DUALITY: The World of Lies (17 page)

“Kinny, we need to anchor into the sphere from
the spoke hubs. Can you set up ion drills there?”

“Negative, Commander. Due to extensive and
continuing thermal damage it is not possible to transport or
configure equipment to those areas.”

“Crap! We can't sit here, and we can't leave
til that thing is anchored.”

“Tetherweb?” offered Aru.

Mei considered it then cued the ship.
“System?”

“Affirmative, Captain. We could fire tethers
from the track of the inner ring crisscrossing the sphere and pull
them taught. This should adequately stabilize our new
hub.”

The holograph suddenly came online. Mei saw
the old hub lit up like a fireworks show, sparking and flashing and
vibrating violently. It was going to blow soon, and once it did,
they would be next in an instant.

“Do it!” she ordered. “As fast as possible.
Then without delay... fire up the engines and get us the hell out
of here.”

“Aye, Commander.”

She watched the tethers flying across the
center of the ship, up and over and under the sphere, and their
ends reattach on the opposite side of the inner ring. It was a
mesmerizing sight to watch them dance and weave themselves into a
loose net-like structure. Then, in one sudden coordinated set of
motions, the entire structure pulled taught, securing the
sphere.

The Kinetic's thrusters began firing, moving
the ship away from the unstable hub capacitor. They couldn't gain
distance from that volatile sparking capacitor fast
enough.

Aru, who was immersed in the shield readings,
saw a very promising sign. “Our new force shield, it's
holding!”

“We can make it through the corona
then?”

“I believe so, but it doesn't solve our
thermal problem. I suggest we make course for Carousel
7.”

No. That wouldn't do. How could they arrive at
a Fleet Base in this condition –and with this huge conspicuous
sphere bulging out their center?

“Absolutely not, Aru. We didn't go through all
this to give our prize up to High Command.”

“We're melting down, and it's not going to get
any better outside the star. We need some way to dissipate this
heat.”

“One thing at a time, love,” she told him.
“It's kept us going this far, hasn't it?” And it was truly a
miracle that they were still alive. If it weren't for their new hub
and the superior shielding it afforded them, they certainly would
not have any chance of enduring this coronal exit
intact.

The Kinetic's thrusters were at full burn to
achieve escape velocity. What fortune their new shield generator
allowed them to do that with no seepage at all. She remembered how
slow and carefully they had approached this star; now they were
hightailing it out with every last spit of thrust they had at their
disposal.

Aru fretted on and on about the
inner ring thermals. He even showed her a picture of the atrium on
the opposite end of the ring. It was 230 C in there, and the plants
were literally cooking. 
So much for
fresh salad today
, she thought. Then her
mind turned to her bedchamber. It had been spared so far, but was
queued up to come into the hot zone shortly. She could not deal
with losing all her stuff, and ordered System to divert resources
to protect her quarters. When that wasn't possible she ordered
System to deliver all her belongings here, to the bridge. Crate
after crate after crate, books and clothes and swords and armor,
toy animals, pipes and herbs, knick-knacks and all the treasures of
her hoarding. Seeing it all piled in one place like that made her
wonder how it all had ever fit in her quarters to begin with. Aru
hated, absolutely hated, all her stuff, or “crap” as he called it.
But weighed against the crisis, he seemed to put it into
context.

“I almost starting bitching about your crap,”
he told her “I'd say on the whole though, that's a good
sign.”

She smiled. She initiated an ambient holograph
called “Snowy Delight” that made the entire bridge appear to be in
a flaky downfall of white powdery snow with pine trees and stars,
and icy mountains in the distance.

Mei thought it might take the edge off all
this thermal fretting, but Aru complained that the energy required
to project that hologram was in fact just producing more
heat.

Mei ate her first meal in... in she couldn't
remember how long. She eyed her herb cabinet and vaporizer in her
'crap-pile'. It was quite the temptation, but this situation was
far from resolved. They were still burning up from the inside
out.

The course was plotted to exit at a high
eccentricity from the solar ecliptic plane, below the southern
tropic of Rubeli, to avoid the orbit of The Stones and almost
certain annihilation by particle beam.

For the first time since they entered into
this ordeal, open Taiji broadcasts started coming through. Aru
tuned directly to the Fleet updates, and Mei went straight for
Occitanian news networks. Fourteen messages from her mother… ugh!
Later. In her homeworld news there'd been a successful extraction
of Anarchy defectors by The Service. Mnemtech had finally begun to
enforce his ban on gold-trading in her home nation of Tropica. That
was not good news for her clan who conducted half their business in
tax-free gold trading, but this had been a long time in coming and
she felt confident they would adapt.

System announced: “Incoming transmission for
Captain Psyron from merchant Captain Kiroxes of the Graincarrier
Cargo Group.”

Mei stopped what she was doing. This was
good.

“System, play,” said Aru.

A polished and well-spoken Rubelian commercial
captain appeared on screen.

“Captain Psyron of the Kinetic Dream. This is
Captain Kiroxes of the Graincarrier VIII Cargo Group. Hail and well
met in the service and honor of our glorious Lords Mnemtech and
Logos.”

Hahaha. He was playing both sides of it like
most of those cowards in the merchant fleet. The message went
on:

“We are coming out of a gravity assist around
Rubeli bringing our freighter group on a return run to Occitania,
tracking your position by some 60,000 kilometers, and we were quite
surprised to see your vessel on our telemetry at this high
eccentricity. Our readings also showed that you are coming out of
there extremely hot. And I was just wondering if you needed our
assistance?”

Mei jumped up. “See! That's a whole cargo
group, they run biomass from Occitania to Rubeli, then return with
machine cargo. Make up some bullshit, and get us some heatsinks,
fuel, and sensor arrays so we can sail straight on to
Occitania.”

Aru nodded in agreement and took a few moments
to compose his thoughts. “System, record reply message to Captain
Kiroxes.”

“Ready at your will, Captain.”

“Captain Kiroxes, this is Captain Psyron of
the Kinetic Dream returning your video message. Hail Logos the Wise
and Supreme. As you may have heard, we've been running experimental
solar expeditions in the Kinetic. Our most recent run has put us in
the midst of a thermal crisis, and we are in immediate need of
heatsinks, a dozen if you have them. Please send them by way of
your fastest drones. Also, if possible, we request you jettison us
a 12 gram container of fuel-grade antimatter, 20 expeditionary
probes, 5 particle accelerator drill heads, and a variety of
replacement sensors and other parts that I will have my ship's
system relay to yours along with this video message. I realize it
is a tall order, Captain, and I will include a voucher of my
personal seal guaranteeing that you will be compensated at 150% of
these goods sale value by the Fleet and in a timely manner. Please
confirm, and get those heatsinks out to us at once. I and my House
are very grateful for your assistance. System, attach a parts list
and send.”

“Message sent, Captain.”

Mei knew it wouldn't take long. There was no
hyper-relay, but the communication delay at their relative distance
was less than a minute.

Five minutes later system reported a new
message from Captain Kiroxes.

“Captain, the heatsinks you requested have
been dispatched and shall arrive to you in the hour by our fastest
drones. We are still putting together the rest of your order. It
seems a few of the sensor parts you require are unavailable, but
we'll let our ships' AIs sort all that out. The fuel and probes you
requested will be forthcoming. I'm very pleased to help you,
Captain. You know, I am married into House Luxe on your homeworld,
neighboring your House's lands. As a merchant trade captain, I've
long sought an audience with Lord Psyron, your uncle, regarding a
proposition for the use of your family's mineral rights that would
be very lucrative for all involved. Well, if you have the time in
the future, perhaps we could discuss it?”

This was great! The crisis was coming to an
end. They would soon get this meltdown reversed and be flying back
toward Cearulei Azur, to Occitania, the beloved homeworld she had
not set foot upon for several long years.

Aru was delighted too. He replied to the
message. “Captain, I am truly in your debt. I will personally
arrange an audience for you with my uncle, and hear out your
proposal myself so I may endorse its merits to my clan!”

They smiled and laughed. Life: they got to
keep it. And Mei had her prize. Once the ship was back in something
resembling working order, they were going to crack this nut and
finally see what secrets it held.

“System, brandy. Two,” Mei ordered. Aru seemed
surprised since she almost never drank, but she handed one glass to
him and lifted hers. “Drink up, my Captain. We did it!” They
clinked glasses and poured back their liquor. It burned Mei's
throat and made her eyes bug out a bit, but even that felt
good.

After a brief celebration Aru began obsessing
over the maintenance readings again. Mei, knowing that relief was
on the way, went back to the news broadcasts without undue concern
over the matter.

Sports... blah blah blah. New
virtual realm online.... who cares? Pangea: The Realms of Peace.
“
For the first time ever in recorded
history, the secluded nations of The Pangea are without any states
in declaration of war on another. With the final treaty between the
States of Karnica and Scythe signed today, all corners of the
continent are without violent civil or tribal conflicts. The credit
goes to the Internal Service of The Order whose two decades long
program has finally succeeded in achieving its highest aim. If only
our Arathian side of the world could take a cue from the
Pangea...
”

Mei rolled her eyes. The Service taking the
credit for that rather disgusted her. She knew very well who it was
that had almost singlehandedly made that continental-wide peace a
reality: The Wandering Monk, disciple of The Mountain Sage -the
master of her master's master.

A
djusting
to the hazy light of single lantern in a dark hall, Gahre's vision
slowly came into focus. His eyelids closed and opened several times
in groggy confusion. The drifting scent of sandalwood incense
gently wafted in the still air. He felt warm and clean and dry. His
eyes burst open in sudden awareness of his waking state. He was in
one of a dozen rustic wooden beds with straw-stuffed mattresses,
blanketed and loosely swathed in linens that covered an inner layer
of bandaging over much of his body. Every muscle ached as he sat
stiffly upright, and there was a tightness in his abdomen that
turned to dull pain. On the simple wooden nightstand was a pitcher
of water. His parched lips cracked as they opened to accept the
liquid, which he drank all of in short order. His stomach
immediately cramped, and he regretted acting so immoderately. A
dozen beds in a chamber of crudely curved wall and ceiling, as
though it had all been chiseled within living wood. The Tree! Yes,
his mind was now reluctantly recalling the hellish night that had
led him there. Comparatively speaking, he felt quite well. He set
his right foot down on the floor and applied pressure to it. It
hurt but not terribly so. Standing, he found his robing folded in a
box at the foot of the bed, dry and laundered. There was a main
double-doorway cut into the far end of the chamber and two smaller
doors on his end, which he explored first. One led to a kitchen,
which was open air on the far end, Cearulei’s rays shining in
through a winding ceiling of root lattice. The area was clean and
swept, but had otherwise not known any use for some time. The
cabinets held some sacks of dried field peas, some rice, and there
were jars of preserved greens and peppers, and an impressive
collection of dry culinary spices, everything from salt to dill to
anise. He imagined he should like to fix himself something here,
but first he ought discern more precisely where “here”
was.

The other door led to some carved stairs and
down to a dank underground area that had the faint odor of stale
sewage. It was a latrine that drained back into a dark under-root
aquifer of some kind. He made use it then made his way back to the
double doors. The opened them to reveal a spacious
temple.

The large cathedral chamber was formed
naturally by massive arching roots. The floor was laid with roughly
hewn stone pavers, again swept clean. Flickering prayer candles
illuminated an altar towered over by a lotus-seated wood carving of
Fo, with his arms and hands held out in a particular manner. These
statues always formed such gestures, and Gahre had often wondered
at their meaning. It seemed to him that even in stillness they
communicated a profound language of the divine.