Дэвид Уоллес - Island of Fog and Death

“Right. You. With me,” she snapped, and trotted up the stairs. She entered her room – Chen’s room – and pointed at a chair. “Sit.”

Gus sat, and smiled at her. “How may I help you?”

“Who are you? Give me your passport.”

Gus was about to say something, until she showed him the pistol in her hand, and snapped, “Now.”

He handed over his passport. She looked at it, compared him to his photograph, and tossed it back. She pulled out her Sectera phone and dialled Tommy again.

“Peri? Nothing’s changed this end. Are you all right?”

“Check out a name for me, please,” she said. “Surname ‘Vasa’, that’s Victor Alpha Sierra Alpha. First names ‘Gustav Adolph’. Place of birth Stockholm.”

“OK, wait one.” There was a faint sound of a keyboard in the background.

“Not found in any criminal or political databases, here or in Sweden. Not known to be affiliated to any of SAPO, MUST or FRA.”

“Why does that name sound familiar, I wonder? Anything in the Wild and Woolly Web?”

“Let me… ah, all the search hits are for a king who died in 1632. Do you want me to organise a deeper dig?”

“Nah,” she said. Then she snapped her fingers. “Of course,” she continued. “There’s a ship in a museum in Stockholm named the Vasa, and it was built for King Gustavus Adolphus. Was ‘Vasa’ his surname?”

“Yep. Anything else I can help with?”

“Not right now, thanks T. Bye.”

She looked at Gus, speculatively. “If you’re working under a false identity, then you have delusions of grandeur, my friend. If you were born with that name, then are you a descendent of the old Royal Family? I thought the Vasa dynasty died out, and Bernadotte was invited to take the throne.”

He smiled. “You are well informed about Sweden.”

Peri shrugged. “Nah, I just have a bloody good memory. So what’s your real name?”

His smile broadened. “Gustav Adolph Vasa.”

“Really.” Peri thought he was enjoying himself a little too much.

She pointed at Tash. “What is that?”

“My dog?”

“Try again.”

His smile tightened. “What do you think?” he asked. “What do you see when you look at Tash, other than a dog?”

“A faint bluish glow. An animal that looks like it understands every word that you, or anyone else, says. Silent interactions where the body language suggests a conversation is taking place, even though nobody else can hear it. An owner and his pet who don’t seem particularly shocked by the mayhem over on the island. Your presence is more than a coincidence, isn’t it?”

Suddenly a voice chimed into her thoughts, inside her head, in a bad fake Cockney accent.

“Well, I think we’ve been rumbled, Gus old mate. It’s a fair cop, lady, you’ve got us bang to rights.”

“Tash!” Gus snapped at the dog. “Stop that!”

Peri just stared at the dog, her mouth open, for what felt like a very long time.

“What?” said the voice in her head. “Come on, it’s not as if I’m the only one that glows in the dark! If she knows what she is, then she knows what I am, and if she doesn’t, she needs to.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked the dog.

“Ah, Miss Carlton,” said Gus softly. “If you make a habit to look at me when you ask questions, and not at Tash , then you will look a little more – ah – sane .”

“All right,” she switched her gaze to Gus. “What did he mean? Glow in the dark? Know what I am ? What does that mean? What do you think I am?”

Gus sighed. “If I try to answer all your questions, all at once, then I think you will have severe difficulties accepting what I say.”

Peri scowled at him. “Why don’t you try me?” she challenged him.

“Let us take it slowly. Your original question was, what is Tash. You have already concluded that he is not an ordinary dog. And this is so, he is not a dog, he merely looks like one. In fact—” Gus paused, as if unsure how to continue. After a moment of thought, he continued. “Tash is not from this Earth at all.”

Peri nodded. “Go on. Where is he from?”

“Forgive me if this begins to sound like a very dull lecture on theoretical physics,” he said, apologetically. “Humanity has been trying to understand the universe for millennia. What it is made of, where it came from and how it works. Einstein made great strides, but was never able to come up with a model of the universe that was wholly consistent and satisfactory. Late 20th and early 21st century thinking has led to a widespread view among physicists that the physical universe manifests in many dimensions.”

“String theory?” said Peri, tentatively. “I have read about string theory predicting eleven dimensions, but I confess I have no idea what it all means.”

Gus smiled. “Peri, it is possible that you know more about all of this than I do. But let me stumble onwards a little further.

“Physicists since Einstein describe the familiar four dimensions – height, length, width and time – as ‘space-time’, a term that I am sure you are familiar with. But there are still some problems with the classical physics of space-time, a few things that just are not understood, and where the theories, the mathematics – well, they just get it wrong.

“The attempts of physicists to find a way to unify the theories of how the universe works on both a very small and very large scale led to a number of variations of so-called string theory, and consideration of these variant theories has led to the hypothesis that there are many dimensions, beyond the familiar four of space-time. For example, it seems to be popular among physicists to hypothesise eleven dimensions – out familiar four, plus seven others. So where are these other dimensions? How do we interact with them? One explanation is that they are extremely small, and tightly compacted, so they cannot be perceived using today’s technology. There are other possible explanations. We must accept, therefore, that we are capable of directly perceiving, and directly interacting with, space-time and the other dimensions cannot be reached.”

“I have read about some of this,” said Peri. “But I found it meaningless. I just could not visualise nor understand it. Cutting to the chase, though, I think you’re saying that Tash is from some other set of dimensions, not ours. Now, I am willing to accept that he comes from some place that we might as well call a magic kingdom, and it doesn’t matter where he’s from, what matters is that he’s here, now. After all, sufficient advanced technology—”

“Is indistinguishable from magic!” Gus roared with laughter. “You know, I gave Arthur that line, maybe twenty – no – more like forty years ago!”

“You knew Arthur C Clark?”

“We had a few drinks together once,” said Gus. “Anyway, I didn’t think it up, I paraphrased what someone else once said to me about cataphracts and cannons.”

“So,” Peri said thoughtfully. “Tash comes from a magic kingdom that exists in a different set of dimensions from ours. He must have crossed over – somehow – from his version of space-time to ours. If he could do it…”

“Other entities could also do it,” said Gus. “And they have. Like the thing on the island.”

“‘The thing’?” Peri echoed. “‘Thing’, singular? There must have been dozens of those snake creatures.”

Gus and Tash exchanged looks. “There’s only one trans-dimensional entity over there,” said Tash’s voice in her head. “Well, two if you count me.”

Gus added, “The snake-like things were extruded from the entity and are remotely controlled by it.”

“Like, like… drones?” she asked. “They don’t seem very practical to me.”