Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (50 page)

Δ

Thus began Delta Research. After Galinta, after the House of Horrors, it was a warm and happy dreamtime for us all, a time to celebrate life and laugh at death. We had a double wedding for Saka and Lan Hwa, Kwan and Ice. We held it outdoors, under the trees, and there were hundreds of guests, Assidic and Legion and even Biogen troopers. Saka and Kwan wore traditional Assidic male garb, glittering golden and crimson treesilks, and Lan Hwa wore a traditional Assidic wedding gown, white and gold hothouse silks, and Ice wore a traditional Magna wedding gown, soft white silk and icy silver brocade, fitting for an ice princess. We burnt incense to strange Assidic gods and prayed to Deadman and Bees prayed to God and blessed them and we pelted them with white blossoms and wished them a thousand years of love and life.

Δ

"Prof, do you have a mo?" I asked. He was behind his desk, pondering a d-screen.

"Always for you, dear Prophet. How can I help?"

"Um, I was just wondering. Your daughter. Obviously, I know how she got here. 'Cause I was part of it. But how do you document her? Is she just off the books? Are there any bean counters back in Quaba who are outraged because you have a dependent daughter who's not supposed to be here?"

"Oh, you have to have more faith than that, dear Prophet. You already know how kind and thoughtful Ambassador Wester is. Carol's all documented. She's my dependent."

"But I thought Site S did not authorize accompanied tours."

"Oh, they don't. But that's Site S because it's so highly classified. We're cosmic secret, too, but that's just the product. The actual installation – Delta Research – is not cosmic secret. There's nothing for any spies to see except you three."

"But…you mean Delta Research is an accompanied tour?"

"Yes, I thought it best to do that because of my daughter. And Ambassador Wester approved it."

"An accompanied tour!"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Professor, let's just suppose – as a random example, you understand, that a Legion soldier assigned here has recently married, and wants his wife to accompany him here – would it be possible?"

The Prof stared at me in surprise, then spoke. "I am so sorry, Prophet. I am so sorry."

"You mean, it can't be done?" I was crushed.

"No, I mean – of course it can be done! I mean, I am so sorry I did not think of that myself. I've been so busy. It never entered my mind. Of course, you want your wife to come here. And of course, she can! This is an accompanied tour. If your supervisor approves it, it will be done."

"Will you approve it?"

"Of course, I will! I am so sorry, Prophet. I am a thoughtless boor."

"Don't say that, Professor. You are a genius! I'm so happy! But I have one more question."

Δ

I found Arie on one of the lounge balconies, taking a break with a cup of dox, enjoying the view. Of course, I had already briefed him on my marriage to Honeyhair, and filled him in on Blondie and how much she missed him. I knew he was depressed that he was here, and Blondie was there.

"I love this place!" he said, bravely. "What a wonderful assignment!"

"Pack your bags," I said.

"Huh?"

"Pack your bags."

"What for? I just got here."

"Well, you're leaving."

"What? Why?" He looked really alarmed.

"You've got a mission," I said.

"Oh! Wow, you scared me for a mo. What's the mission? Where am I going?"

"Well. Where do you want to go?" I gave him my best stony face.

"Where do I want to go? What is this, Prophet? What do you mean, where do I want to go?"

"You're going on leave. Where do you want to go?"

"On leave? On leave? What does that mean? Did I do something wrong?"

"You didn't answer my question," I said.

"What’s wrong, Rich?"

"You don’t understand the question? It's perfectly clear. Where do you want to go? Let's say you could go anywhere in the galaxy. Where would you want to go?"

"Anywhere in the galaxy. I wish you would quit screwing with me, Rich. All right. Anywhere in the galaxy. Let's see…all right, I'd like to go to Providence, and see Blondie. Where the hell else?"

I handed him an envelope.

"What’s this?"

"One week's leave and a Space-A ticket to Providence. Oh, and the return tickets are for two. Assuming your companion is your wife. Bring her back here, Arie. I'm sending away for Honeyhair. I've just learned Delta Research is an accompanied tour."

He just stood there, mouth open, staring goggle-eyed at the envelope. Finally he spoke, almost in a whisper.

"What’s Space-A?"

Δ

We had great starlink coverage from Pandaravos and there was no comdown between us and Providence. We used Legion starlinks and they were free for Legion pers. I sent for Honeyhair the same day I learned that Delta Research was an accompanied tour. The starlink's return address was CF Embassy Sajadhervana, just to avoid highlighting us. I didn't tell Honeyhair about Arie's leave – because we wanted it to be a surprise.

As the days passed, I was a bit surprised when Honeyhair did not respond to my message. However, I did get a later starlink from Arie stating that his mission was accomplished, and he would be returning with his prize. He gave me the ship and time of arrival and I was at the Sajadhervana starport early, anxious to see Arie and Blondie but also anxious for news about Honeyhair.

I spotted Arie and Blondie instantly in the crowd. He was in his blacks and she was in her knockout Civilian Support greys. What a lovely honey! She clung to Arie's arm proudly, head high, look what I've got!

"Arie! Blondie! How did it go?" I asked.

"It went perfectly! Just like we planned!" Arie said, with a giant smile. "I knocked on her door, she opened it, and I said, 'Hi'."

"I was so shocked I almost fainted," Blondie said. "I actually peed in my pants. Then I grabbed ahold of him and kind of broke down completely."

"When she was through trembling and crying for joy I made her sit down," Arie said. "Then, in an effort to outdo you, I got down on one knee, showed her the ring and asked her to marry me right there. Man! I thought she was going to pass out. You know – she really likes me!"

"That's true," Blondie said. "True true true!"

"Ah, great! That's great!" I said. "So. What's with Honeyhair? She didn't answer my starlink."

"Oh, um," Arie said. "She decided not to come."

"What?"

"She decided not to come."

I just stared at him.

"Prophet. She's found somebody else." Arie was completely serious, I could see. I was struck dumb, astounded.

"Hi," somebody said behind me. I turned. It was Honeyhair, tossing her lovely hair back, dazzling me with her smile, looking me over with those astounding emerald eyes, clad in her greys, tall and willowy, the most beautiful girl in the galaxy. She threw her arms around me and squeezed. Arie and Blondie were cracking up.

"Just a mo while I finish this heart attack," I said, from Honeyhair's arms. "Man! Please don't do that to me again."

"You should have seen your face! Now that was funny," Arie said. I didn't mind. I was in heaven, heart to heart with my own angel, mine all mine. Who could possibly ask for more? I was blessed.

Δ

"It's all about Dimension X," Doctor Dimension told us. "That's what it's all about." The three of us, Saka, Ice and I were lounging in airchairs while the Doc did his part to give us the big picture. I had seen him plenty of times in the hole, but never actually spoken with him before. He was a pretty strange bird, pale and intense, dark eyes, tangled uncombed brown hair that touched his shoulders. "People don’t like to talk about Dimension X because we know so little about it, and it's hard to talk accurately about what we don't know. But what you folks have got in your heads is a little thread of Dimension X – I'm convinced of it."

"Why are you convinced of it?" I asked.

"Because it does things that we don't understand. And in all three of you, your contact with the Brights resulted in the development of unusual neural pathways of unknown purpose. The Brights and the Demons are both from Mid Haven, and Mid Haven contains Dimension X. It seems clear that both Brights and Demons also are infused with Dimension X, because for a host of reasons that would explain their ability to teleport – in certain circumstances."

"But our universe does not contain Dimension X," Ice said. "So how can it be in our brains?"

"Ah, I have a competitor. You've studied theoretical physics!"

"Sadly, I have not," Ice said, with a smile.

"Then why do you conclude that Dimension X is not present within our universe?"

"I thought that was accepted by the people who study other dimensions."

"Ah, it is, but you forget, the accepted scientific truth is always wrong."

"Always?"

"Always! We learn new scientific truths almost daily. Now think hard – doesn't that mean that the old scientific truths were crap? Of course it does! People who proudly quote the scientific community's pompous accepted wisdom on whatever you're talking about are like trained baboons. They mimic what they have been taught, but are incapable of original thought. The accepted scientific truth used to be that the Earth was flat, and that the sun revolved around the Earth. All wrong. But people who suggested otherwise were burnt at the stake."

"So are you saying that Dimension X is present within our own universe?" Saka asked.

"Of course it is! No other explanation is possible!"

"But…but…"

"But me no buts! When we first became aware of this new dimension, I was also a trained baboon, I'll admit it. But as we learned more – I started thinking. That's how new scientific truths emerge, combine thinking with experimentation and, voila! You can see the truth peering dimly at you through the dark. The IDAG saucers stardrive works perfectly in our universe, just as it does in Mid Haven. And by now it's clear the stardrive is a function of Dimension X. Anyone? Anyone? Come on – give me a guess."

"Dimension X is present within our universe," I said.

"Ya dang tootin' it is! Right under our noses! And we’ve been unaware of it because it’s another dimension, dummy, and we can't see it or touch it. But now we've got Demon ships that are shooting all over our universe using Dimension X stardrives, and Brights and Demons who evidently use it for teleportation. And the Brights use it to bring the dead back to life. Man! You two should certainly not scoff at the presence of Dimension X within this universe. You owe your lives to the stuff. We've got a lot to learn about DX, but I'm convinced you were revived and healed with DX, and you've got DX in your brains as a result. Think about if, folks! And don't stop thinking! You three are the only humans in the galaxy with this unusual structure in your brains. What does it mean? Are you going to create a new mutant race? Will your children inherit what you have?"

"Doc, if DX is present within our universe, how come we get along without it, while the Brights and Demons seem to be dependent on – or at least aware of it?" I asked.

"Well, until we get a better grip on exactly what it is, we won't know if our evolution just bypassed DX or whether it is, perhaps, a vital part of our life process that we simply haven't yet discovered. That's one of the many puzzles that we will be working on when we're studying you folks."

Δ

A whole lot of strange people started to show up to work with us – psychers, psychics, remote viewing savants, ghost finders, hypnotists, theoretical physicists and dimensional experts of all kinds, cosmologists, neurologists, brainscan experts and analysts and readers, psychologists and psychiatrists, futurists, and a bunch more unidentifiable types whose obscure specialties all ended in -ologist.

It was heaven for me, having Honeyhair with me. She fixed up my somewhat spartan apartment suite and had it gleaming in no time. I spent a lot of time kissing her and looking into her eyes. The Prof recruited her and Blondie into Bees' medical office, as they were both certified emergency nurses. The A's transferred Lan Hwa and Kwan to Delta Research as liaison officers. That solved two problems at once, and everybody was happy about it.

I introduced Honeyhair to Delta. I explained to her what they all meant to me, and explained some of what we had been through. She was kind of stunned at first, realizing that these were all quite normal people who had become quite exceptional in the crucible of battle. At first she was in awe, then she made efforts to get to know them all better. She told me of one incident that had made a big impression on her. Bees was treating Ice on the patient medcouch, applying medgel and fleshstim to speed up the healing of her scalp and face and neck wounds. Honeyhair was helping, handing Bees the medications she needed.

When they were through, Bees leaned down and kissed Ice tenderly on the forehead. Ice then got up, approached Bees, cradled Bees' head gently in her hands, and kissed Bees on the forehead as well. Then she left the room silently, just like a ghost. Bees stood there watching Ice until she disappeared around a corner. It was almost as if she was hypnotized, or in a dream. Honeyhair went over to Bees, embraced her, and held her tightly. Bees was all choked up and was blinking back tears. And she whispered, "I love her so much." Then she gently pulled away, said, "Thank you," and put away her tools.