Sanctuary Falling (41 page)

“You know,
>
I think therefore I am,’ and the old grandfather paradox. Never mind,” Carl stuffed his mouth and shut up.

Annette smiled at him and went back to her reading, focusing her attention as much to push away the noise of the room as to study for the test. Annette was so focused that she missed the floating microphone as it took its place at the raised platform, and Niri rising to meet it. Carl came to her rescue, stealing her pad and gesturing towards Niri.

Niri tapped the microphone softly, “Good morning people, I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news is that most of you will be switching modules today. The bad news is that this Friday will be assessment day,” Everyone groaned loudly, and Niri paused, “Don’t worry everyone this assessment won’t be as grueling as the last one. You’ll go to your first class and will be testing on dedicated pads. It’ll be over before you know it. Then the rest of the day you’ll have to yourselves.”

A muted round of cheers passed through the crowd, Annette made it through with Carl’s telekinetic help. Niri held up her hands and the room quieted, “Good luck with the new modules.” Niri stepped down from the platform and headed out the door. That ended the announcements and breakfast.

Annette’s group rose quickly from the table and moved almost as one out of the cafeteria to their new classroom. Carl led the way having had the foresight to preplan the shortest route. They were the first group to make it to the room and they quickly staked out the front row as their territory, slinging backpacks over the backs of the chairs and slapping down their pads in front of them.
 
Annette sat, while the others stood keeping an eye on the door.

The rest of the class trickled in and one by one the chairs filled with purple jumpsuits. Everyone sat, focused on the front of the room, and waited. Time passed and Annette telepathically sensed every time one of her classmates would succumb to the desire to check the clock. She was almost driven to it herself. Still the teacher didn’t show.
 
Finally, a moment before Annette too felt the need to glance, a man appeared at the head of the class.

“Welcome everyone to temporal physics. Though that really is a misnaming. This class is about time and about the realities of traveling through it, though in a sense you all are quite expert at it,” The teacher launched into lecture quickly.

“My name is Janu, I happen to be Tanerian, from a family of catalysts and I am a time traveler, though I am quite a bit better at it than all of you. You all are still stuck in the single dimensionality of time. Like people once thought the earth was flat, most of you think time is a string and that it has one strict direction. Or at most you admit that it has two directions forward and backwards.
 
I’m here to tell you time is more than now, or now or now. It is a fluxing, flapping, flying thing existing with a backwards, a forwards, an up, a down, a left and a right.
 
The trouble is that we are caught in the linear dimension of time by our very natures. We really can’t see its other dimensions. On the other hand my theory is that god is temporally three dimensional; he sees the past present and future like we see left, right and up, and he most likely doesn’t even have to move to do it.
 
Enough about theology,” Janu paused.

“You can call me Janu, or Mr. J. I don’t much care which. I’m passionate about time. In his book,
The Time Machine
 
H.G. Wells theorized that time travel was like jumping up into the third dimension of time. Let’s accept that. On
Quantum Leap
the theory was that time was like a piece of string that you could ball up, and when you did you could leap through it where it touched itself. Let’s accept that.
 
Heck accept any theory you like on how time works, that’s not what this class period is about. Today we are about the ethics of time travel. Is it right to go back and change things. If someone had gone back and killed young Adolph Hitler in his crib would they be killing an innocent version who might have grown up to do good or are they pre-deposing an evil tyrant? Answers?”

Carl raised his hand and Janu nodded towards him, “Both? Because he had the potential to be either.”

“Good answer, it brings me to the real core of time travel the fact that anyone meddling in it is working in a real gray area. One which all to easily becomes a dark area. Any factor considering working trans-temporally needs to keep that in mind. The fact of the matter is that most of you will at one time or another be placed trans-temporally just because of time differentials or directionality.
 
It would be nice if all time moved exactly the same but some dimensions run slower, some faster, some backwards as compared to Sanctuary. That truth can aid you in time travel, but bear in mind that any foray into the past risks your remaining there forever.” Janu fixed his eyes steel gray eyes on Annette and seemed to be talking just to her, “Time travel is risky. Don’t forget that. And sometimes you can have an effect even when you aren’t meaning to.”

Annette shivered, and nodded to him. He smiled back at her and turned his spooky eyes on someone else.

- - - - - - - - - -

Yllera fluffed her hair and the few feathers still scattered through it. She hadn’t licked Tatia, instead she had kept the feathers. They were proof of her ability to shape shift and she had increased her status with them. Over the course of the last few months she had even made a daily visit to the aviary just to assure they would remain to impress the natives.

There had been a few dodgy moments when they arrived in the warren. No one wanted to believe she was Yllera. Again the seer had been called to confirm her veracity. The seer had taken one look at the feathers and nearly fainted, and trembled as she licked Yllera, The seer immediately knelt dramatically and held Yllera’s slimy hand to her forehead declaring the chosen one had indeed arrived.
 
The slime trail the old woman left on her hand itched.
 
Yllera almost felt her insides changing, and a few feathers fell out, but no dramatic return to normal beyond that had been forthcoming.

Little had been asked of Yllera after that, instead most of the community fought over what they could do for her. Someone had turned Yllera’s pile of snake skins into a jacket during her absence. Common styles meant it looked almost how she wanted it, it was a long duster sewn to fit her former size.
 
The woman responsible for it hastily offered to resize it based on Yllera’s new proportions. Yllera had to patiently refuse, typing the refusal into her pad and allowing Tatia to translate.

Yllera had spent much of the last few months eating, and growing. That growth had outpaced Tina’s estimates, Yllera was practically back to normal, or as close to normal as she ever would be again. Another occupation of her hours was time spent with the seer. The old woman had gleefully agreed to teach Yllera everything about their heritage.

Yllera had learned much about the pre-plague culture. The old woman had been in late childhood, just learning the skills of shape shifting and reading DNA when the plague struck. Three quarters of the warren died within days. The smell of death had permeated the tunnels.
 
It took months to bury the dead, many more died from re-exposure to the pathogen.
 
When it was over no one could shape shift, and many of the survivors died prematurely. The only good the plague had done was to increase the Agurian birthrate. That was all that had saved the race.

In addition to history the seer shared what she could remember of the ancient shape shifting skills. Unable to show Yllera, it was difficult but Yllera had picked up the rudimentary ability to alter her face and through complex muscular skeletal manipulation even decrease or increase her height.

The major impediment to Yllera learning even more was her inability to talk. She had moved beyond silence, adding primal grunts and moans, but it had only been a matter of days since her first recognizable word passed her lips, now she her voice had almost fully returned.

That word had been food. No surprise since her rapid growth meant a titan sized appetite. Thanks to the generosity of the natives that appetite was satisfied best by native foods. Somehow the diet prescribed by the seer satisfied Yllera’s hunger better and longer than even the artificial nutrient solutions Tina ordered her to eat. Yllera might have incurred Tina’s wrath if the native diet hadn’t proved so effective.

Yllera pulled on the snake skin coat. It fit well, even if it swept the floor more than it should. Today was the day Yllera had chosen to approach the council. She would formally offer Sanctuary’s friendship and alliance. If they accepted, the meeting would also include the negotiation of technological exchange. Yllera knew how eager the Agurians were to receive some of Sanctuary’s extra dimensional technologies. A great deal of trouble had been gone to by everyone to bring the governing council to the warren, rather than having Yllera go to the council. They had traveled from all the major warrens including Zesheiaouplac.

“You ready?” Tatia asked ducking her head around the door hanging.

Yllera cleared her throat and mumbled hoarsely, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
 
Yllera tugged at the coat and slung a large water sack
 
over her shoulder before she stepped out of her quarters. Illay and Teverum waited with Tatia, all three shared increased status by association, and all three would stand behind her as she spoke, but for now Teverum would lead the way through the warren to the council meeting place.

The corridors were unusually crowded. Everyone was milling around in the halls to watch her pass. It had been impossible and impractical to keep her intention to speak before the council a secret.
 
And everyone wanted to be present for it.
 
Their group grew as they made progress through the tunnels. By the time they reached the meeting place at the confluence of several important tunnels, everyone in the warren was present.

The room was carefully and symbolically dressed. The walls and tunnel exits were hung uniformly with tapestries bearing the key images of Agurian history. Cushions were spread several layers deep in a ring around a small ceremonial fire.
 
Most of the seating was filled by the council members.

Yllera stepped forward, the council was made up of the oldest and most respected elders in all of
 
the communities, the seer was its head. “Welcome child of Aguri, you approach our council as an adult. What have you to say?”

“I bring an offer of peace and the promise of alliance,” Yllera answered.

“From who do you bring this offer? No children of Aguri are at war,” An old man to The Seer’s left asked. The question was required by the forms of the council, even though the man and everyone else knew the answer. Actually the whole meeting was more formal ceremony than actual debate, everyone present was already well aware of all the facts and benefits of the proposed alliance. The elders from the other warrens already carried the decisions and debates of the people of their warrens, this meeting was about revealing those deliberations to one and all.

“I don’t bring it from Agurians. I bring the offer from Sanctuary, a place of many peoples,” Yllera coughed to clear her throat and restore the volume of her voice, “They, we, offer to share our technology and a place of refuge from enemies.”

“We have been offered peace before. The Tanerians give it with one hand and take our future with the other.
 
Why should we accept? Are these peoples of Sanctuary not allied with the Tanerians?” A second man, old and wrinkled as the seer asked.

“No, Taneria has refused peace and been hostile in its acceptance of our friendship. They do not sit at our fires, or drink our water, they would not even offer aid if our flesh melted from sandburn,” Yllera answered in the formula The seer had told her to use.

“Good because Taneria has lied to us too many times. We will consider peace, sit by our fire while we deliberate,” Another man pronounced.

Yllera sat and un-slung her water bag, she took a long drink from its spout and lowered it to her lap. This was it. She cleared her throat again, “This fire is smoky, would you like a drink of my water, Elders?” She held out her water bag to the nearest one.

He nodded and accepted the bag, taking a long drink before passing it to the woman next to him. She was from Zesheiaouplac, and she shook her head passing the bag to the man next to her. He drank as did seven of the other nine council people. The seer was the last to drink before the bag came back to Yllera. Nine out of twelve warrens present were open to an alliance with Sanctuary, it was good news but not good enough. Unless the council was unanimous there would be no alliance. It was up to Yllera and to whether or not the other warrens had been so adamant as to oppose the matter even despite a majority.