they matter so? The thought that any real thing could ever be written was folly to him. A man could make his way in the world by knowing, and by action. What was behind the heavy wooden door to this very chamber? He could only know by looking. And so tonight he would look. He would open his eyes and see what the mettle of the Kadi truly was.